A clear video service, with a starting price to discuss
The website states prices from £10 per video tape. The word “from” is important: this is a starting figure, rather than a confirmed total for every cassette. Ask what affects the final price, whether tape duration matters, what delivery medium is included and whether any taxes or additional charges apply. For several tapes, a written total helps you decide whether to transfer everything together or begin with the recordings that matter most.
My Digital Media describes converting video tapes in all formats using professional equipment, with a stated resolution of 720x576. That broad format statement supports enquiring about VHS, but still tell the business exactly which cassettes you own. Include photographs of labels if you cannot distinguish a full-size VHS from a small camcorder cassette. Ask it to confirm compatibility and the proposed digital file type before you send or deliver anything.
Keep the cine reels separate from the cassettes
For cine film, My Digital Media publishes prices from £15 per 50ft reel and says all sizes of cine film are accommodated. It describes a digital frame-by-frame scanner capturing at 1440x1080. These are cine film details, so the price and resolution should not be used to estimate a VHS transfer. If your family collection mixes reels and tapes, list each group separately when requesting a quotation.
That distinction is useful beyond the cost. A reel marked with a place and year may belong beside a later holiday video in your eventual archive, while needing a different conversion process first. Note any markings on reel containers without guessing their technical format. Ask the provider how it identifies unfamiliar film, what information it needs to quote accurately, and how each reel will be labelled in the returned digital collection.
Agree the output before the Peterborough handover
The business publishes an address at 10 Dundee Court, Orton Northgate, Peterborough, PE2 6BT, alongside telephone and email contact details. Contact it before travelling to agree how your media should be handed over. The published transfer details do not establish appointment arrangements, completion times or the specific output options available, so settle those practical points directly.
If you want to watch on a television and also keep a family archive online, explain both uses. Ask whether the proposed files will play on your devices, how they will be supplied and whether longer recordings will arrive as one file or several. Confirm how the original tapes and reels will be returned. A file format you can open and copy easily is more useful than a delivery choice made solely because its name sounds familiar.
Make the recordings easier to identify and check
Give every cassette or reel a simple number and keep a matching inventory. Record the wording on its label, any known date and the people who might recognise the contents. Avoid playing a visibly damaged or mouldy tape just to find out what is on it. Describe the problem to the provider and ask whether it can assess the item; do not assume ordinary conversion includes repair or restoration.
When your files arrive, open each one and sample the beginning, middle and end. Check that sound plays, that the recording belongs to the right label and that files copy successfully to another device. Keep the originals while you review the result. Maintain a separate backup of the digital files, and ask relatives about uncertain names or dates while the footage is fresh in their minds. Their recollections can make an otherwise anonymous clip much easier to find later.
Let relatives add the context after conversion
Memrial is a separate private family archive for digital photos and home videos after conversion. It does not convert physical tapes and is not part of My Digital Media. Its free allowance is 2.0 GB shared across the archive, with no card needed. Check the sizes of your returned files when deciding what to upload, and keep your independent backup alongside the archive.
Timeline accepts exact or approximate dates, helping you find memories by year even when a tape says only “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 3 hours per month with up to 6 participants. A shared viewing can be a practical moment to ask who appears in an unfamiliar scene.
For a family reunion, 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 those memories. This gives relatives a way to add their own pictures around the newly converted recordings, building the story of the occasion from more than one viewpoint.