Post-Production : I am digitalizing lots of old Beta and VHS by Isaac David Quesada

Hello, Isaac. If it takes so much time and digital space, maybe you can choose from all those tapes only those which are more important to you and perhaps make a kind of documentary in which you tell a short story for each video that you saved (what you remember about that video, what you remember about that time in your life when you recorded the video...)

If you think that all of them are very important, then maybe you could put some effort and save them all to digital.

Maybe you are not doing something very big with this, but it could be important to you.

Also, maybe you don't have to do that all at once. Maybe every day you can take some time for this, then do your other things that you have to do in that day; little by little you will finish this too.

I think this is my opinion at this moment. Maybe that is what I would do if I were in your situation.

Best Wishes!

That´s a very nice answer, thanks! I will take that approach, little by little and being selective. Happy Holidays!

I did something similar a couple of years ago. Digitized old VHS, Beta and even some 16mm and 8mm. Most of this was our own home video from the 90s and older.

The greatest thing about all of this was that I was able to digitize my parents wedding from 8mm film and even restore it and edit it into a proper video.

They were really happy.

I think that it's important to store these mediums, since a lot of them have already been lost.

The biggest thing I keep worrying about is how to store and actually archive all this digital data.

One very interesting thing that I found years ago has been a DVD that is supposed to last 1000 years calle M disk and most modern DVD recorders are able to write them.

But for video this isn't that much of an option for storing raw files since they're quite huge.

Oh I know that feeling of letting those memories and stories get lost on tape! Good for you for making the transition for future generations!

This is always the burden of documentary filmmakers since you don't know what kind of story you have until you go through all of the material. Consider how much time is spent on a narrative film in development and pre-production - while you don't have any of that to worry about as a documentarian, that time is instead rerouted to sifting through your material and piecing together the puzzle.

In my not so humble opinion, I would say it is worth it to go through the footage to at least determine what is there and to see what you can come up with. Remember, just because you make it doesn't mean you have to show it. I think you'll at least feel better to know you tried and you can let the material rest afterward.

Thanks for the comments, I love this place, I always get so good ideas from posting here! I have been doing just what you have suggested, that means being selective and also well organized so I can properly balance my freelance job with this project. I have found very valuable stuff here, like footage from New York from 1985, footage from my parents being younger than me. My wife (a very talented writer) and me have decided to edit this into a documentary, we can already distinguish a story behind all these hours of footage. Also, there are lots of cool stuff like the Academy Awards from 1998, old tv commercials, news reel of some interest things like Putin being elected as president in the year 2000, so I think these are also worth storing somehow, I bought a 2TB hard drive and I am saving all these footage as H264.

Again, thanks for all your nice comments and ideas, I always get more than I am expecting when posting here!

Very neat project, and it sounds like you've got a good plan. If anything it must be fun just watching it and seeing old memories and discovering history!

Very cool! I do the same with older vinyl records, I record them straight into my DAW.