VHS and camcorder tapes need separate quotations
Adaptatech’s published home-video details confirm VHS to DVD and name Hi8, Video8 and Digital8 conversions. The advertised starting price of £15.00 per tape applies to Hi8, Video8 and Digital8 to DVD, with a discount for quantity. It should not be read as a VHS price. The same page states a minimum charge of £40 on all Home Video Conversion work. Keep both points in mind when comparing a small order with a larger family collection.
Ask for an itemised quotation based on your actual tape formats, quantities and requested output. Confirm how running time affects the charge, whether VAT applies and whether return delivery or additional copies cost extra. A useful enquiry can be short: identify the formats on the cassette labels, estimate the number of tapes and explain whether you want discs, files or both. That gives the business a clearer job to price than a request to convert an unspecified collection.
Choose a viewing file before choosing a disc
The home-video page lists DVD-Video, MPEG2, MPEG4, Quicktime MOV and WMV as output formats. This is a meaningful distinction for families: a DVD and a downloadable or otherwise delivered video file serve different viewing habits. Ask which digital option Adaptatech recommends for your devices and how the files will be handed over. The published format list alone does not establish a particular delivery method or promise that every option is included in the quotation.
Think about the least confident viewer in the family as well as whoever is arranging the conversion. Before committing the whole collection, establish whether the proposed file plays on their computer, television or phone. Ask about file sizes if you plan to store or upload the videos. For editing, explain that intention beforehand so the chosen output suits it. A small sample, if available by agreement, can help you check playback and sound before making decisions about the rest.
Arrange the Chiswick handover with a clear inventory
Adaptatech says tapes can be dropped in or sent by post or courier. Its contact page places the business at Unit 2, Bell Industrial Estate, Cunnington Street, Chiswick. Confirm the arrangements before travelling or sending anything, including how the originals will be returned and the expected completion date. A published timeframe for a different service should not be used to plan a home-video order.
Give each cassette a simple reference number and keep a matching list at home. Record the label wording, any known event and visible damage without opening the cassette. If a tape has mould, a cracked casing or a history of sticking, describe that before handing it over and ask whether it can be assessed. Do not repeatedly test a suspect tape in a player. For a posted collection, use protective packaging and keep photographs of the contents and your inventory.
Check the transfer while the labels still make sense
When your converted videos arrive, compare them against the inventory before putting the tapes away. Play the beginning, a middle section and the end of each file, checking that sound is present and the recording belongs to the expected cassette. Keep any unexplained gaps or playback problems in a written list for a follow-up enquiry. Preserve the originals while you resolve questions and make at least one additional copy of the digital files on separate storage.
This is also a good moment to involve a relative who recognises the people on screen. Add a descriptive filename and a short note about the occasion, rather than relying on a numbered tape label. Where a date is uncertain, record an approximate year and say who suggested it. These modest details make the recording much easier to find later, especially when several generations are contributing different recollections.
From converted files to a private family archive
Memrial is a separate private family archive for digital memories after conversion. It does not digitise tapes and is not part of Adaptatech’s service. You can organise photos and home videos into albums, invite relatives and add comments or stories. Its free allowance is 2.0 GB shared across the archive, with no card needed. Check the size of your converted videos when deciding which memories to upload first.
Timeline uses exact or approximate dates to help you find memories by year. A recording believed to be from a summer holiday in the early nineties can sit in that year even if nobody remembers the day. Live Watch Parties synchronise an uploaded home video, with the host controlling play, pause and seek while relatives nearby or far away use voice or text chat. The free allowance is 3 hours per month with up to 6 participants.
For a family anniversary, Event Memories provides a secure occasion contribution link. Contributors sign in but do not need archive membership, and their photos and videos collect in the event album. Closing the link keeps the memories already contributed. That lets a converted anniversary recording become the starting point for a fuller family account, alongside pictures and recollections from people who were there.