Luke Judge

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I have a half-dozen VHS tapes containing priceless family memories that I would like to convert to digital files before the tapes themselves start to degrade. I can have a commercial company do the conversion work, but what are the other options? — Sterling Swan, Sandy.

Ah, the changing face of technology. Thanks to ever-evolving video technology, I have a feeling we’ll be transferring home movies to the next latest-and-greatest video format for the rest of our lives. But such is the price of keeping our memories alive for our kids to see.

But this is a good question because just about everyone has video on VHS tapes that they would like to transfer to DVD to preserve for today’s players.

The easiest method is to have a professional company do it for you, especially if it’s a small number of tapes. That way, you don’t have to purchase new equipment. But that option also is a bit pricey.

If you want more control over the conversion — for example, being able to edit the video in addition to converting it — here are a couple of DIY options:

Use a DVD recorder » There are dozens of different DVD recorders for sale. They not only play DVDs but record on blank DVD discs as well. (One from Sylvania was selling on Amazon.com for $50).

Just plug in your old VHS VCR into the DVD recorder to transfer the video.

Another kind of DVD recorder is one that also has a VHS deck built in.

That way you can plop in the tape, press “play” and record the tape on the DVD recorder. (Amazon had a refurbished Magnavox model for $55).

The only downside here is that you don’t have editing options. You just simply record what’s on the tape.

Use a PC » For a more flexible but more complicated solution, you can connect your VCR (if you still have one) to your PC if the computer has a recordable DVD drive (which all recent PCs should have).

But this will require one of two pieces of hardware: either a video capture card for your PC, or a video capture cable that connects the VCR to the PC via a USB port.

You also will need software that takes the signal and encodes the video to be burned and played on a DVD.

I have not tested any of these devices or the software to encode the video. But search the Internet for reviews to determine which works best for you.

Every Tuesday, tech writer Vince Horiuchi answers your tech questions. If you have one for him, email it to .

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