What do we do with our old VHS tapes? (movies)?

Question

Now we use DVR's,DVD's, Tivo,etc. Have you even looked at your kid's special events you just had to video-tape?I have 100's
of movies,programs,events,etc. I don't want to throw them away
they're precious.(yet boring) My camcorder is useless also.

Answer 1

Your camcorder could probably be donated to an old folks' home...kindergarten/high school classroom...local animal shelter etc. SOME non-profit group would be thrilled to have it! Look at Yahoo! groups, american classifieds, etc. for ideas.

As for your kids' events..can you transfer them to the longer-lasting, less space intensive DVD? Also one DVD would hold many, many minutes of footage. Devote a DVD to each child for his "moments"...Then..put them away. Some day your children may be parents..or they may be gone (God forbid!) and then the word priceless will really have meaning.

Good luck!

Answer 2

There is still a market for them and will be as long as VCRs are still manufactured. You could sell them on E-Bay or Half.Com, either individually or in bulk. To maximize your profits with minimizing the time and hassle with listing and selling, I would recommend breaking them down into lots of around 10 and by a category, such as Kids, Horror, Action Adventure, or if you have that many with a popular actor in it or a certain theme, like "Nature's Destruction" (Volcano, Day After Tomorrow, etc.).

If you do not want to hassle with them at all, you could always donate them to Goodwill, Salvation Army or your local homeless shelter and get a tax write off for the fair market value of the tapes.

The same would go with the camcorder, sell it on E-Bay or donate it to one of the above, or to your child's school.

For the personal videos you can have them converted to DVDs but can get to be a bit pricey. I checked locally at it was $15 for 90 minutes of tape to DVD. Best thing to do is edit the tapes you have into the such as "Football games" and just keep the shot with your child scoring or a interesting interaction.

If you have the space, I would strongly recommend storing the VHS tapes of your family even if you don't get them converted as oppossed to throwing or giving them away. If (when) the worst should happen that one of the people on the tape passes away you still have a little bit of them you otherwise wouldn't. My son had a "Kideo" kiddie camcorder as a kid and it only taped in black and white with no focus or zoom and sound is scratchy; however, it turned out that footage is all we have of his Grandma and Grandpa and he will cherish the always.

Answer 3

There is a way to copy those treasured tapes from tape to DVD. Get a VHS/DVD combo player. Then put the tape in without playing. Then put the DVD in the player then hit play on the tape and record on the DVD player. Then Presto! Tapes copied onto DVD!

Answer 4

VHS will prolyl not go completly away for a long while. But, if I were you, for the real important stuff on VHS, take it to a video editting place and get it put on CD or DVD.

Answer 5

I would recommend that you convert the one's that you really want to keep to DVD. Often photography places offer to do this (for a fee of course), or you can purchase a device that lets you connect a VCR to computer with a DVD burner to convert your own. I have read that the production of blank VHS cassettes is being discontinued this year.

Answer 6

They now make 'devices' so you can burn your VHS movies onto DVDs and we have a device that hooks up to our camcorder and computer, and makes DVDs out of everything we video tape!!

Answer 7

I have tons of vhs tapes in my closet i keep them as clean and new as possible some day they might be colllectibles 100 years or so.

Answer 8

I have a Hewlett Packard computer that has what is called Media Center in it. It has a hookup in the back (the red, yellow and white tri-cords) that you can plug a VCR or DVD into it, and download the material onto my computer - instant DVD!!!! If you can't afford a new computer, ask your friends if they have one similar, check out the library or maybe even a camera/video store in your area, they may be able to help!!

Answer 9

Don't throw them away. That was my mistake. Look over them again. Some might not be boring but if you have a movie like evil movie "Titanic", throw it or sell it to any poor sucker. Sell your movies. Wait a couple of years and then sell them. It's like someone trying to buy a record player from the 70s. Classic!

Answer 10

Look in your phonebook directory, and there are people who convert vhs videos to dvd...so all your home movies will be saved! It's relatively cheap too! : )