The chart above shows the type of videotape formats that we can convert. 

• X = direct conversion (no editing possible) or indirect via computer (editing & custom menus are possible)
• + = indirect conversion (requires conversion via to DVD, then to the final media)

Note:

• All video formats are assumed to be American TV Standard (NTSC) unless otherwise mentioned (i.e.: "PAL" is the format generally used in Europe, except France, which uses "SECAM").  I can only convert FROM VHS(PAL), although I can create DVD(PAL) from a variety of video sources.
• While conversions to BluRay disks are now also possible, all standard videotape formats are NOT "high definition", thus nothing is really gained by putting them on a BluRay disk.   On the other hand, most "media" videofiles (such what current digital cameras and smartphones create), are generally "high defintion", meaning a resolution of at least 720 dpi vertically.

Frequently asked questions:

1. Why not transfer beta to VHS?  Because every time when you transfer analog magnetic media to another analog magnetic media you lose picture quality with every generation of tape.  Generally this manifests itself by the picture becoming less sharp (ie: outlines start to look "fuzzy") and the colors are becoming very intense.  Over time, VHS tapes will have the same physical problems as beta tapes.
2. What is the lifespan of tape?  It depends on many factors.  Original quality and storage environment affect the lifespan. If you had purchased "no name" tapes, they may not last as long as brand-names (such as Sony, Fuji, Maxell, etc).  How you stored the tape makes a BIG difference though.  Best are a dark environment with even temperature (roughly 65 - 70 degrees F) and low humidity and certainly not in direct sunlight!   Tapes are best stored vertically, not flat on their sides.  Storing a tape flat on its' side will cause the weight of the tape to push on the bottom of the reel, causing bending of the tape and possible tracking problems later on.  I have some beta tapes that are from 1982 (39 years old!) as of this writing and they still play decently (but that is generally not the case for all video tapes).
3. What can occur with age: 

• The adhesive on the splicing tape that holds the leader (clear) tape to the magnetic tape can dry out, causing the tape to "snap", especially when fast forwarding or rewinding.
• The leader tape can snap off the take-up reel (brittleness of the plastic leader tape due to age)
• The videotape can get stuck to itself due to being too tightly wound for many years, causing it to tear when attempting to play or create serious tracking problems.   I generally do a wind & rewind on a tape prior to actually trying to play it.
• If stored flat (reel side parallel to the storage surface), the video tape may not "track" properly when played, causing the picture to bend and "snow" to appear.  Furthermore, the "hi-fi" audio portion may not track properly.
• The magnetic media particles can separate from tape due to failure of the "binder" (causing "snow").

  -->  How to solve this?  Transfer your tapes while you still can!  Beta & VHS VCR's are becoming increasingly difficult to find (no new consumer grade equipment is currently offered for sale and repairs are not possible in most instances), and you have to find them on eBay or from a handful of companies that sell refurbished decks and no one fixes VCR's since there are no more parts available.

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-->  I also convert "still film" such as 35mm negatives & slides (as well some other format such as 110, 126 & 127 film).  To a degree, I can also do APS film cartridges.   However, I can NOT convert/digitize "moving film", such as 8mm or Super8, 16mm, etc, although I can outsource this for your convenience.

-->   I can also convert audio cassettes to audio CD's or MP3 file formats.

There are of course some caveats:

• The video/audio footage on the video or audio tapes that you submit to me HAS to be your copyright! 
• I can not legally duplicate any sort of pre-recorded or store-bought video or audio tapes, nor any footage or programs that were taped "off-the-air" or from cable TV or satellite stations.  Basically, this means that the only footage that I can transfer is "home movies" type of footage or anything for which you hold the copyright.   For any other types of footage (such as corporate videos), you must provide a signed statement from the copyright holder giving you permission to copy the footage to another medium.  I can not be held liable for any copyright infringements of material that you submit to me for transfer from your video or audio tapes to any media.  You must print out the "disclaimer" page, fill in the required information, sign it, and submit it along with your videotapes.
• Note: I can NOT work with professional video tape formats such as BetacamSP or U-matic.
• What will it cost? That depends on the amount of work involved.  A basic transfer without any sort of editing will be less expensive than editing your footage, cleaning up the picture (reducing color, increasing brightness, sharpening, etc), inserting chapter stops and creating menu structures. See my price table below.
• I will endeavor to protect your tapes to the best of my ability while in my care (I can obviously not be responsible for damage or loss occurred by  shipping companies or the US Postal Service and thus I recommend their insurance, which will unfortunately only cover the cost of the media and conversion services).  I prefer to ship with USPS Priority Mail though and can use UPS if needed for larger shipments.
• I can not guarantee that your video tapes will play properly in my systems nor the quality of footage contained on your tapes. 
• I can only work with video tapes recorded in the USA "NTSC" TV standard (except for VHS, where I can play PAL or SECAM versions)
• I work with video tapes recorded in all consumer speeds of beta I (fastest), beta II or beta III (slowest), as well as VHS SP, EP, LP or SLP.  For comparison, a beta L-750 tape held 1.5 hours in beta I, 3 hours in beta II and 4.5 hours in beta III speeds.   Beta I & II speeds provided the best quality.  Tapes with Beta III speeds do not always hold up so well over time (as my personal experience has shown and can have tracking problems with age or due to finicky equipment).   VHS looked best if at "SP" (fastest) speed, "LP" speed was not available on many VHS recorders, and "EP" speed can be from 6 to 8 hours in length, but generally that was fairly grainy quality video.
• Up to 2 hours 3 minutes of video can fit on a standard DVD if I'm using the standard "direct-to-DVD" method.  If I convert via a computer, then I've got more variable DVD times available, but quality always suffers the more video that is crammed on a DVD (i.e.: more compression of the video).
• I can also convert your NTSC-based beta, VHS, 8mm/Hi8 or miniDV video tapes to DVD's playable on PAL (European) DVD players.  This would be great for sending copies of home videos to relatives in other countries.  All DVD's that I create will be "region free".   However, this process takes much longer as I have to use a computer to do it.  Costs will be higher.
• I do have the added the capability of converting PAL-based VHS tapes direct to NTSC DVD's.  I have tested this with my own PAL VHS tapes from 1986, and it works great!  Supposedly my equipment can also convert SECAM, PAL M/N, NTSC4.43 and MESECAM to NTSC (note that these are various TV formats used in Eastern Europe, South America, Middle East, etc).
• I can also convert various electronic video files (such as MOV, WMV, AVI, MPG) from electronic media (SD cards, microSD cards, and various older card formats) or optical media (DVD, CD) to DVD (or BluRay if the media is in HD quality).

VIDEO, SLIDE & NEGATIVE FILM SCANNING

Here are some basic costs & other information:

• Flat-rate conversion (no editing):                $19.95 per DVD (up to 2 hrs of media).
•  Slide & Negative Scanning (35mm, 110, 126, 127 films, some select others)          $ 19.95 for the first 50 slides/negatives
• Additional slides or negatives                                                                                               $ 0.35 per slide/negative
• The above includes conversion to JPG file formats and is either emailed or provided on CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM)
• "Movie" slideshows of converted slides/negatives can be provided on a DVD for $10.00 additional, or a BluRay for $15.00 additional
• Document scanning services to JPG or searchable PDF files                           $ 0.35 /each ($19.95 minimum)
• Additional MEDIA (additional copies of converted media made at time of order): 

         Additional copies of DVD-R media in slim-line jewel cases        $ 5.00 per disk

         Additional copies of BluRay media in slim-line jewel cases       $ 8.00 per disk

         Additional copies of CD-R Media in slim-line jewel cases           $ 5.00  per disk

• Additional work such custom video or photo editing is available at $50 per hour
• Audio conversions are also possible (such as cassette tapes to audio CD's or MP3).  Ask for more details.
• Document & Photo scanning services are also available.  Ask for more details.

Additional information:

• For customers in Texas, sales tax of 8.25% will be added.
• For customers in other US states, you may be required to submit sales and/or use taxes directly to your state.
• DVD or BluRay brands may vary, but will only use those that are directly "printable" (so as not to have to use adhesive labels).
• If you're not sure whether your DVD player works with certain media, you may wish to check at this website: www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers. Generally speaking, DVD-R media is more compatible with older players than DVD+R media.
• Return Postage (USPS) or shipping (UPS) is additional and will depend on the weight and distance + required insurance.
• Drop-off & Pick-up in person is available at the UPS Store in Murphy, Texas.  Please arrange for a mutually convenient time to meet.   Depending on distance & size of the project, I can pick-up/drop-off at your location in Plano, north Dallas, Richardson, Murphy, Sachse, Wylie, Allen & McKinney.
• For "direct-to-DVD" conversions, basic chapter stops are inserted every 5 minutes and a basic short titles are free of charge.  For DVD's produced via computer conversions, basic chapter stops and titles/sub-titles are free of charge.  If natural chapter stops can not be determined from the provided footage then basic stops will inserted every 5 or 10 minutes depending on the length of the video.
• For comparison, I have seen prices of $ 30.00 to $ 90.00 per hour or higher being quoted for basic transferring of videotapes to DVD, so my costs should be well below that, as well provide more personalized service!   Certain local "big box" stores offer conversion services, but all tapes are sent out to other facilities for conversions and can take a minimum of 3 to 5 weeks (if not more).   Additionally, I can provide better custom services, especially with converting slides and negatives and naming them in a meaningful manner based on your instructions.
• I can not work miracles, the resulting conversion quality is based greatly on the quality of video & audio on your original videotape. DVD's are provided for viewing purposes and not for further editing, which would degrade the image quality (since MPEG, the standard by which DVD's are encoded, is a "lossy" format, meaning that everytime the footage is re-encoded for a DVD, it losses in quality).  If you need to do final editing of your footage you will generally need a so-called digital video master, which is something that I can not provide with my equipment; this is generally done only by companies that have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into video equipment.
• All DVD's are provided on standard NTSC (USA TV Standard) disks; if you need PAL (European TV Standard) disks, I can provide those as well. While I do not have a PAL compatible DVD player or TV, I have sent some PAL disks to relatives in Germany which reported that the disks played ok.
• Standard quality will allow for approx. up to 2 hrs of video on a standard DVD.  In some instances, I've been able to squeeze in up to 3 hrs of video, but I would not recommend that unless the original video quality is marginal to begin with.  What to do if your video is, say, 2 hrs 10 minutes long?  It is easy to adjust the video quality to be able to still put that on one DVD without a major impact on quality.
• Got film (Regular 8mm, Super8 or 16 mm)?  Unfortunately I can not personally work with film media at this point. I have to outsource this to another company in the area; please contact me to discuss pricing.
• I can also transfer media card videos (such as those recorded by digital cameras) to DVD. I can work with all major media cards such as SmartMedia, xD, Compact Flash, MMC, SD, Memory Stick. 

Additional slide, negative & document scanning information:

• I can scan all standard size 35mm slides (regular thin paper or plastic holders). If you have certain older slides with thicker mounts and/or are glass-enclosed, then my scanner unfortunately can not handle these, and I would have to remove the slide from the holder.
• Slides in formats other than 35mm, such as 127, 126 or 110 film sizes can be done as long as they are mounted in standard slide mounts (2" x 2").  Please note that due to 35mm frame sizes, other formats (such as 2x2" negatives) may result in parts of the image being cut off.
• I can scan all standard size 35mm negatives.
• Slides & Negatives can only be handled if in strips or rolls.  If they have a paper strip attached to the top (as some labs used to do...), I will have to remove it.
• Certain older slides have thin glass plates on either side of the actual slide.  This makes the slide to thick to fit into the slide converter and the slides will have to be disassembled prior to scanning (re-assembly not possible) and will incur additional costs.
• I can now also work with other film formats, such as APS, which does require some special handling in order to extract the film from the holder.
• Slides and negatives are generally scanned at 20 megapixels (this is suitable for "HD" TV quality, which is actually only 1,920 x 1,080 pixels = 3.1 megapixels)
• Scan quality should provide excellent 4x6" or 5x7" prints and even decent 8x10" prints.
• Scanned slides and negatives will be supplied as JPG files. 
• File sizes will vary depending on the image information and scan resolution.
• Scans can be provided in a variety of different viewable CD media:
• Plain CD (just JPG files on a CD, viewable on all PC's, Mac's and some DVD players
• Plain DVD (just JPG files on a DVD, viewable on PC's & Mac's with DVD players
• There is no extra charge for providing your scans in any of the above media types, it is part of the price per CD.
• If you wish to have the converted files on media OTHER than a CD-ROM, you can provide me with the media you prefer (this could be "USB thumb drives", "portable USB hard drives" or "media cards" such as SD.
• Generally speaking, JPG images from a CD or DVD played on older "tube" TV sets via DVD players will not look anywhere as good as on your computer monitor.  Why? Well, the USA NTSC TV standard is only about 240 vertical lines of resolution across the entire height of the TV screen.  The height of a 27" diagonal TV screen is about 16 inches, therefore, 240 lines of resolution equates into only 15 lines per inch (even worse when you get to larger TV's...).  For comparison, a standard computer monitor displays at 72 - 96 vertical dots (lines if  you will) per inch.  Now, if you have a digital TV, that is, LCD or LED, they will have resolutions similar to your computer monitor.

Audio tapes:

• If you have an audio tape (standard cassette), I can also transfer those to an audio CD or "mp3" digital audio file.  Please note that I can only do this if you hold the copyright to the content. Generally speaking this would great for transferring interviews that you have had with family members.  Anything recorded "off the air" from a radio station, pre-recorded or compiled music cassettes are off-limits due to copyright laws!
• Prices are the same as video footage conversions shown above; as are CD media prices.   Generally, audio tapes can range from 30 to 45 minutes per side (60 or 90 minutes total).  A standard CD-ROM is 80 minutes of audio.   MP3 files can vary in length.

Other Info:

• Texas sales tax of 8.25% are applicable for anyone with a ship-to address in the State of Texas.   If you reside in another state, then you may be required to pay your state's sales or use tax directly to your state.

How to get started:

E-mail me at "peter @ pcelias . com" (remove the spaces and the quotes; this is done to prevent spamming) and describe what your project is:

• Type of material (weddings, graduations, births, vacations, etc)
• Is the media: original master or a copy (if copy, what generation?)
• Length of material
• How old is the media 
• How and where has the media been stored

If you provide your phone number (within the USA only) I can call you and discuss the project in more detail.     If you are not sure whether your videotape(s) is playable, you can send me your videotape, plus US$10.00 + return postage/insurance and I can give you an analysis of your tape.  If you then choose to let me transfer any of the material on the tape, you can apply the cost to the final cost of the project. 

Payment: 

I prefer payment via PayPal, as well as US$ checks (only if local to the Dallas area) or cashiers & money orders.  Cash is at your own risk and is not recommended, unless we are meeting in person.  Do not submit final payments until I have given you a firm quote based on the information that you have provided.  Generally I would require that you submit your tapes first in order for me to provide a quote.  I will return your videotape and DVD's (or other media) after receiving payment based on the agreed upon amount.  In any case, your videotapes, slides and other original materials remain your property while in my care.  Please read the information in the "Disclaimer" (click here) and be sure to print it, sign it and submit it with your videotapes.  Slides & negatives generally do not require this document, however, as in all cases, you must have the copyright (or release from the copyright holder) to anything that you submit to me for transferring or scanning.

Conversions offered:

• Beta ("Betamax") [NTSC] to DVD [NTSC or PAL]
• Beta [NTSC] to VHS [NTSC] (but why bother?)
• VHS or VHS-C [NTSC or PAL] to DVD [NTSC or PAL] 
• 8mm / Hi8 mm / Digital8 [NTSC] video to DVD [NTSC or PAL]
• miniDV [NTSC] to DVD [NTSC or PAL]
• Memory card pictures & video movies to DVD (ie: SmartMedia, CompactFlash, xDigital, SD, etc) [NTSC or PAL]
• Slides, negatives and paper documents to JPG, TIF or Adobe Acrobat formats on CD, data DVD, DVD or BluRay.
• Audio cassettes to audio CD (but only for audio for which you hold the copyright!).
• 8mm or Super8 film CAN be done for an additional cost of 60¢ per foot of film + $60 film to AVI conversions; turn-around time is 3 - 4 weeks.

Note:

• All DVD's are recorded in a "region-free" format in the USA "NTSC" format.  All DVD's can also be created in the "PAL" format (this is a TV standard widely in use in Europe, such as Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Italy, as well as Argentina, Kuwait, etc).  For a PAL vs NTSC country list, see this website:  http://www.spie.org/app/Education/index.cfm?fuseaction=VideoFormats). 
• DVD Player compatibility: This can range widely.  Best place to check is at http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php .  Search for your particular DVD player at this site to give you an idea of what it will play or not (no guarantees, as information from that website is based on users providing the data, not the manufacturers).
• If you have family in a country that uses the PAL TV format, why not have me transfer your USA NTSC videotapes to PAL DVD's? I tried this with one of my old 8mm videotapes, transferred it to PAL DVD and my aunt in Germany was able to view it just fine (please note, as with any DVD-R/+R media, it may or may not play on certain DVD players).  Please note that I can not create SECAM DVD's (SECAM was, [is??] a format used in France and a couple of other countries).