Many people took home movies of birthdays, celebrations, births, graduations, vacations, and millions of other memories back in the day. While they were an excellent way of capturing the moments we loved back then, companies did not build VHS tapes to last.
This blog will dive into how VHS tapes lose their film quality over time, why they can last forever, and the best way to preserve your memories moving forward.
Here’s Why You Should Convert Your VHS Tapes to Digital
VHS tapes hold tons of memories and sentimental value. But you could lose them forever if you don’t convert your Video Home Service (VHS) tapes to digital.
VHS Tapes Lose Quality Over Time
Here are the reasons why VHS tapes lose their quality over time.
- Remanence decay in VHS tapes’ magnetic particles loses their charge over time, resulting in weaker color hues and less detail.
- The binder becomes more worn out as the lubricant layer erodes, affecting the magnetic particles and causing information loss.
- Rewinding and playing repeatedly causes stretching of the tape, reducing playback quality and causing tracking errors.
- Frequent copying and recording wear down the tape, causing information and sync signal loss.
VHS tapes were built to record videos of memories but were not without their flaws. The material used in VHS tapes degrades over time, causing information to be lost.
VHS Tapes Can’t Hold Memories Forever
Binder polymers absorb water in humidity, creating a sticky substance that renders the tape unplayable.
VHS tapes use magnetic particles inside their binding to record and play videos. Like most other magnets, their particles have a definite lifespan and don’t last forever. They eventually lose their charge, meaning VHS film loses its audio and visual quality. If you have ever seen a VHS tape that is fuzzy and distorted, it’s because the magnetic particles within the tape have lost their charge.
While VHS tapes lose their magnetic charge by being played, fast-forwarded, and rewound repeatedly, they will also degrade with time just sitting in a box. This is why you must be proactive and convert your VHS tapes to digital before it’s too late.
You Can’t Share VHS Memories
With the rise of the internet, email, and social media over the last few decades, it’s clear that we all love to share our experiences, memories, videos, and pictures. However, sharing memories currently on a VHS tape presents many problems.
- VCRs are becoming more difficult to find
- Mailing VHS tapes is expensive and takes forever
- You can only share them with a limited number of people
Sharing digitized VHS tapes is infinitely more manageable. Once your VHS tapes are on a digital copy, you can instantly share them with friends, family, and others. Share them with everyone, or share them with one person at no cost to you.
Take your VHS videos to a VHS-to-digital conversion center, and they will put your videos in easily sharable JPEG and MP4 formats.
Conclusion
There are many reasons to have your VHS tapes converted into digital format, the most important being that you can keep your memories from yesteryear forever. Nobody wants to lose the images and rememberings of the past, and now no one needs to with VHS-to-digital conversion services such as Capture.
Using professional video conversion services ensures that your VHS-taped memories are enshrined on digital copies with maximum audio and visual quality. They will convert your VHS tapes promptly and at a reasonable price so you can get rid of that big box of videos in your attic and share all your old memories with anyone and everyone.
