An appointment to settle the transfer details
Digital Archives describes its service as appointment based. Contact the business before taking in your collection so there is time to discuss the formats and your intended output. Its published hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with Sunday and Monday closed. Check the appointment time directly before traveling.
The published video rate is $15 per hour for VHS, V8, hi8, Mini DV, and Betamax. That is an hourly rate, not a quoted price per cassette. A tape's capacity does not tell you how much recorded material it contains. Ask how chargeable duration is measured, whether partial hours are rounded, and what the final quote includes, including any output media or tax. Turnaround and tape repair arrangements also need a direct answer.
One collection can contain several different jobs
The website lists 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm silent film transfers to DVD and hard drive, slides and photos to DVD or hard drive, and audio cassettes to CD or hard drive. Audio can also be delivered directly to a drive as MP3 files. These options matter if the same family occasion survives as a video, a few photographs, and a relative's recorded voice.
Keep those materials grouped by type when preparing your enquiry, while noting which belong to the same occasion. Film has its own handling statement: Digital Archives says 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm film will be cleaned and conditioned before transfer and returned intact. That statement concerns film reels. Ask separately how videotapes are handled and returned, especially if a cassette has a cracked shell, loose tape, or visible contamination.
Choose the output around the people watching
Digital Archives says each tape placed on DVD receives its own chapter on the menu for easy access, and that it can then be copied to a USB drive or external hard drive. The DVD menu may help someone who already watches discs, while files are useful for organizing copies and sharing selected memories. Discuss both uses before settling on delivery.
A drive describes the storage medium, not the video file format. Ask which files you will receive, whether they play on your intended devices, and whether you should supply the drive. The published MP3 option is for audio; it does not establish a video format. If you want to upload converted home movies to a family archive later, establish the available video format and file sizes first.
Make the handover and home check manageable
Before the appointment, make a simple inventory and give each tape a stable reference such as Birthday Tape. Copy its existing label into your notes without treating every handwritten date as certain. Ask a relative to identify people or occasions you do not recognize. If you have many tapes, choose a few important recordings to discuss first and explain why they matter.
After conversion, compare the returned material with your inventory. Open every file, check the beginning, middle, and end, and listen for audio as well as watching the picture. Note unexpected gaps or playback trouble promptly so you can discuss them with the converter. Keep the physical originals and preserve an untouched copy of the delivered files. A separate backup on another drive adds protection; an edited family highlights version should be an additional copy.
Bring the Lexington recordings into a private family archive
Memrial is a separate private family archive for memories after conversion. It does not convert physical tapes or form part of Digital Archives' service. Its free plan provides 2.0 GB of storage shared across the archive, with no card needed. Check your video sizes against that allowance, then invite relatives to add comments and stories around the recordings.
Timeline accepts exact or approximate dates, helping relatives find memories by year even when a tape label is vague. For a birthday recording everyone wants to revisit, Live Watch Parties synchronize an uploaded home video with host play, pause, and seek controls plus voice and text chat. The free allowance is 3 hours per month with up to 6 participants.
For a new reunion, Event Memories provides a secure occasion contribution link. Contributors sign in but do not need archive membership; their photos and videos collect in the event album. Closing the link keeps the memories, so the reunion can sit alongside the older recordings after contributions finish.