The most affordable and flexible video transfer service in the UK.
The time has now passed for any further video transfer work to be completed in time for Christmas 2024.Click on the 
symbols above for
information on the format. Using this form implies acceptance of cookies. You can always
email colin@video99.co.uk
If you don't know what kind of tapes you have, or want to see pictures of them, scroll through this page.
If for any reason you get stuck filling out the form, just email me and I'll help you personally. It's a personal service I offer, not like some of the big video editing houses. I understand that in many cases you will not be able to tell how much material is on the original recordings. In which case we can usually deal with payment later once I've worked on the tapes. Payment is best done by bank transfer, but cheque to video99 are acceptable too. Please read our Terms and Conditions, which form part of the agreement.
If
you would like to speak to
me personally, you
can telephone Colin during normal hours, on 01752 881652. You can always
email colin@video99.co.uk
A note about quality and value for money: There are some transfer services on eBay and similar, offering to squeeze 3 or even 4 hours of video onto a DVD for about a fiver. But recorded single layer DVDs can only provide full resolution for up to around 2 to 2.5 hours, so you know they are not providing you with full resolution transfers. Do they use the best equipment, do they use Digital Timebase Correctors for best possible results, do they carefully adjust the colour alignment and other controls to correct imperfections on the tape? No, not at that price, you know they don't. We don't run much material to DVD any more but many of the cheaper outfits cannot generate high quality, low compression video files. They can also hide other costs, for example one of the "cheap" companies charge £25 to repair a faulty tape, but video99 charges just £5 and sometimes waives that too. Video99 has long lists of very happy customers, see the testimonials, some from famous names, and you can see that we provide the highest possible quality. The "cheap" companies can also let you down because they can't handle any recordings which are unusual formats, foreign TV systems or difficult tapes. So who provides the best value?
If you want your tapes back after you have the
transfers:
Not everyone needs their tapes returned once they have the transfers,
but if
you do (and we recommend it),
we will need to add postage costs. For a single video tape in the UK,
this is
usually £5.99. For larger quantities, and tapes from outside the
UK, I
will let you know.
Ideally can you ensure you send the tapes in a package which is
sufficiently large and robust for me to use to send back your original
tapes. Usually I will send video files to you ahead of
returning your
tapes, then when you've confirmed you are happy with the transfers, I
will
return your tapes. This way I can help you further if necessary - for
example you can now see you want a different part of a tape transferred
on its own.
When you receive your tapes back, you may notice that the record tabs
have been removed or switched to the safe position. The first thing I
do with a tape is make sure that it cannot be recorded on, so
protecting your important recordings. If you don't want tapes
returned, there may be a small charge for some tapes since we pay for a
proper disposal service.
** Work taken on for
other
businesses can be supplied without video99 branding on DVDs, USB sticks
or data
folders, ready for re-branding, but please ask for this.
However video99 will never
secretly outsource work to another company; if
there's something we don't handle (like Cine Film) then we will try to
suggest someone who can help you.
Click below on the tape format you have to read a little about the video tapes and see the some guide prices. If you you're not sure what your tape is, scroll down this page until you see it, or just ask for help. I have possibly the largest selection of video cassette formats available in the UK. All kinds of video cassette and camcorder tapes can be copied at prices which make it well worth leaving it to an expert.
We usually provide DV-AVI files of 13GB per hour plus MPEG4 of 4GB per hour, from most video formats. These are much higher quality than the compressed files you would get from a cheap video to USB converter gadget, and are much better suited to editing. In the case of minidv and Digital8 tapes, these DV-AVI files are a pure lossless copy from teh digital tape contents which even retain the original time/date information which some software can access. Some professional studio tapes are available as other video file formats including 8-bit YUV (huge file sizes though).
Most customers today prefer video files to DVDs,
some
pricing is shown here for the more popular formats. Video files
are higher quality than DVDs, easier to edit, share and back up, so a
better format for future generations. Assuming at least 10 hours,
the cost to DV-AVI video files would be:
£7 per hour for miniDV
(miniDV/DVCAM and Digital8 are a pure digital lossless transfer,
retaining the original time/date data, which some video editing
software can access). This is the same hourly price we have been
charging since 2008!
£8 per hour for Video8/Hi8/Digital8
£9 per hour for VHS, SVHS, Beta or microMV
£10 per hour for V2000 tapes
£10.50 per hour for HDV to lossless full quality High Definition MPEG2
files, consuming around 12GB/hour. (JVC's rare 720P format costs more.)
£12.50 per hour for VHSC tapes
The cost is per hour of useful material, blank tapes and blank sections
don't count, plus return post. If there are a lot of very short
tapes then a minimum charge of usually £3.50 per tape may
apply.
Less than around 10 hours is 50% more per hour, a single tape usually
being £15 minimum. Normally I provide DV-AVI video files which
consume 13GB
per hour, so a few hours may go onto a USB stick but a lot of tapes
require a small USB hard drive. I keep high quality USB sticks in stock at competive prices, avoid
buying cheap eBay USB sticks which are all fakes.
Not only do I offer a cheap video transfer
service, it's a personal and helpful service with the highest
possible
quality and attention to detail as standard. I'm happy to help
when you don't know
which tape an important recording is on, or you have other special
requests.
| Click to read more about... | |
| Beta (Betamax) | video99 is the UK Beta specialist, covering rare international variants and PCM audio too. |
| VHS / VHS-C SVHS (Super-VHS) / S-VHS-C | All international variants fully covered. Digital Timebase Correctors used for the best results. |
| Video2000 (V2000 / Video Compact Cassette) | video99 has a wealth of experience with the V2000 format. |
| Video 8 Hi8 Digital8 | Superb results from these
camcorder tapes, and international variants fully covered, including
PCM digital audio tapes. |
| miniDV / HDV / DVCAM | International
variants
covered too. HDV is
supported in 1080/60i, 1080/24p, 1080/30p, 1080/50i, 1080/25p and even JVC's rare 720P. |
| DVCPRO | It's hard to find
transfer
services for DVCPRO and especially the DVCPRO-50 and DVCPRO-HD
variants, in both PAL
and NTSC. |
| microMV | International variants
covered, and help with micromv editing too. |
| Betacam / Betacam SP and Digital Betacam / BetacamSX | Excellent results at a
much
lower cost than the London based companies, international variants
covered too. Includes HDCAM and HDCAM-SR. |
| Umatic (lo-band, hi-band, U-matic SP) | Possibly the
only
UK business to support all international variants of Umatic, as well as
PCM digital audio. Most tapes go via a studio Digital Timebase
Corrector which is specially designed for Umatic use. |
| Philips VCR (N1500), VCR-LP (N1700) and SVR | video99 is possibly the only transfer service in the world specialising in all variants of these tapes. |
| The only transfer service in the world offering this exceptionally rare format in both PAL and NTSC. | |
| MII format from Panasonic | video99 is almost unique
in
the UK,
supporting this rare professional format. |
| DVD
and Laserdisc |
Extracting from unfinalised DVD-RW, DVD-Ram, camcorder mini DVDs, Laserdisc and more. |
| Audio Transfers | All kinds of audio tapes; DAT, cassette, open reel, 8-track, DCC, DTRS, ADAT, PCM, NT, Stenocassette, dictation machine tapes and more. To audio files or CD. |
| Questions and Answers (FAQ) | Also includes help on how to transfer miniDV tapes yourself. |
| Television systems | PAL / NTSC / SECAM explained. |
| News from video99 | A little blog about our work. |
Be careful who you trust your precious memories
to. I am a qualified electronic engineer with over 30 years of
video editing and servicing experience. I've been
transferring video tapes since the start of suitable digital recording
equipment almost 20 years ago, and I put that special care and
attention into my work which
shows. Yet my prices are as low as the cheapest on the
Internet. I also offer more tape formats than possibly any other
company, in some cases at a third of the cost of the
competition. I use Digital Timebase Correctors to get the very
best
results, many transfer services do not have these. I can also do
special services such as taking stills from a video, transferring
confidential or private video material, video files on USB stick or
hard disk, repairing
damaged tapes and more, just
ask.
Example price: Betamax video including Hifi
stereo sound of 2:30 hours, copied to DVD for £13, an extra copy
for £3.50. Or a single Beta/VHS/minidv/Video8 tape to DV-AVI and
MPEG4 video files from £15. If you can find anyone advertising a
lower price, do
tell me! No VAT to add, our turnover is presently below
the VAT threshold and we aim to keep it that way. Most customers
pay by bank transfer / PAYM, but cheque to video99 is fine too. A
change in UK law from January 2018 means that Paypal cannot usually be
accepted any more, sorry.
We can help with other services not listed here, including data recovery from damaged Hard Disk camcorders, data recovery from PC and Mac 3.5" floppy disks and PC format 5.25" floppies, data recovery from accidentally wiped memory cards. Just ask.
We are listed on the independent Freeindex
service, you can read and add to reviews
there. Most customers use that method for testimonials now.
We also have a
collection of fascinating testimonials from some famous names, see the famous
names
testimonials page.
Please also subscribe to our successful YouTube channel where you can see some of the work
we do and fantastic equipment we have.
Most customers these days like to use their own computer and software to edit their videos for themselves. Here are some suggestions for free video editing software for PC. On a Mac, iMovie is a reasonable starting place.
Nearly all customers take DV-AVI files on hard
disk.
These hard
disk transfers
are suitable for both PC and Mac video editing and cost just £7 - £9
per hour for 10 hours or more
for most formats (see price list above). All video formats are
available
with this
option. We can provide the hard disk, or you can order one from
a
supplier such as Ebuyer
or Amazon
and
have it
shipped directly here.
Small jobs of up to a few hours may
fit a USB stick or can be uploaded to you. Additionally I offer smaller MPEG4 files at
a very small cost, these will
play on most modern TVs which have a USB socket. We keep a stock of USB sticks and portable hard disks if required.
I can transfer all video formats to make up video clips and/or DVDs for performers, camera operators and programme producers, ready to send to potential clients or casting agents or companies such as Spotlight. These will be made up quickly and affordably, to a professional standard, and you can preview the work as it progresses to be sure you are absolutely happy with the results. Just ask if you require this.
If you have any questions, just email me and I'll reply promptly. Also see the video99.co.uk Questions and Answers (FAQ) All material on this web site is copyright ©2005-2024 www.video99.co.uk and www.colin99.co.uk though trade marks remain with the manufacturers.
See my Beta (Betamax) web page. Other sites of mine: My Homepage, The Hillman Avenger car, Pictures of Plymouth, BSB & Squarials, a Virtual Loft full of stuff and my HiFi page which has more information on video and audio equipment. We are listed on: Activplymouth.com the most comprehensive guide for Plymouth on the internet. Please also subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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