Whether it's a birthday gift, anniversary, holiday season or a brilliant tactic to organize your home, you won't regret digitizing your memories. The one thing you might regret is how you had your memories digitized...
We understand, digitizing your memories is important. They are precious ties to your family history and you want them to last a life time! When digitizing your memories, please (for the sake of yourself, your loved ones and kodak) don't digitize them yourself. Here's why...
Your Memories
Take a second to think of your memories. All the different forms of analog, whether that be old 8mm film reels, slides and negatives, old vhs tapes and cassettes tapes, are holding priceless recordings of the good ole days. Not to mention, each one of those priceless recordings are very, very different.
When it comes to handling your memories, you want to make sure each format is treated with the right attention and care as it should. A film reel is not the same as a VHS tape, and a VHS tape is not the same as a printed photo. The only thing these items have in common is that they are all special.
When converting your memories with a converter box, no matter the price, it might night treat your items with that special care. At Kodak Digitizing, we have state of the art equipment to pamper your memories the right way. We have technicians that will monitor your memories,so you don't have to, and who know the different idiosyncrasies to each format.
Let's face it, a converter box purchased off line can break, it can unravel your memories, it can harm your film or delete your audio...and we don't want that for you or for anyone.
Your Availability
How much time do you have on your hands?
Truly ask yourself that question because this task is daunting and will take a large chunk of your time. First, let's look at how much you have to be digitized.
Let's say, you have nine VHS tapes that need to be digitized and over 100 photos to be scanned. Did you know that each VHS tape can hold up to 4 hours of footage...not to mention that converter boxes must play the tape all the way through in order to finish converting the content? So, you're looking at 36 hours of converting tapes.
With your photos, each image will have to be scanned by hand - one by one. Not to mention, there might be dust or fuzz on the converter causing your to readjust or fix each photo you already scanned.
Along with the time, you'll want to monitor your memories while they convert. Why? Because you'll have tracking issues that will need to be adjusted and jams in the VHS or film that need to be corrected. If you don't, you'll see that the first 36 hour attempt was a flop and you'll have to do it all again.
With Kodak, we make this process easy. Your items will be digitize to perfection with a turn around time you didn't think was possible.
Your family
So, say you want to go through with digitizing your items with a convert box anyway. That's fine, but how are you going to share your content with family and friends?
Here's what you'll have to do on your own: DVDs, thumb drives or digital sharing. Sure, DVDs can be cheap, but they are equally just as time consuming. Each DVD can take 30 min to an hour to burn and you'll probably have to make multiple copies to share with your friends and family. You can do the math on your end, just know that after 36 hours of digtizing your tapes, you won't want to add anymore time to this project.
Thumb drives. After you digitize your items you'll just plop it on a thumb drive, right? Be aware that thumb drives can be pricey, especially if you have a lot of content. Not to mention, sharing your thumb drive files via email, facebook, youtube or google drive is also a lot harder than it seems...
- Emails can't share content over 25MB in size...which your homemovies will most likely exceed that limit
- Facebook and Youtube may take days to upload your memories depending on the length of each file
- Google drive can only hold 15GB of free space. After this amount, you'll have to pay $100 per month or more. One homemovie exceeding 10 minutes of content will surpass the 15GB storage option....leaving you with no other option than to pay extra. Let's not do that...
Instead, Kodak Digitizing offers all of these options: DVDs, Thumb Drives and Digital Download. Your digital download will be provided through a separate Google Drive account made just for you. You can immediately download your content and share the Google Drive with your friends and family.
In conclusion, converter box options aren't the best way to go. It's inconvenient, expensive and there is a greater risk of truly damaging your precious memories. Kodak Digitizing makes it simple, easier than doing it yourself and safe.
