Pricing
What it costs to convert video tapes.
One price per two-hour tape for every consumer format, a separate flat price for broadcast Betacam, and nothing billed for blank tape or recorded television. Here is the arithmetic, with worked examples.
The rate
Any consumer video tape, VHS through MiniDV, is $19.95 per two-hour tape at the current special, or $28.50 at the regular rate, regardless of format. Betacam and Betacam SP broadcast tapes are $40 each, or $35 each on orders over 25. A $50.00 minimum order applies; if an order totals less, a line called “Minimum order adjustment” makes up the difference.
Published rates as of September 2026. Specials move, so ask for a current quote before you count on a figure.
Per two-hour tape, any consumer format
$19.95 at the current special
$28.50 at the regular rate. VHS, VHS-C, Video8, Hi8, Digital8, MiniDV, Betamax: same price. A $50.00 minimum order applies. Blank footage and recorded television are edited out and never billed. Published rates as of September 2026; specials move, so ask for a current quote.
What that means in practice
6 Hi8 tapes
$119.70
Six tapes under two hours each, at the current special. $171.00 at the regular rate.
12 VHS tapes, two in long play
$279.30
Ten two-hour tapes plus two four-hour tapes, which count as two each: 14 tape units at the special. $399.00 regular.
2 MiniDV tapes
$50.00
Two tapes come to $39.90 at the special, so the minimum order adjustment brings the order to $50.00.
The two-hour rule. A tape counts as one two-hour tape per two hours of recorded content. Two to four hours counts as two tapes, four to six as three, and so on. Only VHS typically runs past two hours, because its long-play modes could squeeze six hours onto one cassette. Camcorder formats almost never do.
Blank tape is free. We edit out blank stretches and anything recorded off television and never bill for them. A cassette that turns out to be mostly empty costs you far less than its length suggests, and a tape that is entirely blank or entirely TV is skipped.
Getting the files back
MP4 files on a flash drive for orders under 256 GB, or a hard drive above that. Our files are deliberately low-compression, so plan on roughly five times the space of a heavily compressed transfer.
DVDs: $5 per disc for disc-only orders, or $15 per disc alongside a drive, on long-lasting archival discs. When DVDs make sense.
What moves the price
Tape count and, for VHS, recorded length. Nothing else. Format does not change the consumer rate, condition work is not averaged into it, and rush service is quoted separately per order.
Betacam is the one exception, with its own flat professional price and a lower rate over 25 tapes.
Want a number before you decide?
Send a photo of one tape and a rough count, and say whether any VHS tapes were recorded in long play. We will send a written estimate at published rates, with no obligation.