Here’s a sad situation. You have a family get together, and want to reminisce about first birthday memories caught on video. You unearth the VHS tape you’ve been carefully storing all these years and pop it in the old player—the player that’s been banished to the spare TV in the basement because it was replaced by the DVD player a few years ago. Sadly, the first birthday moments of your kids are marred by noise and blips and other signs of degrading video tape.
VHS tape lasts between 10-15 years, if stored properly, while DVDs can last a lifetime if properly stored.
Here are some other solid reasons to transfer your video tapes:
- Space—DVDs and cases take up a fraction of the space of those clunky VHS tapes
- Duplication—Now you’ll have an original you can make copies of for family members
- Fun—Since the tape is transfered to DVD in an editable format (request this when dropping off), with the right software you can enhance your memories with subtle music and subtitles.
London Drugs offers a duplication service to help you hang on to those memories. Just bring your VHS—or mini DV, or Video8, Hi8 or Digital8—in to the Photolab at London Drugs, and the staff coordinate the content transfer.
The cost is $40 per hour of tape, and you’ll receive the content back as digital files on DVD. If you want it in an editable format (i.e. importing into Movie Maker or iMovie to add music) let the staff know when you bring in your tapes. The process takes about 3 weeks, from drop off to pick up.
Before your family memories get a second older, get them transferred professionally at London Drugs.
