Individual to DVD (VHS/-C Hi8)

There are many reasons to convert your old VHS, VHS- C and Hi8 tapes to DVD. For one, tape technology and VCR's are fast becoming obsolete and many will argue that they already are.

Another concern is damage. Even if your VCR doesn't eat your VHS tape, something we are all familiar with, your VHS tape will slowly degrade over time, even if you never play the tape. VHS tapes can start falling apart in as little as 3 years, whereas DVD's can last decades

If there's any footage that you want to preserve that's currently in a VHS format, now is the time to convert that to a digital format for just $19.95 per tape. Have numerous tapes? Try our prepaid box option for 4 or 14 tapes.

Our video to DVD transfer DVD's are in a VOB format, designed to be played in your home DVD player. VOB files contain video, audio, subtitle and menu contents multiplexed together into a stream form and these are not designed to be edited in on your home computer. You will need software that can split and convert VOB files to another format such as MPEG or AVI.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We ONLY transfer VHS, VHS-C and Hi8 format tapes to DVD. We do not transfer 16mm, Beta or any other format video to DVD. See below for information regarding VHS, VHS-C and Hi8 tapes.

VHS

This was THE most widely used consumer format of the 1980's and early '90's and the one most people are familiar with. Most cassettes could record up to 2 hours if recorded in SP mode and up to 6 hours in EP/SLP mode. However, as recording lengths went up, image quality went down. While VHS cassettes were cheap and easy to use, they recorded a rather poor picture and sound. The biggest downside to VHS is footage captured on VHS tapes slowly deteriorate and lose picture quality over time, which is one of the main reasons to not put off transferring your tapes to another day.

VHS-C

VHS-C is a compact version of regular VHS introduced in 1982 and uses the same magnetic tape as VHS. Due to the smaller size cassette, VHS-C camcorders could also be smaller and more convenient for travel, but required an adapter to play in a VCR. Most cassettes could hold around 30 minutes of footage. Tapes measured about 2.25" x 3.5" x .75".

Hi8

To counter the introduction of the Super-VHS format, Sony introduced Video Hi8 (short for high-band Video8). Hi8 is also known as Digital8, which offered higher quality picture and sound due to its encoding method. Like S-VHS, Hi8 used improved recorder electronics and media formulation to increase the recorded bandwidth of the luminance signal. The tapes measured 2.5" x 3.75" x .5" and could hold up to 120 minutes of video. This was the last tape recording format prior to digital recording on CD or memory cards.