A) For a worst case scenario I recommend working on the assumption that all of your tapes are full. Hence, a VHS T-120 would be a full 2 hours as would an 8 MM 120 tape. VHS-C tapes can be another matter. These tapes are shorter than VHS and 8 MM (20 to 40 minutes in length). However some users switched the recording speed on their camcorders from SP (The faster high quality setting) to EP or SLP (the slower and consequently lower quality setting that effectively tripled the length of the recording time). Most of the VHS-C tapes I come across are recorded in SP mode which is good news for a couple of reasons. First, we’ll be able to fit more of them onto a singe dvd and second, the quality will be much improved over tapes recorded in extended play modes. For customers requesting a more accurate cost estimate I’ll be happy to run your tapes through my machine prior to transfer to determine an exact total running time of each tape. Once this is done I can contact you with an exact number of 2 hour DVDs you need to transfer all of your material.

A) Yes, you can. Many people started out with full sized VHS camcorders and graduated to 2nd generation machines (VHS-C or 8 MM) or the higher quality Mini DV. Your tapes will be transferred in the order you desire regardless of format.

A) No they won’t. As a rule I always run the tapes through in fast forward to determine an accurate running time. Once the end of the tape is reached I’ll scan them in reverse to see if the material is, in fact, home movies. I’ll also scan the front end of the tape as well to make sure there is no unwanted TV footage. This is a common occurrence with tapes from the 80’s and 90’s when VHS tapes were relatively expensive. As a result people tended to use tapes over and over, sometimes for TV recording and other times for home movies. If the tapes weren’t properly labeled or the record tabs were left in place a home movie tape may have been unintentionally used as a tape to record TV shows or vice a versa.

A) In 24 years of business I’ve never lost or accidentally erased a single tape. When tapes are brought in, the first thing I do is break the tabs off. Once this is done the ability to record over this tape has been disabled. Any attempt to record over a cassette with a broken record tab will result in the tape being ejected from the machine. As for lost tapes – all work is performed here in my office by me. Your tapes never leave the premises until you pick them up.