“Generational loss” occurs each time an analog tape is duplicated because the values are not read back exactly the same way every time. Looking at a digital clock, everybody agrees on the number. An analog clock is one that measures value across a continual scale, the hands move from “1” to “2” by proceeding through all the space in between where as in digital, where things are expressed by a discrete value, “1” turns directly into “2”.īecause copying analog values is inexact (you look at the clock and see five minutes past three, someone else might read it as four, another as six) each time copies are made, errors are introduced. The easiest example of the difference between analog and digital is the most familiar – a clock. We use the terms “analog” and “digital” a lot, some people may be unclear as to what they mean and why one is better than the other is. Transferring your old footage to digital medium is not only a good idea from a preservation point of view, but it’s essential if you want to edit your footage. Family tapes that may seem dull now will be priceless when your children are grown up and moved out. You can still get VHS players new, but that won’t always be the case, it’s better to spend $45 now on something new that sits in a box in the basement than it is to fight for something used on eBay in ten years. It’s always a good idea to have legacy equipment that will play every format you still have footage in – which means don’t throw out that Hi8 camcorder if you still have a closet full of birthdays recorded from it. Those dopes have taken their own sweet time giving me this award.”Īnd with that, she loaded up her dogsled and was off leaving me wondering how to get her speech to Oslo and her Walrus wrestling to the Internet.

Digital to analog video converter