Your Video Tapes Are Wearing Out. Digitize Them Before the Memories Are Gone.
10 to 30-Year Lifespan
We inspect every tape before converting it, monitor every transfer in real time, and you only pay for tapes we can actually convert. No warehouse. No assembly line. Every transfer done in-house in Orange, CA since 2001.
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When the producers needed the family's personal video tapes converted for the Lucy and Desi documentary, they chose Legacy Digital Productions. Your family's tapes get the same equipment, the same technicians, and the same care.
Since 2001
Hollywood 's Choice
In-House Processing
Expert Technicians
Trusted by Hollywood and American Households for 24 Years - The #1 Choice for High Quality Media Conversions.
Every play, and every year on the shelf, costs you picture quality.
Video tape degrades faster than nearly any other analog media, even sitting untouched in a garage or attic.
Video tape degrades faster than nearly any other analog media, even sitting untouched in a garage or attic.
- Tapes stretch each time they’re played, and extended-play recordings wear fastest.
- Heat and humidity break down the magnetic layer, even in storage.
- Most home tapes we receive are already past their rated lifespan
Read why your video tapes are fading
We convert every consumer and professional video format.
Low-compression MP4 or MOV files delivered on flash drive, hard drive, the cloud, or gold archival DVD.
Consumer Formats
Professional Formats
Why families choose us over the "big box" mail-in services.
Prepaid boxes look cheap until you see what those prices leave out.
Legacy Digital
Big Box Services
Every tape inspected and monitored during transfer
Pay only for tapes that actually convert
Work stays in the USA, in one facility
Time-based correction on VHS & VHS-C
Tape repair for damaged tapes
Well-maintained decks with clean heads
Our promise to you.
You only pay for what we convert.
Send 100 tapes and if only 16 make sense to convert, you pay for 16. Blank, damaged, or copyrighted tapes are never charged.
Every transfer is watched by a technician.
A 15-minute tape becomes a 15-minute file, not a 90-minute file with 5 minutes of video. We monitor every conversion in real time.
Highest resolution, no over-compression.
We never crush your files to fit smaller drives. Time-based correction is included free on VHS and VHS-C.
Done right the first time.
You will never pay another company to redo our work. We often fix the big box services' mistakes; we don't create them.
Are your videotapes still worth converting?
Often yes… But Legacy Digital can preview them and let you know!
We go the extra mile when converting your video tapes. Unlike other companies who will deliver grainy and unwatchable or even blank video files, Legacy Digital will actually view your video tapes before converting them.
We won’t charge you for tapes that we can’t convert. We also won’t charge you for commercial movies or copyrighted material that we can’t legally convert.
Choosing the right company to digitize your video tapes can be overwhelming. There are hundreds of companies to choose from and each use their own method to convert your tapes.
Avoid "Big Box" companies and others offering low prices for video tape conversion
- They have a history of skipping tapes that are convertible.
- The image quality of your transfer may not represent the actual quality of the actual video footage due to them being converted on poorly maintained video players with clogged or dirty read heads.
- Your video tapes could be damaged by being played in poorly maintained machines.
- You may get back videos that are so low quality you may not want to share them, or worse, you could pay for blank video files. blank video files.
- May companies including the big box companies and the other “toss your stuff into our premade box” types often send your video tapes overseas for processing to keep costs low. This results in a lack of control, mishandling of your media, and even loss during bulk international shipping.
- Time-based correction is unavailable by default or offered for an additional fee.
- You end up paying more to have the work redone properly. (We often handle such cases and are happy to help, but we regret that customers didn’t hear this warning beforehand.)
What you get with Legacy DIgital: Our promise to you!
- Legacy Digital will only convert videostapes that make sense to convert
- Legacy Digital’s expert technicians monitor all video tape conversions while the videotapes are being processed.
- Legacy Digital monitors video tape conversions. We will provide you with only a 15 minute video file if your tape has just 15 minutes of content.
- Legacy Digital will expertly convert your tapes at the highest resolution possible.
- Legacy Digital will not overly compress the digital files after converting your videotapes to fit more files on smaller drives or in the cloud.
- Legacy Digital includes time-based corrections at no additional cost when converting VHS ad VHS-C videotapes.
- Legacy Digital will never charge you for work that we don’t do. Even if you send us 100 video tapes and only 16 make sense to convert, you will only pay for the video tapes we convert.
- Legacy Digital will do it right. You will not have to pay another company to redo the work we do.
- We offer a 100% Satisfaction guarantee. If you aren’t satisfied with the work we do, we’ll keep working on it until you are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are the most common questions we get about coneverting negatives to digital format. If you have other questions, please give us a call. We're happy to answer them.
Please call the office to inquire about our current backlog.
We are usually about 4 to 6 weeks out, but that depends on the season and current circumstances. Rush orders are available at additional cost. This will ensure that your order will be completed within one to two weeks depending on the size of your order. It is always difficult to say what exactly day your video tapes will be done.
Everyone’s video tapes are different and we take the time on every single order to make sure it is done right, even if we have to spend extra time and redo scenes until we are happy with them.
Please understand that you are hiring us because of the attention we pay to detail and quality, not speed.
As with all of our services, careful attention is paid to organization and detail. Once we receive your tapes, they are sealed in a container with your name on the inside and the outside of the container. Only one family gets worked on at any one time. Your project is managed by only one person from beginning to end, and only one project is being worked on at any one time. Before your project is started, the last one is completed and cleared from the area.
Most videotapes we see are well beyond the stated life of the tape when we receive them. All care and attention is paid to make sure we do not damage your tapes, but things can happen. It is possible that a tape you give us is poised to break the next time it is used, however, it hasn’t happened yet. If your tape does break in our care, we will repair it free if possible. You have nothing to lose. If they are not transferred to DVD, they will be lost for sure.
Usually Yes. It depends on what is wrong with the tape, but most problems with most tapes can be repaired. Cost is usually $15.00 for tape repair. We only repair tapes that we are hired to transfer to DVD. Tape repairs are only guaranteed to last long enough to get the video to DVD.
You can, but there are distinct advantages to using our services instead:
**First:** The quality of professional grade work shows. When you buy DVD recorders from your local electronics store, you won’t get the professional encoding ability that our professional systems produce. This makes a big difference in the result. Add to that the built in video image stabilization and picture enhancement technology we offer, and the result is improved even more. This is especially helpful with older tapes that are nearing the end of their lives.
**Second:** Disks that we use will outlast your grandchildren. They are tested to last over 100 years. Disks you buy from the store might not outlast your car. They are said to last 2 to 5 years. The reason is in the quality of construction. Disks fail because the metal layer that holds your information oxidizes over time and eventually becomes unreadable. When you make that layer out of gold, it improves disk longevity exponentially. Add to that the care and quality of construction and the MAM-A brand gold disks we use are the top of the line. They are simply the longest lasting media in existence. Sure they cost us many times more than standard disks, but your memories are worth it.
**Third:** What is your time worth?
Use our [Free Estimation Tool](/services/video-tape-to-digital/get-started/) to get an idea.
And if you have any questions, please feel free to call any time, or use the chat below.
Yes. We can transfer your videotapes to editable files that will work on any Windows or Apple computer. We copy files to an external thumb or hard drive.
How big of a storage device do you need? Use our [Free Estimation Tool](/services/video-tape-to-digital/get-started/) to get an idea.
And if you have any questions, please feel free to call any time, or use the chat below.
The longevity of a DVD disk depends on the construction and material quality of the disk. That is the reason we use only the top of the line brand archival gold professional DVD disks. These disks are the longest lasting disks there are. These gold archival disks are tested and rated to last over 100 years. Compare this to the off the shelf disks that you can buy at the store. Those disks are said to last 2 to 5 years.
Disks are organized so that you will have one menu start button for each tape on the disk. Chapter points are set at every 5 minutes so skipping to a favorite part is easy.
We convert video tapes to flash drive, hard drive, the cloud on Gold Archival DVD’s. None of the files are copy-protected so you are welcome to make as many copies as you like, but you may not be able to get the professional gold archival DVD disks that we use on your own. This will make a huge difference in how long a disks lasts. I always recommend you get at least one backup on gold disks then you can make more copies on regular disks yourself for multiple family members.
We can do just about any kind of tape ever available to consumers. These include VHS, VHS-C, Super VHS, 8mm, Hi 8, Digital 8, Mini DV, DV, DVCAM, and even Micro MV (We would need to borrow your working Micro MV camera for these tapes).
How Legacy Digital compares on video quality
The mail-in services and big-box stores convert videotape at 480p standard definition, roughly 1 to 2 GB per tape, played through a warehouse in bulk. Legacy Digital uses far less compression, about 12.5 GB per 2-hour tape, monitors every tape in real time, tries multiple decks when a tape plays poorly, and trims blank footage, so you keep finer detail and richer color and only the memories that matter.
| Videotape quality | Mail-in and big-box services | Legacy Digital |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 640×480 (480p SD) | Higher-detail, low-compression capture |
| Data per tape | About 1 to 2 GB | About 12.5 GB per 2-hour tape |
| Process | Played in bulk in a warehouse | Monitored in real time, multiple decks, blank footage trimmed |
Compare us directly: CVS, Walmart & Sam’s Club, Costco video transfer, Legacy Digital vs iMemories, or see how we compare to every major service.
Videotape formats we convert to digital
We convert every consumer videotape format to high-quality digital files, in-house, since 2001. Pick your format for details, pricing, and how we handle it:









