◄◄ REW 2:00:00
Toronto · One person · Your tapes never leave the city

Somebody you love is on that tape.

VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS, Video8, Hi8, Digital8 and Mini DVD transferred, cleaned up, and handed back ready to watch on any phone, TV or laptop. Free pickup in The Beaches, and anywhere in Toronto from 5 tapes.

Christmas & the cottage '94
DO NOT TAPE OVER!!

This is what's sitting in your basement.

The first tape I ever played had my girlfriend's grandfather talking off camera. I never got to meet him. It is the only place I have heard his voice.

That is why I do this.

Pedro

VHSVHS-CS-VHSVideo8Hi8Digital8Mini DVDFree pickup in The BeachesToronto pickup free from 5 tapesFiles deleted after 30 daysHome recordings only VHSVHS-CS-VHSVideo8Hi8Digital8Mini DVDFree pickup in The BeachesToronto pickup free from 5 tapesFiles deleted after 30 daysHome recordings only

Same few seconds, three ways

Don't take my word for it.

Real footage off my own family's tapes. Pick a tape and put it in the deck: the same few seconds play on all three TVs at once. Straight off the tape, Restored, and an Enhanced clip. Judge it with your own eyes.

STOPCH 3
Essential
STOPCH 4
Restored
STOPCH 5
Enhanced clip
REWIND PLAYER

Press ► to play. Pick another tape to swap it. No sound, about ten seconds each.

Two ways to do it.

Priced per tape, up to two hours of footage, then $9 an hour after that. So you only pay for what is actually on there, and blank tapes cost you nothing.

Essential

THE HONEST TRANSFER

$19per tape · up to 2 hrs
  • Every tape inspected, and the deck's heads cleaned before it plays
  • Captured in real time at full quality. Two hours takes two hours
  • Dead footage cut out. Lens caps, blank ends, ten minutes of carpet
  • Interlacing removed, so movement looks smooth instead of jagged
  • Picture geometry corrected, so nobody comes out stretched
  • One tidy file per tape, playable on any phone, TV or laptop
  • Standard definition, 640 x 480: everything the tape recorded
  • Download link, or pickup and delivery: free in The Beaches, free in the rest of Toronto from 5 tapes

The right choice if you mostly want the tapes safe and watchable before they degrade any further.

Most chosen

Restored

EVERYTHING IN ESSENTIAL, PLUS THE CLEAN UP

$32per tape · up to 2 hrs
  • Sharper. Faces, hair and edges come back into focus
  • Cleaner. The fizz, speckle and colour smudges of old tape calmed down
  • Better colour and light, set for each tape, never overdone
  • Made HD, 1440 x 1080, so it fills a modern TV cleanly

VHS, 8mm and discs each wear out in their own way, so every tape is looked at first and gets the treatment that suits it. On most family footage it is the difference between watching something old and watching something that happened.

worth it ♥
Three add ons. Pick any, or noneNO. 0001994
01
Enhanced clips

Detail rebuilt on the moments you choose, in HD. Best on close-ups: faces, hair, knitwear.

How it is made

Restored cleans up what is already on the tape. Enhanced goes further and rebuilds fine detail that cleaning alone cannot recover.

It is made with enhancement software, the kind people call AI, on my own computer, so your footage never leaves my bench. On small faces far from the camera it can guess wrong, so I check every clip against the original, and anything that does not look like the person you remember never leaves my bench. You always get the untouched version too.

It is the slowest thing I do, so it is priced by how much of the tape you want it on. Pick the moments that are worth it, or take the whole tape and skip choosing.

from $35per tape, by how much
02
USB drive, gift wrapped

Your files on a labelled drive, in a proper box. Good for Christmas, better for a parent who does not trust the cloud. One drive is included with every order of 5 tapes or more. Extra drives, for brothers and sisters or for a bigger order, are $20 each.

Got a drive of your own? Bring it and I will put your files on it, at no cost.

$201 included from 5 tapes
03
Broken tape? Ask me first

Snapped tape, cracked shell, chewed by a VCR in 1998. Send me a photo and I will tell you honestly whether it can be saved, what it would cost, and what the risk is, before anything gets opened. Some tapes I will turn away rather than gamble with your only copy.

quotedcase by case

Build your order

No quote form. Just numbers.

Pick what you want, add it to the order, and keep going until your shoebox is empty. Two Essential here, one Restored with the whole tape Enhanced there. Nothing is emailed or saved unless you press send at the end.

Your order
1 · What is it
2 · Which level
3 · How many like this
4 · Add ons for these
tapes from Grandma
The box is empty.
Let's add some tapes.
Do not throw out0 items
Nothing in your order yet.
Pick a tape and a level, then press Add to order.
Extra USB drives, gift wrapped$20 each
One drive is included from 5 tapes. Labelled drive in a box.
ESTIMATED TOTAL
$0
nothing added yet

Estimate only. Tapes over two hours add $9 an hour. Pickup is free in The Beaches, and in the rest of Toronto from 5 tapes (under 5: $15). Blank or unwatchable tapes are free, you never pay for footage of a carpet. Final price once I have seen them.

Honest answers

The questions everyone asks.

Pick a tape. Every answer is one I have actually been asked.