I used to make this offer each year in November/December on the old alien site before they lost their minds and I deleted everything and left. Over the past decade, I’ve digitized 100+ hours of video, and close to 1000 photos.
I can digitize the following formats:
- 35mm negative / slides / négatif / diapositif
- 8mm film (8mm & Super 8) (without audio)
- VHS-C “compact” video tape (not full size VHS)
- MiniDV video (not HD… yet)
- 8mm Videocassette (“Sony” 8mm / Hi8 / Digital 8)
- Audio cassettes
Reasonable limits apply - one of:
- Up to 80 frames of 35mm negatives / slides (2-3 “rolls”)
- Up to 5 reels 8mm film
- Up to 5 VHS-C videotapes
- Up to 5 MiniDV cassettes
- Up to 5 8mm videocassettes
… or some reasonable mix of each.
Output is in JPEG or MPEG4 format. For MiniDV/Digital8, I can provide the original .dv files, but they’re gigantic - 20+GB/hr. 35mm slides/negatives are usually returned in plastic sheets suitable for storage in a binder.
Turnaround time is usually 72 hours.
Process: Pack up your media in a box, include your ID on Lemmy on a piece of paper, a USB stick for storage (about 1GB per hour of video). Drop off at my office in St. Henri, and pick it up in the same place a few days later.
People often ask why I do this. Freeing cherished memories from old media is a hobby of mine, I don’t do this for a living, but I’ve accumulated a lot of equipment over the last 10 years of doing this.
EDIT: Formatting.
A few years back I paid over $300 in Montreal to have several VCR and Super 8 tapes digitized. I’m not complaining, it was worth it to me and my family. I just wanted to say I think it’s amazing that you are offering to help people out like this, and you are an awesome person!
This actually started with a friend complaining that digitizing old 8mm videotapes from when his kids were young was being quoted at $500-800. I told him that if he paid to buy an old player off eBay, that I’d do the work as long as I got the player at the end. The player was about $250, but got damaged in transit. I got refunded, and sent it off for repair… In the end, it only cost about $50, and he got two dozen videos of his kids growing up.