Raise your hand if you have taken home videos? OK, pretty much all of you. Now, keep your hand up if you have digitized your memories by putting them on a computer or DVD. Aha. That's what I thought. Not many of you. I can hear the excuses already - "I'm want to do it, I'm just too busy", "I don't know how to do it", or "I want to take the time to do it right and create really good edited videos".

Well, I'm here to tell you to forget the excuses and do it now. At the very least, transfer the video to your computer, even if you don't edit it yet. This will do several things for you: (1) gives you a backup copy of your tape in case your original gets damaged or lost, (2) tape has a limited life span, so it will ensure that you won't lose your precious moments, and (3) it will give you the ability to actually watch your video. I hooked my computer to my TV and watch my home videos in the family room. It's a great way to spend quality time together as a family.

The transfer process is fairly simple and literally can take just minutes of your time. All you have to do is hook up your camcorder to your computer, hit the play button on the camcorder and the record button on the software on your computer. Then, just sit back and wait for your computer to do the transfer. I wrote an article, Transferring Digital Video from a Digital Camcorder to my PC on TechLore of how I did it with my digital camcorder. That's a good place to start. If you have an analog camcorder, you can read my article on Converting VHS or analog tapes to DVD.

And no more excuses, get that camcorder out and start transferring.

Read More In: Video Playback / Recording Devices Cameras and Camcorders