Planning around the $25 tape price
VHS+ describes its pricing as a flat $25 per tape and states a two-tape minimum. Count physical cassettes rather than the number of birthdays, holidays or other events recorded on them. One tape might contain several occasions, while a long family event might span more than one cassette. Keeping that distinction clear will help you describe your collection when ordering.
The website also lists free insured shipping both ways. Ask for the final order total and any applicable tax before committing, along with confirmation that your particular tapes are accepted. The published details here establish VHS conversion, but do not establish acceptance of every other cassette format. If your collection includes smaller tapes or unfamiliar labels, identify those separately instead of treating them all as VHS.
What the capture and download include
The VHS+ service description says every tape includes real-time capture on professional equipment, a human quality check, a private download link and the Re-Capture Guarantee. The website also describes one technician handling the work from start to finish, with a photo and email at every step. These published details are useful if you want updates while your originals are away.
Ask what the guarantee covers and how to request it, since its name alone does not explain its terms. Likewise, confirm the delivered file type, how you will download a large collection and whether any alternative delivery options exist. A private download link describes the route to your footage; it does not establish a particular file format or permanent online storage.
Send an inventory with the recordings
Before packing, photograph the cassette labels and give each tape a simple reference number. Make a matching list with any known dates, names and occasions. Ask a relative to help decode vague labels such as “summer” before the tapes leave your possession. Avoid removing original labels that might be the only surviving clue to a recording.
If a cassette has a cracked shell, loose tape, signs of mold or a history of playback problems, describe that condition and ask whether it can be handled. Do not attempt another playback simply to fill in your inventory if you suspect damage. Ask VHS+ for packing and shipping instructions, including how the advertised insurance applies. Keep your own list so you can match the returned originals and downloaded files to the shipment.
An approximate schedule and a firm reason to back up
VHS+ advertises digital files in about two weeks and says it sends every original tape back, never keeping, selling or discarding one. Treat the approximate timing as a planning guide and confirm the expected schedule for your order, particularly if you hope to show a recording at a reunion or anniversary. Ask when that estimate begins and how you will be notified that the files are ready.
The website says recordings are checked only for quality and permanently erased 30 days after you download. That policy makes your own copies important. Download promptly, open each file and check the beginning, middle and end for usable picture and sound. Compare file labels with your inventory and raise any concerns while you still have the relevant order details. Keep the originals and make a second digital copy in another location.
Build the family context after conversion
Memrial is a separate private family archive for digital memories after conversion. It does not convert physical tapes and is not part of VHS+. Its free plan includes 2.0 GB of shared archive storage with no card needed. Check the size of your converted collection before uploading; that allowance is shared across the archive.
Invite relatives to help name people and add stories. Timeline accepts exact or approximate dates, so an uncertain year need not stop you from placing a recording where the family can find it. A summer holiday remembered only as “in the early nineties” can still sit alongside other memories from that period.
Live Watch Parties synchronize 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 per month with up to six participants. For a reunion, Event Memories provides a secure occasion contribution link. Contributors sign in but need not be archive members; their photos and videos collect in the event album, and closing the link retains the memories.