What do I do with old home videotapes...

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I have some old home videotapes from the late 80s and early 90s of me or my brother and cousins as babies, and I got them copied on to DVDs so I can keep them forever without the fear of the tapes wearing out. But, for some reason, I'm still afraid to throw out the old videotapes. It just wouldn't feel right to throw parts of my life away forever, even though I have them on DVD. But they are taking up space in our apartment.

Does anyone know what I mean?

Have lots of videos as we still have and use video players. A few years ago someone said they have stopped making them and the local video shop closed. Seems like video hire is now hard to find?

??? I would try to find a way to convert it to a different format?
Formats that can be stored elsewhere, playable with computers and phones or upload before disposing/selling/giving away/etc?

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I don't think you get what I'm saying even though I thought I explained it clearly.

I now have my old videotapes converted on to discs that I can play in a DVD player or computer. But I don't want to throw away the videotapes even though I'm not really going to watch them any more now that I have the videos copied safely on the discs.

I just don't feel right throwing away the videotapes, but I have nowhere to store them.

In with the new and out with the old.

I had hundreds of VCR Video tapes that I converted to DVDs. I threw out the old when I completed the transfer. I no longer had a machine of playing these old VCR tapes, so the tapes were useless.

I think I get it... it's like keeping some stuff you know you won't need again because you have something to replace it, but want to keep it because it was important in the past, right? Emotional value.

Do you think your brother or parents could take them for safekeeping?

Not to stress you out , but I would get your home videos onto other formats besides just DVD-RW's. They're not a very stable format in the long run. Something more stable like a solid state drive/ a couple of flash drives.

I also just recently converted my families old VHS tapes to digital format.

I would keep them, seem like a piece of history. I also live in a 1 bedroom apartment so I understand the space issue!

I wouldn't be too quick to throw it out. Before you know it, a digital platform becomes incompatible with the newest []crap[/s] versions of whatever.

There are worse things than holding on to stuff. Been plenty of things I wish I had never gotten rid of, and some I've even tried to replace. You really don't know what you'll wish you had kept 20 years down the road.

Totally understand about space issues though.

I got the videos done on to a DVD disc by going into a shop that does them for you. It was highly recommended by other people to do this.

Probably still the best way to view them is on DVD.

I (and I guess Edna also whoops) was suggesting in too many words to create backup versions of your DVD's in a more widely compatible format (computer video file). Basically to save from having a headache down the road converting the DVD to the next technology and to protect from accidental damage to the discs. Probably still lots of years for that though.