Many videos of the past are all but forgotten in stacks, most of us don’t even have the equipment to watch these old tapes. We can convert VHS, VHS-C, Mini DV, DVCam, Betamax, Hi 8, Digital 8, Umatic, Betacam, VHS Tapes from other regions including PAL or SECAM. Files are saved as an Mp4 file format for easy viewing. Tapes are digitized, edited beginning and ends (including blank sections), de-interlaced so they play smoothly on modern screens, and returned in MP4 format for easy viewing on most devices.
Even if tapes are moldy or damaged we can help you. We have corrected for many problems with tapes in the past and have several processes to to fix them. We can also edit parts out of a videotape (to remove or to just separate parts into individual files).
Video Tape Conversion FAQs:
How long are my videos?
Here are the average play times of the types of videos we can convert:
VHS: 2-4 Hours
VHS-C: 30-120 minutes
HI-8: 30-120 minutes
Mini DV: 60-90 minutes
What kind of tapes do I even have?
Video cameras changed over the years, and they started large and like other electronics got smaller as time went on. Look at the top of this page to see a few examples of the most common videotapes formats. VHS, VHS-C, Mini DV, Hi8.
How will I get the videos back?
You will get your digital files back on either a large thumb/flash drive or an external hard drive that you provide. or you purchase from us.
We will make up to 5 copies at no additional cost with purchase or delivery of the Flash Drives or External Hard Drives. We want you to have redundancy to help keep your memories secure.
What type of flash drives or external hard drives should I get?
At the end of digitizing your items will will give you the total amount of space your files need. When purchasing get slightly larger than the amount of space needed as they are not actually the exact size stated on the package. Go with name brand and the 3.0 or higher generation for speed of transfer. Here are our suggestions for
Flash drives: 128 gb Sandisk and 256 gb Sandisk
External hard drives are larger and are great for storing all your video and photo files.
External hard drives :2 TB WD, 5 TB WD
Can I get them on a DVD?
You can get your file on a DVD for an additional $10.00. We will also provide you with a full-size archival-quality video file on your external hard drive. It’s important for us to provide an archival quality video file, DVDs are not the best way to store videos long-term. This is a service we provide because it is important for us to preserve your memories for the future. Learn more about VHS to DVD conversion here. Like VHS, DVDs are becoming less common for general use to consume media.
How can I play the videos?
Most modern smart TVs can play .mp4 files that are returned to you on a USB drive. If you are playing from the external hard drive on your computer you likely already have a program to play them. If you have any issues however you can use the software VLC. VLC is a free and open-source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD’s, Audio CD’s, VCD’s, and various streaming protocols.
You can download a VLC player here:
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html
