Video Transfer Service: How We Can Help Preserve Your Memories
Viewing home movies can make us feel like we’ve got access to a magical time machine. Home movies can help us remember some of our very earliest memories and let us recall the great characteristics of loved ones who are no longer with us. Movies play an important role in family legacy by giving a visual AND audible reminder of their memories. In many ways, they’re even more powerful and personal than still photographs because they help us relive moments and remember the most vivid details of those events.
Save your memories before they're lost forever
At Xpression Video Productions, our purpose is to help you preserve, and backup as much video content as possible before it deteriorates. This is why we are now providing video transfer services. We can now transfer your old tapes and film to digital formats so that they can be played from any remote electronic device such as computers, tablets, and smartphones.
In her book, which you can find on Amazon, Get “Reel” About Your Home Movie Legacy – Before It’s Too Late, author and blogger Rhonda Vigeant writes:
“Home movies are a slice of everyday life captured through the lens of people documenting moments in time that they wanted to record….They capture us in everyday moments in a real way, unlike photos that tend to be staged moments where we prepare to look our best…The truth is, home movies are like a time machine. All we have to do is watch and we are transformed into a nostalgic place that our memories alone cannot access.”
It is true that as video content gets old, it gains sentimental value. Unfortunately, as film and video media get old, they fall apart. This is the paradox at the center of our movie collections: It’s the priceless images—the first steps, the trips down the aisle—that have the greatest risk of loss. Reel-to-reel 8-mm tape has a typical shelf life of about twenty years, at which point the threat of magnetic instability, tape deformation, and general chemical breakdown becomes unavoidable. Likewise, VHS cartridges begin to deteriorate after only a decade. Recordable CDs and DVDs, despite their apparent durability, can fall prey to oxidation after just a few years—data is stored on a delicate metal film at the top of the disc, not in the plastic.
While hard drives and solid-state storage won’t last forever either, at least they give you control. With your movie collection stored on a computer, it joins a maintainable mass of data, part of your ongoing computing experience. Once in the digital realm, movies can be copied and recopied. They can be uploaded to the cloud. Most importantly, they can be backed up. Transferring video to digital formats will ensure that your videos last for a very long time.
Digital video lasts longer than any other format
As digital is a fairly reliable and durable format as compared to previous formats. It can be the perfect surprise to celebrate a birthday party, family vacation, wedding, engagement, anniversary, or any other special family event or occasion. Having your most beloved old videos transferred will allow you to share family history and videos with the entire family as more and more people have access to portable digital devices. Your children’s children will be very appreciative and will most likely benefit from all this the most.
We'll convert your old movies to the latest formats
When it’s time to have us transfer your old movies, we ask that you prepare an instructional list of what materials to transfer. For example, you will have to list the type of media you want us to convert it from. You will then have to tell us how long each video content runs for on each media. Finally, we ask that you label each media using masking tape or a sticky note. We ask that you write down a short title for each media, which will help us label each digital file accordingly. It’s really that simple!
Our Video Transferring Service Costs
Transferring old analogue tapes or DVDs to a digital video data format costs $26.00 per tape. However, any tape with less than 10 minutes of video content will be charged $18.00.
Transferring 8mm or Super 8mm (no sound) film to digital format:
3” Reel - Up to 50 Feet of Footage - $26.00 per reel
5” Reel - Up to 200 Feet of Footage - $60.00 per reel
7” Reel - Up to 400 Feet of Footage - $130.00 per reel
We offer a free pickup and delivery service
In order for us to begin transferring VHS to digital or transferring 8mm to digital, we will need you to deliver or ship the original copies to our studio. You can also ship your original copies of VHS and film videos to us by mail. If you have no means of transport to our studio or wish to have us come to your door, don’t worry, we offer free pickup and delivery within a local radius of our studio in the GTA.
Give yourself peace of mind for the future
If you would like to begin the process of transferring your old VHS or film videos to digital formats, please give us a call at (416) 320-9001 or email us at info@xpressionvideo.com. We use state-of-the-art equipment with inspiring editing techniques to create your ideal video production. With expert planning and intuitive thinking, we take pride in our ability to realize our client’s vision and needs. Our talented and experienced team of inspired filmmakers truly embraces the uniqueness of story-telling that comes with every project.
With over twenty-five years in the industry, we continue to adapt to trendy editing styles that matter and leave an everlasting impression behind. Our video shooting and editing concepts are a reflection of our belief in a more cinematic and documentary approach. We offer services such as videography services for weddings, special occasions, real estate, funerals, corporate, events, marketing, and video transfers in Toronto and the rest of Ontario.
To learn more about the services we offer, please click here. To get in touch with us, please contact us here.
Click below for our complete video and conversion prices
