Many people want their old home videos saved onto a modern watchable format, but which one is the best? Here are the pros and cons to saving on DVD and USB.
DVD: PRO
Who doesn't own a DVD player, or even a Blu-Ray player? Both devices can play DVD discs and are likely hooked up to your flat screen right now.
DVD: CON
A fair amount of the population have already gotten rid of the their disc players, deeming them "outdated" as they've fully embraced the Smart technology, relying on Netflix and Disney+ to supply all their content.
USB: PRO
Flash drives are space savers. Being substantially smaller than DVD discs, they're easier to store in a safe place.
USB: CON
Contradictory to the previous "PRO", those small flash drives can get lost easily so make sure you put them in a spot you'll remember.
DVD: CON
DVD discs are delicate and having one copy of all your precious videos can be risky. One bad scratch on the backside and that information is lost forever.
USB: PRO
Flash drives are durable. Even dropping one will likely not do any damage. In addition, making duplicates of your files is as easy as dragging and dropping to multiple hard drives or computers.
DVD: CON
DVDs compresses your video. On the chance that you're saving an HD quality picture (from film scanning, more likely than VHS), it'll downgrade to 720p and that's the best you'll get on a standard DVD disc.
USB: PRO
You won't lose picture quality on USB. You can save your files in any format and it will stay in the format no matter what.
After tallying up the votes, it looks like we have a winner: USB!
This is just my preference and I'll recommend clients to put their videos on USB all the time for a number of reasons.
It takes less steps to put files directly on a USB stick than creating DVD discs, which means customers get their videos back quicker.
Less steps equals less work, and in turn makes it more cost effective for customers.
Smart TVs make it easy to just plug and go with a USB drive, even screen sharing from your laptop. Heck, most DVD and Blu-Ray players have a USB port to play content off flash drives.
Since most people are watching content on their hand held devices, having their home videos as generic digital files makes it easier to share content between friends and family (ie. creating a shared folder or private Youtube channel).
Ultimately, USB flash drives are more reliable. As stated in the PROs and CONs list above, USBs are more durable and are easier to replicate while DVDs are delicate and more time consuming to replicate.
Long-term, you'll have better results with a USB.
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