A DVD organized around the moments you want to find
The Deluxe DVD option covers up to 2 hours of video transferred from up to 4 sources. The published price is $79.95 plus $5.00 per chapter mark, with a main title page and custom chapter marks. These details make chapter selection an important part of the conversation, especially when several recordings belong together.
For example, you might want separate access points for a graduation ceremony, the celebration afterward, and a family message. Before ordering, write down the scenes you would like to find quickly and ask how chapter positions are agreed. Confirm the current quote, any applicable tax or other charges, and how additional running time or sources would be handled. The published two-hour allowance should not be treated as a per-tape price.
Foreign Conversion has its own file specification
Family Memories Video lists Foreign Conversion at $54.95 for up to 1 hour of video from a single source, delivered in uncompressed MOV file format. That is a distinct offer; it does not establish that every video transfer includes an MOV file or that an ordinary domestic VHS tape falls under this price.
Describe any overseas recordings and the labels on their tapes before choosing this option. Ask which recording systems the service accepts and whether you can obtain a smaller viewing copy alongside the transfer file. As general planning advice, an uncompressed file can demand substantial storage. Check the expected file size and playback requirements before choosing how to receive it, particularly if your goal is easy family viewing or uploading to a private archive.
Film reels, photographs and audio need separate estimates
A mixed collection may require several service categories. The film transfer information states a $50.00 minimum charge on all film transfer orders, and the price list says film transfer orders can take 3 to 8 weeks depending on order size. Neither figure describes video-tape pricing or VHS turnaround.
Photo scanning has a published $25 minimum order, with photo scanning and dust/scratch removal listed at $2.50 each. The audio page also describes double-sided standard audio cassette transfers to CD or digital files, with eight-track cassette transfers potentially available by special request. Keep photographs, film reels, audio cassettes and video tapes separately counted when requesting an estimate so that a figure for one medium does not become an expectation for another.
Make the first conversation about your actual recordings
Prepare a short inventory showing each tape label, its format if known, and an approximate running time only where you have reliable information. Use removable labels on cases and keep a matching list. Avoid testing a visibly damaged or moldy tape in a player; describe its condition and ask whether it can be assessed before any transfer is attempted.
For a VHS project, settle acceptance, delivery format, turnaround, handling of blank sections and return of originals in that first conversation. These are questions to ask, rather than established Family Memories Video policies. Involve a relative who remembers the recordings: a few names and likely years can make the eventual filenames much more helpful than a sequence of anonymous numbers.
Check the transfer before building a family archive
When your files arrive, sample the beginning, middle and end of each recording, checking picture, sound and whether the expected scenes are present. Confirm you can open them on the devices you intend to use. Keep the originals and preserve a separate backup of the delivered files before renaming or editing viewing copies.
Memrial is a separate private family archive for digital memories after conversion; it does not convert tapes and is not part of this provider. Its free plan includes 2.0 GB of storage shared across the archive, with no card needed. You can invite relatives, arrange photos and home videos in albums, and add comments and stories. Timeline accepts exact or approximate dates, helping you find memories by year even when a recording is only dated to a summer or decade.
Let relatives watch and contribute together
A reunion recording can become a shared evening through Memrial Live Watch Parties. Uploaded home-video playback is synchronized, with host play, pause and seek controls plus voice and text chat for relatives nearby or far away. 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 already contributed. That gives an older transferred recording a place beside new family photographs without losing track of which occasion each belongs to.