VHS | SVHS | VHS-C | Beta | MiniDV | Hi8 | 8mm Camcorder

The 3 stages

The Good
At best, the videotapes you have stored for the last 3-10 years have minimal picture loss. You must be storing them right. Keep doing what you are doing and transfer to DVD when you get a chance.

The Bad
When the tops and the bottoms of the film become skewed, or there is noticeable picture degradation, you should consider transferring immediately.

The Ugly
We can't improve the quality, but we can convert what is left. If your tape can hardly be seen, we may be able to restore a bit....with our commercial auto-tracking VCRs. We'll do our best!

Why transfer to DVD?

Video tape shelf life is NOT what was originally anticipated. How many times have you gone to watch your special moments, and the top of the screen appears skewed, or there are fuzzy lines? How many times has your machine "eaten" a tape?? With DVD these problems are gone! Hear what Kodak has to say about Video Tapes:

- "Few people outside the industry know that the life expectancy of half inch VHS videotapes is much shorter than originally predicted -- perhaps as short as ten years. Recent technical reports by Sony, Ampex, and Agfa corporations and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers suggest that unless magnetic tapes like VHS are carefully stored and maintained, their lives can be fleeting."

VCR technology is being phased out in the U.S. How much longer will you even be able to buy a VCR? Read this article from the Washington Post:

- "Soon, you will no longer be able to buy movie videos at Circuit City. No more "Hunt for Red October," no more "Casablanca" -- at least not to play on your videocassette recorder. The nation's second-largest electronics retailer is phasing out sales of videotape movies as the chain makes way for the inevitability of DVD.

Circuit City Stores Inc. is the first national retailer to sound such a clear death knell for videotape and the VCR, which has been the dominant form of home video entertainment for almost two decades. Citing steadily increasing consumer hunger for DVDs, which provide higher sound and picture quality, Circuit City has stopped selling movie videotapes at some stores and will soon discontinue sales at other stores."

Advantages of DVD-R are immense....these are some of the highlights:

- A DVD-R has the capacity of about to 156 minutes of high quality video. Also, any DVD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW can be played on most set top DVD players. Another advantage is that DVDs will last 40-250 years. They are highly resistant to scratches, even better than CDs.

Fast-forwarding and finding critical moments on your DVD are effortless.