May 27th, 2008
VCR converts old tapes to digital video (yes, you read correctly)
Just when you thought that six-foot-high stack of video tapes you’ve been hiding in the basement was a dream deferred (”one day I’ll watch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark on original tape…”), good news arrives: now you can rip those crusty tapes to digital files and burn them to the next bound-for-the-basement format, DVD.
Simply stated, Ion’s VCR 2 PC is a VHS player with a USB port. It converts movies into MPEG-4 files, and the included software will take those files and prepare them for various portable devices. Put into perspective, the $250 player is considerably cheaper than buying an entire movie collection all over again on another format.
The VCR to PC can also function as a general purpose converter, with standard video and audio-in sockets on the front for hooking up other equipment, like that VHS, VHS-C, or 8MM camcorder that houses all of your old home videos. It’s a simple solution for digitizing all of the content hanging around on old media.
As the Retro Thing blog noted, it’s the last chance to be kind and rewind. You know, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Do you still have tapes lying about the house? Tell us in TalkBack.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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