VHS to Digital Transfer Service - Convert Video Tapes Across the UK

How we convert VHS to digital

Your tapes are played on maintained professional decks with time base correction, so the picture is as stable and clean as the original recording allows. All transfers are completed in-house in London by people who have worked with video tape in the TV industry for more than 40 years.

Each tape is captured in real time through a digital path wherever possible, then checked before the files are named to match your tape labels. Nothing is sped up, trimmed or run through a consumer USB converter.

• VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS-C, Video8, Hi8, Digital8, MiniDV, DV, DVCAM, HDV
• Betamax, U-matic and professional formats also transferred
• PAL, NTSC and SECAM tapes all handled
• Delivered as MP4 or ProRes files, on USB, hard drive, DVD or uploaded

Formats we transfer to digital

Most families have more than one type of tape. Here is a quick guide to what you may have and how we handle it. For more detail on identifying each cassette, see our video tape format guide.

• VHS and S-VHS - the full-size cassette from the 1980s and 1990s. Played on professional S-VHS decks with a time base corrector, long-play recordings included.
• VHS-C and S-VHS-C - the small camcorder cassette that fitted an adaptor. Transferred directly, no adaptor needed, so the tape is not stressed.
• Video8 and Hi8 - 8mm analogue camcorder tapes. Played on Sony professional decks and stabilised before capture.
• Digital8 - the same 8mm shell but a digital recording. Captured digitally so there is no extra analogue generation. See our 8mm and MiniDV page.
• MiniDV, DV, DVCAM and HDV - small digital cassettes captured over FireWire at full quality, with the recorded date and timecode kept where present.
• Betamax and U-matic - older domestic and professional formats transferred on the correct machines. See our professional tape archive service.

How it works

• Contact us with the formats, quantity and approximate duration. Send a photo if you are unsure of the format and we will identify it.
• We email you a price, an approximate turnaround time and a booking form to complete and place inside your package.
• We accept orders from anywhere in the UK. Send your tapes to us using an insured, tracked postal service such as Royal Mail Special Delivery, or arrange to drop them off at our London W1 office. Full address details are provided once your booking has been confirmed.
• We label and log your tapes, transfer them to your required format and check everything.
• We email you a payment request once the work is complete.
• After payment we return your original tapes along with your USB, DVD or hard drive.

What you get back

Most people choose MP4 files on a USB stick because they play on almost everything - TV, phone, tablet, computer. We can also supply chaptered DVDs if you want a disc you can post to relatives, files on a hard drive for large collections, and Apple ProRes for editing or professional formats. If you are not sure which to pick, our file formats guide explains the differences, and our VHS to DVD page covers discs in detail.

Files are numbered to correspond with our tape labels, so a box of thirty tapes does not come back as a confusing list of numbers!

If your box holds several different formats, look at how we handle mixed video tape collections - the whole lot is quoted and transferred as one job.

Should I buy a VHS to digital converter instead?

A cheap USB capture device will get a picture off a tape, but you also need a working, clean video recorder, a computer that can capture in real time without dropping frames, and the time to sit through every tape. Old VCRs rarely track well and there is no time base correction, so the result is often wobbly, with colour smearing and audio drift. Mouldy or sticky tapes can be damaged permanently in a domestic machine.

For a handful of tapes with nothing precious on them, a converter can be fine. For family footage that cannot be re-shot, a professional transfer on serviced decks is the safer route and, at £15 per tape for five or more, usually costs less than the equipment.

How long does it take?

A small batch of five to ten tapes is usually ready within 10 working days. Larger collections of twenty to fifty tapes take approx two weeks. If you have a deadline - a birthday, anniversary or funeral - tell us and we will do our best to meet it. Alternatively, we offer a fast-track service to transfer tapes within a few days - just ask us about it.

Call 0207 430 1811 or email CopyMyTapes@gmail.com