Origins and Development Long before vinyl was used for audio recordings, shellac was the principal material for phonograph records. Shellac is a resinous substance secreted by the lac bug ( Kerria lacca ) and processed into a hard, brittle compound. Commercial shellac records began in the late 19th century, and the early shellac discs were fragile and limited to very short playing times of around 3 to 4 minutes per side. By the 1910s-1920s, most shellac records adopted a 78 r

With the increase in picture quality in the competitive world of video production, losing footage due to technical failures can incur significant costs, delay projects, and compromise professional integrity. DVCAM was Sony’s professional variant of the DV digital videotape format, introduced in 1996 and widely used in broadcast, corporate, and institutional video production. Its advantages were primarily centered on reliability, audio robustness, and professional workflow com

After a successful run in the 1980s and 1990s of Video8 and VHS-C camcorders, Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, and Canon began selling camcorders that recorded video directly to DVD. This made things easier. You could shoot video, finalize the disc, and then play it right away on a DVD player. They were marketed as a more user-friendly alternative to tape-based formats such as MiniDV, Digital8, and Hi8. The main selling point was instant compatibility   with home DVD players, elim

When the home video recording boom hit in the 1980s, two formats vied for dominance in the compact camcorder space: JVC’s Compact VHS (VHS-C) and Sony’s Video8. While both offered the promise of smaller, more portable camcorders, VHS-C managed to stay in the camcorder race for almost 20 years despite the technological advantages of the Video8 format. How did VHS-C, with its larger camcorder sizes, clunky tape cassette design, and short recording times, manage to sell so many

Why do VHS transfers using a cheap video capture card often result in poor quality? One of the main reasons is the lack of time base...

VHS tapes, the most popular videotape format for TV recordings and home videos, are at risk, along with other videotape formats, of...

If you are completing a project to digitize your videotapes and film reels from the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's, you may have noticed a...

Preserving irreplaceable family moments is a priority for many. If you've got old 8mm or Super 8 film reels sitting in storage,...

Betacam's portability, ease of use, and image quality set a new standard for content creation. Betacam is an ideal format for digitizing.

MiniDV was a popular consumer camcorder format from the mid 1990's to the 2010's. It was launched in 1995 as the first digital videotape...

Many of our clients who have digitized dozens of vintage videotape recordings to hours of raw footage eventually decide they want a "Best...

For those who have recently digitized their home videotape collection, the reality of low 720 x 480 resolution VHS, Video8 and other...

We'll cover the interview guidelines for your discussion with the family member and software tools to create a family history video.

Creating a family history video allows you to highlight a family member from photos, audio recordings and film/videotape transfers.

While aging causes a number of physical changes to videotapes, mold and fungus can make your tapes and 8mm films unplayable.

Discover how videotape aging problems can ruin your cherished memories. Learn about common videotape aging problems and preservation tips.

Audio enhancement software allows consumers to make improvements to audio tracks on their videotapes, digitized vinyl, films and cassettes.

If you want to save valuable audio cassette recordings, having them digitized is your path to preserving them.

We'll look at the variations of Super VHS format including S-VHS-C, Super VHS-ET and S-VHS quasi-playback.

We'll cover a few of the free and low-cost editing programs that are ideal for beginning users to master in order to create home movies.