Yes, it is.

I can re-master existing DVD footage and produce a new DVD or digital file or both.

I can make simple edits from a description or for more complex, multi-edits I would produce a draft copy of the DVD in its entirety and add a timecode overlay display so that a list of “in & out points” could be made of the parts to be removed or edited. The price would start at £20 which would include basic edits for one DVD and digital file

Yes, no problem.

If you’ve had DVDs (or Blu-ray Discs) previously made from your family footage, you can have them converted to digital files (usually .mp4 format).

The price depends on the quantity of DVDs. As a guide, the price usually works out at around £15 per hour of final footage (minimum £15).

A USB device will be needed to store the files. You can provide your own or I can supply.

I keep a stock of USB 3 Flash Drives for this purpose, which will hold around 20 hours of footage, at £12 each.

Bear in mind that the digital file will not contain any menu structure from the DVD.

Hello Pete,

Thank you for your enquiry.

The price for converting video tapes to digital file format (.mp4) usually works out at between £13 to £15 per hour of the finished footage.

For example, if a tape of any length contains only one hour of required footage and the rest is blank or TV programs, you will only be charged for one hour. In other words, you won’t be paying for footage you don’t want!

You can provide your own portable hard drive or USB memory drive/s, bear in mind that one hour of .mp4 digital video file takes around 3GB of space (that’s GB not MB!).

I keep a stock of USB 3 Flash Drives for this purpose, at £12 each.

Give me a call to arrange to drop off?

An Overview:

• The videotape is inspected for condition and repaired if necessary
• The videotape is played using a VTR, deck or video camera and either captured directly by a computer’s capturing hardware and software (PC or MAC) or by a standalone recorder – Black Magic Design HyperDeck Studio Recording Device. This is in real time: a 4-hour tape takes 4 hours to capture or record
• In the computer’s editing software a sequence or timeline is created from the captured footage
• The video frame is trimmed to remove any wavey edges
• If required the audio level is normalised
• The sequence is played at high speed to check for any long gaps or unwanted sections (e.g. accidental filming of the foot!) and removed, making it more enjoyable to watch
• The sequence is then exported for DVD or video file (usually .MP4) or both
• If a DVD is required the exported sequence is imported into the DVD authoring software and an ISO disc image is produced (this is stored for possible further use)
• Finally, the ISO image is used to “burn” the DVD

So, no, I can’t do it while you wait!!

The trend, over recent years, has seen the decline in the use of DVDs in favour of playing video files on computers & TVs.

I can supply digital video files usually in the format of H.264 / MP4.

The price usually works out at between £15 per hour of finished video footage.

For example, if a tape of any length contains only one hour of required footage and the rest is blank or TV programs, you will only be charged for one hour. In other words, you won’t be paying for footage you don’t want!

This price includes tidying up the video, removing any long blank parts etc. making it much more enjoyable to watch.

You can provide your own portable hard drive or USB memory drive/s, bear in mind that one hour of .mp4 digital video file takes around 3GB of space (that’s GB not MB!).

I keep a stock of 64GB USB 3 Flash Drives for this purpose, which will hold around 20 hours of footage, at £12 each.

To help identify the type of tape, please see the dimensions below for the most popular videotapes.

Dimensions are bare cassettes without a case in millimetres.

• VHS: 188 x 103 x 24
• VHS-C (Compact
• VHS): 91 x 59 x 23
• Video 8 or 8mm (not cine): 95 x 62 x 15
• Mini DV & HDV: 66 x 48 x 12
• BETAMAX: 155 x 95 x 25

At the moment I am not able to capture the footage from BETAMAX tapes, my players have become faulty. So, I am on the lookout for “new” equipment…

Yes, it is.

I can re-master existing DVD footage and produce a new DVD or digital file or both.

I can make simple edits from a description or for more complex, multi-edits I would produce a draft copy of the DVD in its entirety and add a timecode overlay display so that a list of “in & out points” could be made of the parts to be removed or edited. The price would start at £20 which would include basic edits for one DVD and digital file

Surprisingly, quite a common question and the answer is “Yes if you want them”.

The conversion process is non-destructive and does not affect the original media.

Yes – I will try my best to repair snapped or damaged tapes and cassettes before continuing with the conversion process.

I have made two machines: one for hand winding mouldy or sticky tapes and one for vacuuming the tapes once they are freed off. There’s no charge for this in the event that it’s not possible to make the repairs.

Otherwise the repair usually costs around £6 – £8.

Unless I am providing video files of the footage for the client’s own editing, I scan through all the footage looking for long blanks and unnecessary sections which I edit out making it much more enjoyable to watch

Short Answer: Yes, no problem.

Longer Answer:

First of all the cost of the DVDs and cases etc. are quite low, so combining footage from multiple tapes won’t necessarily save much money, in fact in certain instances the cost could be more than having individual tapes to their own DVD!

If we have to pick and choose particular clips from different tapes then, as you can imagine, this can be quite time consuming.

If the chronological order of the tapes is known and labeled as such then that really helps.

This is one of the reasons I like to have the tapes for a few days so I can review and log them and give an exact, fixed price.

There’s no charge for this and there’s no obligation to go ahead if you decide not to!!

Your audio cassette tapes (micro and standard – C60 & C90) and vinyl records can be transferred to CDs, DVDs or audio files (usually wav / mp3 files)

It means your music or other recordings can be played through your television speakers, sound system or other audio device. Choose your favourite tracks and have your own compilation CD for those classic tracks! Prices start at around £20.

The price can vary a great deal depending on the condition of the audio tapes and number of separate tracks etc.

To have full navigation on the CD, the audio would need to be split into individual tracks, otherwise it would be one long track on the CD.

Bear in mind that a CD will hold around 70 minutes of audio, so we might need to use two CDs per C90 tape.

I would need to check them out before giving a fixed price but as a very approximate guide, whilst there are so many, it could be anywhere between £20 and £30 per cassette.

For the time being I have suspended the conversion of cine film until I can find more affordable film scanning equipment.

Dare I say try Max Spielmann!!

We offer transfer & Conversion of VHS, VHS-C (Compact VHS), Video 8 Standard, Hi-8, Digital-8, Video Tapes, Mini-DV, Mini-HDV Videotapes, Mini-DVDs.

We offer transfer & Conversion of C60, C90 Cassettes & Micro Audio Cassettes, Dictaphone Cassettes, Mini-Disc (MD), SD Memory Cards.

Yes we can convert 35mm Slides, Photographs and Photograph Negatives to Digital Files (JPEG, TIFF, PNG etc) we also offer Photo Enhancement & more…

Yes we can offer conversion of DVDs & Blu-ray Discs to Digital Files (mp4 or other), as well as Streaming & Cloud files, YouTube, Vimeo etc.