Based in Alabama accepting media from all over the US I have years of experience and offer the transfer of a variety of video tape formats into digital files or onto DVD

Sample Transfers

Formats I Can Handle

S-VHS, S-VHS-C, VHS

8mm, Video8 Hi8, Digital8

I’ve created this video to explain these four formats

DV, Mini DV

When I transfer tapes I strive to get the best capture possible and with my equipment can correct for problems the home user commonly encounters when doing basic capture using composite with cheap capture cards or easy VHS to digital devices. With the professional decks and DTBC’s (More below on that) I use I can play back and transfer most consumer tape formats (see above for compatibility) in their native formats and resolution without any penalty in quality due to backwards compatibility with older formats. I also can perform a wide range of tape repairs including tape splicing, mold removal and transplanting broken tapes into new shells. Getting these tapes transferred by a professional is important because due to age these tapes can be fragile and risking on unknown or old poorly maintained hardware is risky. Each tape is inspected before transfer.

Here’s a tape I was able to transfer that basic home capture wouldn’t be able to.

Time base correction is an important part of transferring video tape I have a small collection of them with my main TBC being a DPS-290 What digital time base correctors are able to do is store a whole field of video and correct it this allows common issues with tapes to be corrected the below video shows how I was able to drastically improve the image quality of a tape of my sister’s birthday. I was also able to fix issues with the color of the tape. If you’re a nerd here’s a research paper on it. The above demo shows the TBC correcting a tape as viewed through my vectorscope.

Prices

$20 per tape depending on amount. (I offer bulk discounts on large tape amounts after 20 tapes)
$10 for basic tape repair.
$15 for basic storage media great for smaller jobs fewer then 30 tapes
$130 for extra large transfer jobs and ProRes transfer due to file size.
$15 per DVD while I prefer to transfer your tapes to a file I can transfer to a DVD
$25 Extreme mold (More on that below)


I have created a cost calculator to get a rough idea of price
Tapes can be shipped if you are not local to me return shipping cost depends on the amount of tapes.

Cost calculator

FAQ

What file types do you offer? For most transfers I create MOVs in a H.264 codec these files are suitable for playback on most modern devices. I also can create ProRes files for advanced users that need files for video editing note there is $10 charge added when creating these files due to the increased size of files.

Do you de-interlace tapes DVD’s are interlaced to begin with I don’t but I when creating files What is interacting? This video from Caption Disillusion does a good job of explaining it.

My tape is broken is it fixable? Yes depending on damage in most cases I can splice your tape back together or transplant into new tape shell and deal with mold major cases require more work. Note this does add $10 for that repair. The ability to do some of these repairs depends on my stock of spare parts.

My tape is moldy can you transfer it? Yes depending on severity this can incur a $25 repair fee due to needing to take the tape apart.

My tapes format isn’t listed above can you transfer it? Short answer no long answer maybe if you can supply the tape equipment and it has standard video outputs maybe but i’m not responsible for any damage to tapes. I have made a list below of common formats I can’t transfer.

Can you create DVD’s of my tapes? Yes while I prefer to create files I can create a DVD of your tapes.

Can you transfer Commercial tapes or media I recorded off of the TV? Only under certain circumstances. That time you where on the news sure that feature length movie or TV show you recorded in the 90’s No.

Can I provide my own storage? For many reasons I don’t do this when I buy the storage I confirm it will meet any project requirements and has the space needed for your transfers.

Can you recommend a capture device for me to transfer my home movies or give me free technical support? No I use professional capture hardware and avoid cheap units like the ones below like a plague.

Formats I can’t currently transfer.

Formats I can’t currently handle include MicroMV, Betamax, (also BetaCamSP although I’m getting a deck repaired so hopefully soon I can) HDV, (Including Mini HDV) UMATIC, Reel to Reel video such as quad inch tape, Film Video of any format or other uncommon formats. I should also mention I only support NTSC tapes. No PAL or SEACAM here folks. Also I’m currently working on being able to transfer audio tape more on that hopefully soon.