Domestic Video Tape
Video Tapes come in many different formats. This page
will help you identify what type of tape you have.
VHS cassettes are the most common types of tapes we receive for transfer. Uses extensively during the 1980s-1990s.
The tape was used in home VHS recorders.
Record times of up to 4 hours are possible.
Betamax was the big competitor to VHS, however, its popularity waivered and VHS became the dominant format for home recording. Betamax tapes are slightly smaller and narrower than VHS. Record times of up to 5 hours are possible.
VHS/C is the baby to the VHS cassette and was used in camcorders. Offering recording times of 30 or 45 minutes.
You also had the ability to play the tapes on a home VHS recorder using a tape adapter
8mm tape comes in 3 variants, Video8, Hi8 and Digital8.Used primarily in camcorders from 1990's to 2000's this format was extremely common and delivered excellent results.Record time was typically 60 or 90 minutes
MiniDV or DVC tapes are very compact in size and used extensively in camcorders throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The recording was digital and the recordings excellent
Record time was typically 60 minutes
MicroMV is the smallest digital tape format. Released in 2001 by Sony this format offered up to 60 minutes of record time. However, it was not well adopted and Sony stopped offering the format in 2006
How much does it cost?
For video tapes we only charge for the hours captured across your tapes, meaning that if your tapes are only part recorded you pay less. From over 20 years of experience, we feel a good average is 75% tape full, however, this can vary significantly.
The calculator below is designed to give you an estimated cost based on an average record level of 75%, the slider allows you to play with the percentage if you think the tapes are all recorded to capacity.
As with all of our services we are more than happy to provide a quotation for the work before any work is started. If you wish to receive multiple outputs such as USB and DVD then please contact us for some special pricing.
The return shipment is not included in this estimated price and the estimated price is for our standard definition service, not HD upscaled.
If you have any questions or would like a formal quotation please use the contact button below and we will be happy to assist.
