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Video Tape Formats
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Did you know your home movie film and video
tapes can degrade
over time? Protect your movie memories with our film and tape
transfer services. Send us a lot or a little; we have no minimum order!
Video Tape
Transfers- VHS, Super
VHS, VHS-C, 8mm,
Hi-8, Digital8,
MiniDV, and Betamax
Tapes. All 19.95/Tape (up to 2 hours).
VHS Tape
2-6 hrs - Video Home System developed by JVC
utilizing half-inch tape, which is the most widely used video
format.
Super VHS
 30
mins-2 hrs - A higher quality version of the VHS videotape
format with a sharper picture and resolution similar to that
of HI-8. This format is used for videographers mostly for shooting
and editing.
VHS-C
 45-90
mins - A regular VHS video tape wound into a smaller
cartridge. Since the cartridge is smaller, the length of VHS/C
tape is limited to a maximum of 45 minutes - though longer times
can be achieved using a long play mode, the quality usually
is poor compared to the faster speed. The compact tapes are
inserted into your VCR using a cassette adapter which comes
with each VHS/C camera. Once inserted, the tape plays just like
any other VHS tape you've ever used.
8mm Tape
 30
mins-2 hrs - Camcorders often have many of the best
features found in higher priced HI-8 units, including image
stabilization, strong optical and digital zooms and innovative
special effects. Regular 8mm tapes are the exact size and shape
as their HI8 counterparts, but record video at a lower resolution
level, and therefore, are less expensive than camcorders which
product better image quality.
Hi8
 30
mins-2 hrs - Camcorders record their signal at about
400 lines of resolution, slightly less than Mini DV, but substantially
higher than 8mm or regular VHS formats. Most often, HI-8 camcorders
record sound in hi-fi stereo. Slight quality loss is suffered
when copying or editing from HI-8, but a better than average
image is maintained. Tapes from HI-8 camcorders generally must
be played using the camera as the source, which means the user
often must connect cables to their television or VCR. HI-8 tapes
can be bought in 30, 60, and 120-minute lengths.
Digital-8
 45-90
mins - 1 hr - A format that is far superior to HI-8
or 8MM. Sony was the first to introduce this format and has
done a great job. It is backwardly compatible, meaning that
the new Digital8 camcorders and VCR's will also play your 8MM
and HI-8 tapes. You do not have to buy special tapes to record
in Digital8. A regular 8MM or HI-8 tape will record up to 60
minutes of digital video and audio. Because of the design, using
regular tapes is not a problem, but it uses twice as much tape.
A 2 hour HI-8 or 8MM tape will record 60 minutes when done in
the Digital mode and records up to 500 lines of resolution.
MiniDV
 30-80
mins - The smallest of the video formats. They take
and maintain crystal clear images because of the nature of a
digital format. Editing enthusiasts benefit from Mini DV as
well, since copying between two units is done with no quality
loss. That means edited or copied video looks and sounds every
bit as good as the original footage. Mini DV tapes are available
in 30, 60,63 and 80 minute lengths. Digital camcorders have
the highest resolution of all the camcorders, starting at 500
lines.
Betamax
 2-6
hrs - A format originally introduced by Sony in the
80's. It was thought to be a better format at the time. However,
the Beta vs VHS wars took place and VHS was the victor.
This is a straight transfer from tape
to DVD, we do not edit out blank footage, however, we do automatically
add title points.
We encourage you to # the tapes in the order you would like
them transferred and provide a Title for each.
To edit the footage there are ripping programs available
that can convert the DVD movies to MPEG-2 files – one such free
program (for the PC) is called "VOB2MPG" and it can be downloaded
for free from this link:
http://download.videohelp.com/download/VOB2MPG25.zip For a
Mac you will have to rip the DVD into a format which iMovie
or iDVD will recognize. There are a lot of programs out there for converting DVD (VOB Files) into a video format such as MPEG-4 that you can use on your Mac. Here are some links to a few programs you can try: http://handbrake.m0k.org/, http://ffmpegx.com/index.html,
http://www.squared5.com/
You may also need to purchase the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component.
It is available as an add-on to QuickTime 6 or QuickTime 7 for
$19.99 from the Apple Store online at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
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