Mail It In
Of course, you could pay someone else to do VHS conversion work for you. But the service doesn't always come cheap: One photo shop in Berkeley, California, offered to make me a DVD of a 1.5-hour VHS tape for $35, with no chapter stops. For any actual editing (including chapters), prices started at $75 an hour. A store located in San Francisco told me that it transfers tapes for $15 per hour, plus $2.50 per title or chapter insert. At those rates, you might as well buy your own recorder.
Mail-in services, however, offer a more affordable route. A company such as YesVideo will create a DVD copy of a VHS tape for just $25, including chapter stops. I sent in the ultrasound tape and some vacation travel footage to Yes-Video. The video transferred to DVD sounded and looked as good as the source. And the company did a pretty good job of inserting chapters, too, although at the end of the disc the technician missed several obvious spots to put new chapters. The disc comes in a nice-looking package, with a case that displays a thumbnail from each chapter.
It's a straight copy, though. YesVideo doesn't edit out the bad parts, like interference, on the tape. And completing the job takes up to two weeks from the time you drop off the tape, whereas local stores perform conversions in a day or two.
Your Best Choice
All in all, which option will be smartest for you? If you have relatively few tapes that you want to convert, a service like YesVideo is the way to go. Just be sure to make a copy of your priceless movie before you send the original on its way. (If you don't have a second VCR, try to borrow one.)
If you expect to work with tapes often, you can't beat the convenience of a combination recorder like GoVideo's for producing straight copies of VHS movies. But if you need to perform basic editing and make multiple copies, moving up to a DVD recorder with a hard drive makes sense, especially if you also plan to use it to record TV shows.
After the converting is done, you can relax and relive your favorite memories--without fear that they'll fade away.
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