Match the hourly rate to the cassette
Video99 publishes £7 per hour for miniDV, £8 per hour for Video8, Hi8 and Digital8, and £9 per hour for VHS, SVHS, Beta or microMV. The miniDV page wording says that hourly price has been charged since 2008; it does not date the entire price list to that year. Treat these as published rates and ask for a current total for your particular batch, including any applicable tax or other charges.
An hourly rate is easiest to assess when you know the recorded running time. A cassette's stated capacity may be longer than the material actually recorded. Ask how Video99 measures billable hours and handles blank sections or partially used tapes. A short inventory with cassette format, label and estimated duration gives the conversation a clear starting point without requiring you to play every tape yourself.
Two file types, two different uses
Video99 says it usually provides DV-AVI files at 13GB per hour plus MPEG4 at 4GB per hour from most video formats. The words usually and most are worth retaining: confirm the outputs for your tapes before ordering. Those figures also give you a practical storage estimate. Keeping both versions means allowing approximately 17GB for each hour of transferred footage, based on the website's stated file sizes.
For miniDV, DVCAM and Digital8, Video99 describes a pure digital lossless transfer that retains original time and date data, accessible through some video-editing software. That claim applies to those digital formats; it should not be read as a promise about VHS. Ask which file best suits your editing software and which is easiest to watch on your family's devices. Test a sample on the actual computer, phone or television you intend to use before deciding your viewing copy is ready.
Agree the tape return before sending anything
Video99 recommends having original tapes returned and says return postage is additional. Its main page gives a usual UK postage figure of £6.59 for a single video tape, while its microMV page quotes £1 for one or two UK tapes. These differing published amounts make a direct postage quote sensible. Ask what applies to your parcel and include the return of originals in the arrangements.
The website also describes usually sending video files before returning tapes, then returning the originals once the customer confirms satisfaction. Use that checking stage carefully. Compare filenames with your inventory, watch the beginning and end of each recording, and sample the middle for sound and picture. Report a missing recording or unexpected interruption before confirming that you are happy. Keep the tapes afterwards and make a second digital copy on separate storage.
Make the first conversation useful
Video99's website names Colin as the telephone contact during normal hours and provides an email contact. Send your format inventory and ask about the expected completion date, delivery method and any tapes that need special attention. The site advertises urgent same-day work, often without an extra charge, but confirm whether that is available for your particular job and deadline.
Give each cassette a simple reference number and photograph its existing label. Note cracked cases, loose tape or visible contamination and ask whether it can be handled safely; do not assume repair or restoration is included. A relative may recognise an unlabelled birthday or holiday, so invite that help while keeping uncertain dates marked as estimates. This small amount of preparation makes the eventual files easier to identify.
Choose family viewing copies for Memrial
After conversion, Memrial provides a separate private family archive for digital photos and home videos. It does not convert tapes and is not part of Video99. The free plan includes 2.0 GB of shared archive storage, with no card needed. Compared with Video99's published file sizes, that allowance is smaller than a full hour in either usual output, so plan which memories to upload and keep your full transfer collection backed up separately.
Timeline lets you give a memory an exact or approximate date and find it by year. Live Watch Parties synchronise an uploaded home video, with host play, pause and seek controls plus voice and text chat for relatives near or far. The free allowance is three hours monthly with up to six participants. For a family anniversary, Event Memories offers a secure contribution link: people sign in without needing archive membership, uploads collect in the event album, and closing the link retains the memories.