VHS to DVD

Kay,

VHS, 8MM etc output analog audio and video.  In order to get it onto DVD it
must be digitized.  Best way is to purchase a Digital Video device (DV).  We
have a Sony GV-D800 8mm player.  It looks a lot like a walkman.  Take you
VHS and plug it into the player.  From the player it goes via firewire into
a computer.  MAC's make this very simple using iMovie.  On a PC you will
need a firewire port and some type of video editing software.  We run Adobe
Premiere, however it is very expensive, about $1000.00.  Once the video
stream is on the PC you can edit it, IE crop, cut and paste, do voice overs,
transitions etc.  Now for the hard part.  You can copy the resulting
quicktime/avi file to the DVD, however it will not play on a home DVD
player.  To do that you have to author the DVD so it will  have chapters,
etc.  A MAC makes this easy with iDVD, on a PC you will need an applicatioon
to do this.  We use Pinnacle Express (www.pinnaclesys.com).

The file sizes can be huge.  Gigabytes here for 20 minutes of video.  The
audio portion makes the file sizes large.  Make sure you use an audio
compressor.  It will come with iMovie or Premiere

It is very time consuming, but can be very rewarding when you see your
production.

Keith Bennett
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History
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