Start with the screen you want to watch on
Digitise Your Memories describes its digital conversion as standard VHS to MP4, delivered through a secure download. It also offers VHS to DVD conversion. MP4 makes sense when you want a file to copy, back up or add to a private family archive. DVD may suit a relative who already watches discs on a familiar player. Check the intended device before choosing: a television with a USB socket is not automatically compatible with every video file, and a computer may have no disc drive.
If several relatives want different things, ask what combination of outputs can be ordered and how that affects the total. Keep the request specific: which tapes, which output for each, and whether you need extra copies. The website establishes standard VHS provision; ask separately about any small camcorder cassettes or other formats in the collection. Their inclusion should not be assumed from the VHS service.
Arrange Newcastle handover before making the journey
The provider advertises UK-wide VHS conversion and Newcastle drop-off by arrangement. Its published registered office is in Newcastle Upon Tyne, but a registered address is not confirmation of a customer drop-off point. Contact the business to agree the correct handover location and arrangements before travelling. That distinction matters when you are carrying irreplaceable originals.
For postal orders, the published process says a postage label is emailed to you. You then follow the provider’s packing and postage guide and use the stated Post Office or courier drop point. Read those instructions before packing. As your own preparation, number the tapes and photograph their labels so you retain a simple record of what you sent. Add an inventory that connects each number with its description, without obscuring the cassette’s existing markings.
Understand the order total and treatment of originals
The website displays a VHS to DVD product price range of £12.99 through £199.80. That is a range across selectable options, not enough information to calculate the price of your particular collection or to establish a per-tape rate. Confirm the chosen option and full total, including any postage or other charges, before ordering. The quoted details do not settle VAT treatment or a completion timescale.
Digitise Your Memories says conversions are handled personally in the UK and never outsourced to third-party warehouses. It also states that original VHS tapes are returned, with any selected DVDs, while MP4 files arrive by secure download. Before sending a tape with a cracked casing, visible contamination or a known playback problem, describe its condition and ask whether it can be accepted. Do not try to repair an unfamiliar fault just to get it ready for posting.
Give each returned recording a careful first viewing
The digital-download service describes tapes being converted in full, with a secure download link sent by email and the originals returned. When the files arrive, download them somewhere you can find again and check each against your inventory. Play the beginning, a middle passage and the end, then give important recordings a fuller viewing. Listen as well as watch: family conversations can be as valuable as the picture.
Keep the original downloaded files and make a separate backup on another storage device or service. Rename copies clearly, using an occasion and a date where known, while retaining the connection to the numbered cassette. Keep the returned tapes too, at least while you check the transfers and organise backups. Ask relatives to help identify faces, places and approximate years; note uncertainty instead of turning a guess into a definite date.
Bring the MP4 into a private family archive
After conversion, Memrial offers a separate private family archive for digital photos and home videos. It does not convert physical tapes and is not part of Digitise Your Memories. Its free plan includes 2.0 GB of shared archive storage with no card needed. Check file sizes before uploading a long recording, since that allowance is shared across the archive.
Timeline accepts exact or approximate dates, helping relatives find memories by year even when a cassette only says something like summer holiday. Live Watch Parties synchronise an uploaded home video, with host play, pause and seek controls plus voice and text chat for relatives nearby or far away. The free allowance is three hours each month with up to six participants.
For a family anniversary, Event Memories can gather newer photographs alongside the older recording through a secure occasion contribution link. Contributors sign in but do not need archive membership; their uploads go into the event album. Closing the link retains those memories. That gives relatives a practical way to add their own perspective after watching, while your separate backups preserve the converted files.