[Genealogy] Old VHS Tapes and One Thing I Forgot

Fri Jan 9 10:28:38 CST 2026

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** Using DigitPro for old VHS Tapes
** One Thing I Forget
** Full-Text Searching 2026 Early Pricing Ending--save $7.50
** Common Names at FamilySearch Webinar

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Using DigitPro for old VHS Tapes
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Today we have my long-time friend and non-genealogist Joe DeRouen write
about his experiences with converting VHS tapes to digital format. We all
probably have some of those tapes lying around and hopefully our readers
can glean some ideas from Joe's experience with his own takes and his
do-it-yourself approach.

(c) Joe DeRouen

Do you have old VHS tapes containing memories from the past but no way to
access
them? If so, you’re not alone. I recently came across a box full of VHS
tapes from well
over twenty years ago but, having no VCR, they were unwatchable.

The first thing I did was search Amazon and eBay for VCRs. There are no new
VCRs
being produced, of course, but there are several used ones, and even a few
that the
sellers claim have never been opened. They are not cheap, however, and tend
to range
from around $50 on eBay for used ones that are missing the remote control
and may or
may not work to upwards of $500 for ones on Amazon Marketplace that claim
to have
never been opened.

There are many services out there that offer VHS to digital transfer
services. On
average, they charge $25 per tape. If you only have one or two cassettes,
that’s
probably your best option. If, however, you have a boxful of tapes, that
can add up really
quickly, especially if you think you might have more tapes somewhere else.

In order to save money, I decided to take a different route. I purchased a
used VCR
missing the remote from Samaritan Shop (a local thrift store) for $5. I was
amazed when
it powered on, and I was able to successfully insert and eject a tape. But
did it really
work? I had no way of knowing for sure, because my modern-day television
didn’t have
the proper audio/video inputs to connect to the VCR. And even if I could
view the tapes
on my television, how long would the tapes last? VHS tapes don’t last
forever, and I had
no guarantee the tapes I’d found would even be watchable. My best bet was
to convert
the tapes to video files, so I could preserve them without further
degradation. But how
could I do that myself?

I began researching VHS-to-digital converters, and there are a lot of them
out there.
Some require attaching your VCR to a PC or laptop, so I concentrated on
ones that
would work independently because I didn’t want to have to shove the VCR
into an
already-crowded spot on my desk. Those sell for around $100 to $210. They
all range in
quality and what’s included with the device, and I ended up going for a
$119 option
called DigitPro.

The DigitPro comes with a 3.5-Inch high definition LCD screen and built-in
stereo
speakers that allow for real-time playback of recorded videos/audio without
having to
rely on an external device such as a laptop or a television.

In addition to supporting transfer from VCRs, the DigitPro also works with
DVD players,
Hi8 players, camcorders, and other players and camcorders. The best part
about it? It’s
very easy to use, and comes with a very clear instruction manual. There are
many
things you can do with it, but if all you want to do is transfer videos
it’s amazingly easy
to do. Highly recommended.

View the DigitPro on Amazon <https://amzn.to/49e4sVS>.

Joe's website <http://joederouen.com>

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One Thing I Forget
-------------------------------------------

Genealogists are human. We forget.

No matter how much we know about record access, record interpretation,
record creation, the law, human behavior, culture, customs, etc. there’s
always something the researcher can forget.

I suppose admitting to that isn’t good for my overall reputation, but here
goes.

What I forget more than anything is “the frequency with which some families
move.”

A family I’m still working on was in Clinton County, Illinois, in the
mid-1840s. I looked for them in the 1840 and 1850 census indexes there with
no success. Manual searches did not help either. Looking for them in 1860
was just as unsuccessful. The short version of the story is that apparently
the family was there for a few years in the mid-to-late 1840s and probably
moved shortly before the 1850 census enumeration.

The ease with which I sometimes forget about the “movers” is partially due
to my own family background–they tended to stay in one place for longer
periods of time. I have my  share of movers, but they usually hung around
an area for at least ten years before moving on.

The point here is not that people move–they do. The point is that many
times how we approach research can be colored by our own experience with
our own families–or the ones that we researched first and were easiest to
find. The approach that worked with those families might not work with
other families, other time periods, or other locations.

Don’t let what worked with families before prevent you from having success
with new ones you start to work on.

Get outside your usual genealogical process path and ask yourself:

What am I assuming about this family that may not be true? How might this
family be different from others I have worked on before?

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January 2026 Full-Text Search at FamilySearch Webinar

Intro price ENDING--regularly $37.50--save $30

-----------------------------

We’re excited to offer this revised presentation on the full-text searching
at *FamilySearch*--reflecting changes made to the site since this was
recorded in August 2025. We’ve redesigned our presentation as this
functionality continues to change. And…we have an extensive handout
complete with forms to help you find more people.

If you have purchased an earlier version of this presentation--email me at
mjnrootdig at gmail.com for the code to order this revision for $10.
Fully Utilizing Full-Text Search: Revised for January 2026

Your purchase includes:

   - *A 90 minute (or more presentation)* you can view as often as you want.
   - *Detailed handout* with charts and forms to help organize your
   searches. Charts and forms sent as separate files you can edit and
   customize and not as a locked PDF you have to re-create yourself as a new
   document.

We’ll be including and discussing:

*Determining what is in Full-Text Search—*what you can access at home and
what you will have to be in a FamilySearch facility or affiliate to access.

*Seeing How AI Transcriptions are different*—they aren’t like the
transcriptions made by humans. That can change your approach.

*Remembering that Full-Text means every word*—approaches need to differ as
we aren’t looking up a name in an index any more.

*Asking Who* is in the record? We aren’t just searching for the main person
like we did with traditional indexes. We’ll discuss how to determine who
could be mentioned in a record.

*Determining How to search?* There are a variety of ways to search and
filter results. We’ll see how each one works to help determine the best
strategy.

*Creating search strategies*—how full-text search changes your approach and
why just dumping terms in search boxes is not always effective.

*Determining what you found* The interface does not always make this clear.
We will show you how to get beyond the confusion and help you get enough
detail for a citation.

*Creating effective problem-solving approaches*—what to do when you cannot
find something you want.

*Demonstrating practical examples*—completely new people and families from
our previous presentations.

Available for immediate download for $30
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=246272&method_id=268990>.
Complete handout included and additional forms.

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Common Names When Using Full-Text Search?

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Having difficulties with common names when using the full-text search at
FamilySearch? Take a look at our presentation on this very topic.

Common Name webinar:

https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/

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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
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