Convert Your VHS-C Camcorder Tapes to Digital.
The little camcorder tape that captured a generation of home movies
VHS-C was the compact tape families shot birthdays and vacations on, and the adapters and camcorders that play it are long gone. We transfer it to digital MP4 at roughly 12.5 GB per two-hour tape, monitored in real time, with blank footage skipped and never charged.
Get a Free VHS-C QuoteIn-house in Orange, CA since 2001. Over a million reels handled, never one lost.
$19.95
per tape (regularly $28.50). Any brand, adapter not required.
Since 2001
Hollywood 's Choice
In-House Processing
Expert Technicians
Trusted with the tapes for Netflix's Lucy and Desi and thousands of family libraries · All video tape formats →
What VHS-C Is, and Why It Is Hard to Play Now
VHS-C is a compact VHS cassette, about the size of a deck of cards, made for camcorders in the 1980s and 1990s. The tape inside is the same as VHS, just in a smaller shell.
VHS-C only plays in a VCR through a mechanical cassette adapter. Those adapters, and their gears, fail and go missing, leaving the tape unplayable at home. You do not need one; we handle it.
Most VHS-C cassettes hold only 30 to 45 minutes, so a single tape is often one birthday, one recital, or one trip, the moments worth rescuing first.
As magnetic tape, VHS-C fades, sheds, and grows moldy with age. The picture is quietly getting worse every year it sits in a box.
The camcorders that recorded these tapes rarely still run. Digitizing frees the footage from hardware that no longer exists.
VHS-C Transfer Pricing
One flat rate per tape, no adapter or camcorder required on your end.
Most VHS-C tapes hold well under two hours, so one tape is one flat charge.
Delivery on flash drive or hard drive, and optionally on DVD: $5 per disc for disc-only orders, $15 per disc when a drive is included. $50 order minimum. We skip blank footage and never charge for the empty parts of a tape.
Which Tape Do You Have?
Not sure what you are looking at? Match your tape below and tap it for the details, or just send a mixed box and we sort and identify them for you.
Consumer and Home Formats
Professional & Broadcast
Low-compression MP4 or MOV files delivered on flash drive, hard drive, the cloud, or long lasting archival DVD.
Starting at just $19.95 per Tape
Cost to Convert Video Tapes to Digital
At Legacy Digital, our video tape conversion service expertly transforms your VHS, Super VHS, Compact VHS (VHS-C), 8mm, Hi8, Digital 8, DVCAM, Betacam and Betacam SP tapes into high-quality digital files or DVDs. Time-based correction is included with VHS and VHS-C tapes where others charge additional fees. Using professional-grade VCRs and capture devices, we digitize each tape, maintaining the integrity and quality of your existing recordings, sometimes with improvement. Our process includes monitoring and adjusting for the best possible audio and video quality, sometimes requiring two or three reruns just to ensure the best possible output.
SALE: Starting at just $19.95 per tape
Using professional-grade VCRs and capture equipment, our process involves playing your tapes through time-base correction hardware into professional capture systems to convert them to digital. We carefully monitor tracking and video levels throughout, capturing your footage in high-quality digital formats. Post-capture, we edit out blank footage and unwanted static, so you never pay for blank tape. Finally, we deliver your digitized videos as MP4 files on a flash drive, hard drive, or DVD, ensuring your precious memories are preserved and easy to enjoy for generations to come.
| Running Time (Up to) | Regular Price | Sale Price |
| 0-2 Hours | $28.50 | $19.95 |
| 2-4 Hours | $57.00 | $39.90 |
| 4-6 Hours | $85.50 | $59.85 |
Starting at just $40.00 per tape
Using professional-grade VCRs and capture equipment, our process involves playing your tapes through time-base correction hardware into professional capture systems to convert them to digital. We carefully monitor tracking and video levels throughout, capturing your footage in high-quality digital formats. Post-capture, we edit out blank footage and unwanted static, so you never pay for blank tape. Finally, we deliver your digitized videos as MP4 files on a flash drive, hard drive, or DVD, ensuring your precious memories are preserved and easy to enjoy for generations to come.
| Type | Price |
| Betacam | $40.00 |
| Betacam SP | $40.00 |
* $35.00 per tape on orders of more than 25 tapes
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
Why Our VHS-C Transfers Look Better
We encode at far higher quality than the warehouse standard, so the detail and color of small-format camcorder footage survive.
A technician monitors each tape and tries troublesome ones in multiple decks, instead of running racks unattended.
We trim blank footage and never charge for the empty parts of a tape.
Your tapes are digitized by our own team in Orange, California, never subcontracted or sent overseas.
How It Works
Getting your VHS-C tapes to us is simple, and your originals always come home.
Send it to us
Free local pickup across Southern California, a secure prepaid shipping kit by mail, or drop off at our Orange, CA counter.
We digitize it in-house
Each tape is captured in real time at low compression, tried in multiple decks if needed, and the blanks are trimmed.
You relive it
Get your videos as MP4 on a drive or DVD to share and stream, and your original tapes come back with them.
If you are not happy with your transfer, we redo it until you are.Handled entirely in-house in Orange, California. Your tapes never leave our facility or the country.
"Thank you Legacy Digital for putting my cherished family videos to digital. You showed care and professionalism towards the film. Delivered on time as you promised. Now my family will have this stuff for years."
- Andrew G.
Google Review
"I just has an old VHS of our ship's decommissioning given to me and I had no idea what to do with it. Legacy took care of that (DVD and MP4) and were very friendly and professional. I would use them again and recommend them to others."
- D. O.
Google Review
VHS 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.
Yes. If you are also converting other tapes, film, photos, slides, or audio, we place everything on the same drive in organized folders so your whole archive lives in one place.
Frequently, yes, and you should stop trying to play them at home. Send them in and we handle affected tapes carefully; caught early, most still transfer.
It is the same tape in a smaller shell, made for camcorders. VHS is the full-size cassette you fed straight into a VCR; VHS-C is the compact version that needed an adapter.
No. You do not need the cassette adapter or the camcorder. Just send the VHS-C tapes; we have the equipment to play and capture them.
Turnaround depends on the size of your order and the current queue. We give you an estimated timeframe with your quote and never rush the work at the expense of quality. Call for the current turnaround before you ship.
MP4 files on a flash drive (orders under 256 GB) or hard drive. DVDs are available at $5 per disc for disc-only orders, or $15 per disc when a drive is also in the order.
Yes, a $50 order minimum, not counting drives.
Pricing depends on the type and number of negatives and also the scanning level you select. We keep it affordable and transparent. Get a free, no-obligation quote today.
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.
Those Camcorder Tapes Are Fading in a Drawer.
Get a free, itemized quote. We count every tape, tell you the exact cost, and your originals always come home.
Get My Free VHS-C QuoteOr call (888) 405-2685 · Orange, CA · In-house since 2001