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                                                   PLEASE NOTE:  PRICE IS PER TAPE, NOT AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF TAPES
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After nearly 20 years of providing video conversion services to corporations, museums, government agencies and educational institutions, we are making our services available to the general public through the easy to use and buy eBay format.  Our services are guaranteed and your converted videos will be returned to you WITHIN 72 HOURS.  We are the only video conversion company that can make that promise because of our massive investment in conversion equipment and our onsite engineering staff that keeps our systems running 24 X 7.  The process is fast and simple.  Here's how it works:


We have converted over 5 MILLION HOURS of video from all types of sources.  Your videos will be expertly converted and delivered FAST!  If after reading the FAQ below you still have questions, please feel free to send us a message.  We look forward to working with you and helping convert your precious memories to digital format.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What if I have different types of media?  The dropdown only lets me choose one.

A.  If you have different types of media, for example HDCAM AND HDV, please complete two different orders.  Different tape types are handled in different departments and sending in only one type of media in an order helps us route your media to the right department immediately and ensure we can turn it around as quickly as possible.  Please do not send in two different types of media in the same order.


Q. What if after I place my order I find more media to be converted?

A.  That's fine - we will send you extra bar codes so you can send in your entire order together.  We will send you an invoice for the difference.  You may send up to 25 tapes in a single order.


Q. When does the clock start on the 72 hour return guarantee?

A.  The 72 hours starts when we receive your media.  It does NOT count weekends.  So, for example, if we receive your order on Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM, your files will be ready for download by Thursday afternoon at 2PM.  If we receive your media Thursday morning at 10 AM, your files will be ready for download by Tuesday morning at 10AM. 


Q. How will I know when my order is ready to download?

A.  We will send you an EMAIL with a private, secure download link once your order is ready.


Q. What happens if my order is not ready in 72 hours?

A.  Sometimes things happen and we just can't get your order done in 72 hours.  If this happens, we will give you a refund of 5% for every 24 hour period that we are late.  So, for example, if your order is delivered 88 hours after we receive your media, you would get a 5% rebate.  We consider the order delivered when we send you the download link, NOT when you open the EMAIL or when you download your videos. 


Q. Do I get a discount if some of my tapes are short?

A.  No.  All tapes are the same price.


Q. What if I have some really long tapes?  Do they cost more?

A.  All tapes are the same price regardless of length.


Q. How many tapes can I send in one order?

A. We have limited a single order to 25 items so that we can fill multiple orders in a 72 hour time-frame.  If you have more items to get converted, please send a second order after the first one is completed.


Q. What type of files will I get back?  What will they be named?

A.  You will get back MP4 files which can be played universally.  They will be named the bar code number attached to the media.  You should create a spreadsheet for yourself before sending your media to us listing the bar code number and the contents of that tape for easy reference when you download them.  Once downloaded, you can rename the files whatever you wish.


Q. Do you support formats other than MP4?

A.  Yes.  We can encode to many different formats including Apple ProRes.  If you need a format OTHER than MP4, please contact us before placing an order.  Your choice of formats may affect the turnaround and price, but we want to work with you to meet your time-frame and your budget.


Q. How do I attach the barcodes to the media?

A.  The bar codes will be in a file that you can print.  We use an Avery label template that will allow you to print on Avery peel and stick labels but many of our customers just print the labels on plain paper, cut them out and attach them to each video with scotch tape.


Q. Will you convert the entire tape?  What if there are gaps?

A.  We convert the tape until there is no more time code.  Once the time code stops, we will "fast forward" the tape to see if time code starts up again later.  If it does, we will convert anything additionally found.  We will not miss anything on a tape.  There is no extra charge for this.


Q. How long will I have to download my files?

A.  We will store your files for 30 days from the time we send you the download link.  You can optionally increase this to 6 months if you would like us to store your videos for longer.  Every order includes 30 days of cloud storage at no charge.  Because of the way eBay's listing system works, it is impossible to add options to this listing so if you would like to extend your cloud storage to 6 months, please visit our OPTIONS page here https://www.ebay.com/itm/325544913812 to add any options you would like to your order.  The cost is $30 for 6 months of cloud storage.


Q. Will you send me a thumb drive of my videos?

A.  Yes, this is a $30 option.  Because of the way eBay's listing system works, it is impossible to add options to this listing so if you would like us to send you a thumb drive of your order, please visit our OPTIONS page here https://www.ebay.com/itm/325544913812 to add any options you would like to your order.  The cost is $30 for your entire order, regardless of how many tapes it includes.  The price includes the thumb drive and return shipping to you.


Q. Will you send me an authored DVD of my videos with a menu and titles that I can play in my DVD player?

A.  No.  Once your have your files, there are many DVD authoring programs, many free, where you can edit your videos, string them together in any order, group them by subject, add custom menu titles and more.  It is best if you do this yourself.


Q. Will you send me an M-DISC of my videos?

A.  Yes, this is a $30 option.  We use 100GB M-DISCS.  Because of the way eBay's listing system works, it is impossible to add options to this listing so if you would like us to send you an M-DISC of your order, please visit our OPTIONS page here https://www.ebay.com/itm/325544913812 to add any options you would like to your order.  The cost is $30 for your entire order, regardless of how many tapes it includes. The price includes the M-DISC and return shipping.  Note:  We think an M-DISC is the best way to provide long term preservation of your videos.  If you are not sure what an M-DISC is, watch this quick video:  https://youtu.be/bQENbP8npsw (may need to copy and paste into a new browser window)


Q. Will you send my media back to me?

A.  Yes, this is a $30 option.  Because of the way eBay's listing system works, it is impossible to add options to this listing so if you would like us to send your tapes back to you after they have been converted, please visit our OPTIONS page here https://www.ebay.com/itm/325544913812 to add any options you would like to your order.  The cost for return shipping is $30 for your entire order, regardless of how many tapes it includes.  If you do NOT want your original media back, it will be securely and responsibly recycled at no cost so that it does not end up in a landfill.  We will send back or confidentially destroy your media after you have had ample time to review your videos.


Q. What if I find a problem?

A.  Our technicians are true pros but occasionally something goes wrong. If you find any problems with any of your videos, please contact us right away and we will work with you to correct it.


Q. Do you repair broken tapes?

A.  Please do not send us known broken tapes.  Because of the sheer volume and quick turn around we offer, we are not really setup to be a tape repair shop.  If we do find a broken tape, we will attempt to fix it for a flat $10 fee.  We will alert you of a broken tape and its bar code number and get your authorization to proceed first.  Please note: because we must wait to get your authorization before charging for a repair of a broken tape, broken tapes are NOT included in the 72 hour turnaround guarantee.  You will only be charged if we are able to successfully repair your tape.


Q. What happens if you break a tape?

A.  This is VERY rare but occasionally a tape will break when we go to convert it.  When this happens, we will attempt to repair it at no cost.  If we can not, we will give you a credit for that tape.


Q. What if my tapes are "sticky"?

A.  "Sticky shed" syndrome is very common with older tapes, especially UMATICs.  We do have the ability to "bake" your tapes to attempt to convert them but, as with broken tapes, please do not send in tapes that have known "sticky shed" syndrome.  Unforgettably sometimes the only way to know this is to try and play the tapes at which time it is discovered that they are suffering form this breakdown in the tape formulation.  We will handle baking your tape in the same manner as repairing a tape.  We will notify you before proceeding and there is a $20 charge for each tape "baked".  In addition, because baking can sometimes take as long as 24 hours (or more) to be effective, our turnaround guarantee does not apply to these tapes.


Q. Will you clean up my tapes?

A.  Yes, we have a very sophisticated capture process where we will try to make your converted videos look better than the originals.  We use full frame Time Base Correctors (TBC) that help reduce jitter and tearing.  We use digital noise reduction to try to reduce noise and grain in your videos.  We will also try to color correct your video to return the colors to as close to original as possible.  We will also sometimes crop your video to remove annoying "head switching" noise that our TBC's can not eliminate.


Q. What are you capture specs?

A.  We capture everything as 10 bit, uncompressed, YUV, 4:2:2 files.  We then feed these files into our compression server to create your reduced size MP4 files (or other format) that we then upload to our cloud storage for you to download.  MP4 files use H.264 compression, with frame rate and resolution matching the source materials.


Q. What kind of video decks do you use?

A.  We literally have hundreds of decks, that's how we are able to guarantee 72 hour turnaround on every order.  We use a combination of Pro and Prosumer decks from Panasonic, Sony and JVC to process your videos and we have multiples of each deck to ensure continuous operation.  Some of them are as follows:   Panasonic AG-1970, Panasonic AG-1980, JVC BR-HD50, Panasonic AG-DV2000, Panasonic AG-5710, JVC HR-S9800U, JVC HR-S9900U, JVC HM-DH5U, Sony VP-9000, Sony VO-9600, Sony DCR-TRV520, Sony DCR-TRV525, Teac V-800G-F, Sony HVR-M25A, Sony UVW-1800, Sony HDW-M2000, etc. etc.


Q. I have a few hundred tapes.  Couldn't I do this cheaper myself?

A.  Short answer: Maybe.  Long answer:  Sit down.  To do video capture "right" takes a lot of equipment, experience and know how.  First you need a computer.  Presumably you have one but digital video can be very demanding and requires a fast computer with lots of storage unless the video is compressed during capture.  The problem with compressing during capture is you don't have an opportunity to fine tune the compression settings and if you don't like the results then you have to start again.  One minute of 10 bit, uncompressed HD (1080) video requires 26 GB of storage.  This means a single 2 hour long tape needs over 3 TB of space to capture.  Next you need a capture device.  There are many low cost capture devices on the market, but in general the old adage "you get what you pay for" is true.  Our capture units cost several thousand dollars and allow us to capture in the highest quality and ensure that the video and audio sources stay in complete sync throughout the entire capture process.  Then you need a playback device.  Some of this equipment has not been made for close to 20 years so any device you find is old.  PLEASE do not put a one of a kind tape in an unknown and untested device.  It might be the last time that tape is playable.  Playback devices that are in good shape and tuned up to factory specs can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars.  Then you need a Time Base Corrector (TBC).  This unit sits between the playback device and the capture device to help stabilize the signals coming off of tapes that may be 20, 30 or even 40 years old.  Then you have a bunch of decisions to make: what bit depth and color space do I use?  What initial format and final format will your videos be in?  What audio sample rate will you use?  If you love to tinker and have time, you can learn all this with great resources that are available to anyone on the internet for free.  But remember, video must be captured in real time.  If a tape is 4 hours long, it will take 4 hours to capture it.  If you have a few hundred such tapes, you can see what kind of time investment you will need to make. If you just want to get your video converted fast and right, take the easy (and fast) way and just send them to us.