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The holidays are upon us: the frantic time of the year when you are just cleaning up from a Thanksgiving meal, planning family time, swapping out decorations, and shopping for gifts. Okay, Okay, don’t get upset with me for reminding you how stressful this time of year is, but I do have a question for you…

What type of gift do you give to someone that means more to them than anything money can buy? Well, my friend, the answer is two-fold, a well thought out gift that is made specifically for them. It could be made by your hands or by someone else’s, but the idea is that is made for them, as well as a gift that speaks to their heart. This type of gift is worth more than gold when given as one made with your own hands.

Have I intrigued you enough to find out what the gift should be and how to get it? I hope so! 

The gift I am referring to is the gift of remembering the good times of the past. Yes, the memories of yesterday that you have heard shared many times. Now, if your family is like mine, I am referring to the telling of days “Way Back When”and not the pranks, snarkiness, and noogies (which are all fun and part of having a loving family), then you more than likely have videos and home movies stashed away in the attic or garage. 

This is what you do. Dig out those old tapes, and blow the dust off of the boxes they are in. Find an old VCR. Goodwill, eBay, and yard sales will still have these if you don’t have one. Then click on this link to purchase the VIDBOX Video Conversion Suite.

VHS-C cassette and Adapter
Image Credit: Wikipedia

If you have the small VHS-C cassettes then you will need a VHS-C Cassette Adapter to play them in the VCR. However, if you have tapes that are  small and say “Hi-8mm” then you will need

hi8 tapes
Image Credit: Wikipedia

 to have a video camera that will play these types of tapes. This is where Goodwill, eBay and yard sales are needed again. 

 

 

 

The VIDBOX comes with a small box that connects composite (Red White, and Yellow “RCA”) video sources (VCRs and old cameras) to it and then the box connects to your computer. 

* Illustration from VIDBOX

Once you have installed the software onto your computer, it walks you through the process of starting the recording. Be sure to allow time for the videos to play through. The process can be quite long if you have many tapes. Now once the videos are recorded onto your computer, you can then use a DVD authoring program to create menus and custom backgrounds for when played on a DVD player.  This process we will go over soon in another post.

Right now I want to get you thinking about where those old “home movies” are that you used to dread having to sit through as a child and beginning the first steps of converting them to digital. Did you see what just happened? In 450 words or less you just learned how to digitize your old VHS tapes.  Think about the joy that you will bring to your loved ones when they get this gift that you have made with your hands for them specifically. 

There are many fun ways that you can make this interesting and I hope that you will follow along on this journey and found out just what we mean by this. In the mean time, lets get “digital.”

 

 

 

I’m required to state that I’m a part of affiliate programs for Amazon and Kit, which means that I make a small amount of money when you click on those links in my video descriptions. It costs you nothing, and helps me grow my business. Thank you for your support!

Things you will need. 

A VCR

 

VIDBOX Video Conversion Suite for PC & MAC

 

VHS-C Cassette Adapter

 

10 Pack 8GB USB

With the holidays coming up, you will probably be taking a lot of photos of family and friends. Today, we will discuss the preparations you can take to ensure that you capture those precious, fun, loving, and candid memories that can be shared for many years to come.

Phillips 2014 Thanksgiving

When you think of the holidays coming up, do you cringe at the thought of all of the preparations that will need to be taken care of, or are you ready to hit the ground running to be able to enjoy the time of togetherness? More than likely, you are making lists of things that need to be completed, purchased, decorated, or even moved. Before the holidays arrive, make sure that you have prepared your capturing devices. Make sure that you have new or freshly charged batteries. It may be that you need to purchase new memory cards for you digital cameras, whether they are camcorders or still photography cameras. If you are using film based cameras, make sure you have extra film on hand and tapes for recording. Also, it’s a good idea to pull out the manual that you never quite got around to reading and spend some time experimenting with the features. At the very least, make sure you know how to use the timer and how to turn on the flash.
You have huge advantages when your family is your subject: access and familiarity. If your family is accustomed to seeing you with a camera in hand, then you are ahead of the game. They will probably ignore you, and that’s a good thing. As a result, you will be able to capture photos of your loved ones just being themselves.  You can get the best pictures when people are preparing dinner, gift wrapping, chatting, and setting the tables. There are many holiday events in which you and your family will be participating in, and these make for great memories to be seen from now on. Be ready to capture even if you are not planning on capturing. Try to keep the camera at hand, because you never know when great moments are going to happen.  You have already missed the moment by the time you say, “Hold on! Let me get the camera.”
Be thinking about how you will capture those great memories.
Whether you are after a great family portrait in front of your beautifully decorated tree or just capturing the essence of the holidays through candid snapshots, we have compiled a set of tips that will help you master the art of capturing picture-perfect shots.
  • Choose a couple of family members who are good with a camera and put them in charge of taking as many photos as possible. I do realize that that this post is about you capturing the moments. However, it is a good idea to ask multiple people to help so that you can participate in the togetherness and activities. It also helps to get different points of view.

 

  • Pick a spot or two throughout the places that you will be having the events that will be safe and Naron 2014 Thanksgivingsecure to set up a tripod. This will be a place to set up the camera(s) to record the activities of that room without standing behind it. Remember to check on it from time to time. If you have a remote for your camera, you could randomly hit the capture button. If it has a time lapse mode (taking pictures on a set timer), set it, and let it work. Picking a spot will give two advantages. First and foremost, it will be a place to keep everything together in one place as to not get lost, kind of a home base for the camera(s). Secondly, in the event that charging needs to be done, you know where all of the chargers are.

 

  • Also, when you are capturing the moments of children, don’t just stand there. Get down to their level for the best images. With supervision, why not hand the camera to them, and let them show you what they see.IMG_20131130_201636_602

 

  • Use props for your holiday guests to use in silly family photos. Put out some silly hats, glasses, large empty picture frames, and have your loved ones hold them up in silly ways to get some candid captures.

 

  • The holidays are often the only time the entire family is gathered together, making it a prime opportunity for capturing a full-family portrait. When setting up group photos, choose a location where you can arrange family members in a pleasant way and get everyone close together. Arrange members at different heights so you don’t just have a family line-up — faces should fill most of the frame. To create a perfect indoor shot, pull the couch a few feet from the wall, which will prevent a flash casting harsh, dark shadows. Then you can also have people stand behind the couch as well as sit in front of it, so you have three tiers of faces. Consider switching up the traditional adult-above-children arrangement by having some adults sitting on the floor and some children standing on boxes. Don’t try to perfect every aspect — you’ll never get every cowlick tamed and shirt tucked. They’re you’re lovable, imperfect family, after all, and to truly capture their essence, let them be themselves. To ensure you don’t get a family of red-eyed demons, ask your family to look anywhere but straight at the camera lens.

 

  • For small groups or solos, remember that the eyes and mouth are the most important features to capture. You’ll want to be at eye-level for a close, intimate feeling. Decide how much of your child you want in the picture, then frame him so you’re not cutting off his body exactly at the waist, shoulders, or knees. Just as you don’t want to have your child’s face dead center, his body shouldn’t be facing the camera straight on. Instead, turn him about a quarter-turn away from you and have him look back at you. For a more connected result, make eye contact with your child before you click the shutter. For a timeless look, consider using black and white for portraits.

 

Putting in the extra effort to capture the moment with your family now will pay off in the end.
While your children might not want to take a picture right now, many years from now they will look back be able to remember their childhood and share with their children the fun that was had before them.
Set up a way for past years moments to be watched. Our family loves to watch them! If you need help doing this, check out

Watching and Sharing Your Home Movies

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Finally, be sure not to be greedy with all of those moments that you have captured. Set aside some time to copy them to your computer, make disks to give out, and ask for trades from others that were there.
So, be prepared with all of you devices, batteries, flashes, memory cards, films, and tapes. Refresh your memory of how the device works. Make a list of specific pictures and portraits that you would like to take and have your family help you get them. Don’t just look for posed moments, but also, be sure to get candid shots that take place. Capture the preparation of the food, casual gatherings, and welcoming moments.  Try to get different view points. Once the fun has ended but before everyone leaves, share the media. Try all of these tips to help you capture and celebrate the holidays in a more creative way. Happy Holidays!

 

Baby’s first steps, the first day of school, or a 50th wedding anniversary — you’ve probably captured many memories with your camcorder. What will you do with all that footage? Will you play it back on your TV? Will you make copies to share with friends and family? Will you edit your files and archive them to enjoy for years to come? Below, we’ll look at what you can do with your camcorder footage and offer our suggestions and tips for getting the best results with your home movies.

Today, we are using an article that was posted on crutchfield.com. This was a very informative article on how to play and archive your camcorder videos. We give all credit to the author, Tara W. at Crutchfield for all of the hard work. The article was a little dated so we went through and got the information more up-to-date.

Playing your videos on a TV

Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock

Watching your footage on a TV is simple enough — simply connect the camcorder to your TV with the audio/video cables that come in the box. Most camcorders come with a composite video cable, but if you have a high-def camcorder and want to use its component video or HDMI connection, then you’ll probably need to purchase these cables separately. And if you go with an HDMI connection, you won’t have to make a separate audio connection to you TV, since HDMI can pass both video and audio signals.

Watching your videos on a computer

Most camcorders transfer video files and photos onto your computer via a USB interface. Most newer computers have high-speed USB ports, but if you’re using an older computer then you may have a full-speed USB port, which just means that your video transfer might take a little longer. If you have an older mini DV or Digital8® camcorder, you’ll probably need an i.LINK® (IEEE 1394) jack to transfer digital video from the cam to your computer. If you have a newer computer without an i.LINK jack, it should be fairly easy and inexpensive to add one via an optional PCI or PC card.

connections

Mini DV camcorders use i.Link jacks (left) to transfer videos to a computer, while hard drive and mini DVD camcorders use USB ports (right).

New ways to share and enjoy your videos

With recent technology advances, it’s become easier than ever to copy and share footage for all to see. Here are a few new ways to share your home movies:

  • Post your videos on a website. Video-sharing sites like YouTube™ and video blogs make it easy to post footage that your friends and family can view. Post clips of baby’s first steps, your child’s birthday, or that crazy family reunion you went to last year. You can use special software to compress your recordings for posting on these sites, or invest in a web-friendly cam that produces videos that are easy to upload to sites or e-mail directly to family.
  • Store footage on an iPod®, iPhone®, or MP3 player. Transfer video clips to your portable player and show them off to family members next time you get together at the holidays. Putting videos on a portable player may also require special software that converts your videos to a compatible format. Some players can be connected to a TV for large-scale playback of your videos.
  • Use the SD card slot or USB port on your HDTV. Some newer HDTVs offer built-in SD memory card slots and USB ports. That means that if you have an SD memory card camcorder, you can copy footage onto the SD card and pop it into the card slot on a compatible HDTV. And of course you can connect just about any camcorder with a USB port up to a compatible HDTV. Just be sure to check your television’s manual to be sure that it’ll play back video, and that it’s compatible with your camcorder’s video recording format. A lot of newer Blu-ray players, game consoles, and receivers also offer SD card slots or USB inputs, in case your TV doesn’t have one.
  • Stream your videos to your TV. If you have your videos stored on your computer, then it’s easy to stream them to your TV or other compatible home theater gear. You won’t need any cables to connect your camcorder to your TV, and will have your whole library of videos on your computer at your finger tips.

Copying and archiving your footage for yourself and others

It’s unfortunate, but discs and tapes can break, wear out, or get lost, and hard drives fail eventually. So we recommend that you make multiple copies of your videos. You can use a number of different devices to make copies of your footage — from DVD recorders to your computer (if it has a DVD burner).

DVD recorders for camcorders are designed specifically to help people archive their camcorder footage. They’re especially handy for folks who have a hard drive camcorder but don’t have a computer with a DVD burner. You’ll probably use the USB output on your camcorder to make a digital connection to these DVD recorders. Then, you can record your footage on full-size DVD discs for playback in most DVD or Blu-ray players.

Some DVD recorders may only offer standard-definition recording. Others will allow you to copy standard- and high-definition video footage — a big plus for HD camcorder owners. You’ll be able to downconvert your high-definition (HD) videos for playback on most DVD players, or maintain the high resolution of HD video files for playback on the recorder itself or a compatible Blu-ray Disc™ player.

Another archival option: use your PC and an external hard drive.
If you have a PC, you can attach an external hard drive to your computer and simply copy footage from your tapes and discs onto the hard drive. Saving files onto an additional hard drive lets you keep your computer’s internal one free for everyday needs. Finally, if you fill up an external hard drive with your home movies, you can unplug it and keep it somewhere safe, and connect a new one for your next batch of archives. It might not be a bad idea to make a regular schedule to copy your irreplaceable footage to archive drives on a regular basis and duplicate those. Then house those duplicate drives in a nice, climate controlled place that’s not your home. That way you’re covered for most mishaps, whether the cause is human, natural or mechanical.

Online storage, while a great idea for documents and pictures, can easily be overwhelmed by the sheer data space requirements of video archiving. Aside from the fact that video takes up a lot of storage space, the time you’d need to devote to uploading and downloading material would probably be measured in days over many internet connections. If you want to save a few important, selected clips, it’s not the worst place to do so, but remember to check out the storage site’s guidelines on file size limits, and check those monthly or annual costs carefully. It’s also a good idea to read some customer reviews, if you can.

Relive Your Memories! You Shoot It – We Edit!

Casually Sharp Multimedia
Casually Sharp Multimedia

Now, don’t let these precious moments stay stored on hard drives, memory cards, or tapes for months, years, and sometimes, even forgotten forever. Memories are like diamonds, and happy memories are like those rare diamonds that always remind us of our happy days and keep our hope for a better life ahead. These precious memories are worth preserving. Casually Sharp Multimedia is the perfect place to bring out the best in your photos and videos. We can be as creative as you want and need. Give us an opportunity to help carve your memories in the shape of videos! Relive your memories! You shoot it – we edit! Services. Pricing.