Tape Formats I Convert

• VHS — The classic tapes many families have used for decades.

• VHS-C — Compact versions of VHS often used in camcorders.

• Video8 / Hi8 / Digital8 — Popular formats from the 1980s to early 2000s for handheld camcorders.

• MiniDV — The tiny, high-quality tapes used in early digital camcorders.

The process to have these tapes digitised is that you can drop them off to me at my home address, 4D Owens Terrace, Upper Riccarton from 4:30pm, Monday to Friday, since I have a full time job during the week. You can also drop them off during weekends.

The standard delivery format is an MP4 file using high-quality H.264 compression — the same trusted format used by YouTube, Netflix, and other major video platforms. This ensures your converted videos are easy to watch, share, and edit across all your devices.

I can send them to you via the secure file sharing site WeTransfer for price of $10. The way this works is that after I have sent you the files, you will receive an email with a link to the Digital Life WeTransfer account where you can download the files to your computer and then back them up to whatever back up method you use. You will not require to set up an account with WeTransfer to be able to download the files.

Or you can have them saved to a USB Flash Drive by me. You can supply your own drive or I can supply one for a price of $10 for a 32GB size drive. If a larger size drive is needed you can see here what that will cost.

Yes I can convert your home movies to DVD. That being said it's not a good format for long term archives, editing, or sharing. I also deliver you files onto a USB Flash Drive or External Hard Drive, which are much faster, safer, and more reliable than DVDs.

Yes, for an extra service fee I can repair video tapes that are broken.

If a tape is blank there will no charge.

If I discover that a tape is a commercial recording (major motion picture, TV show, professional sports broadcast) I won’t convert the tape and there’s no charge. I don’t want to violate the publisher’s copyright by converting a commercial recording, but if it’s important to you a high quality version can probably be purchased online.

Under New Zealand copyright law I am unable to convert programmes/shows or items recorded off TV, movies, or any other items marked with copyright, unless you or your organisation owns the copyright. Please ensure that you own the copyright of any media you provide me with, or that you have obtained the required permission from the copyright holder. I may ask to see written permission from the copyright holder.

Because I deliver your converted home movies in the MP4 digital video format, you can watch your converted videos on your computer, smart phone, tablet, and smart TVs.

I deliver your converted home movies in the MP4 digital video format because it’s a universal file format. This makes it easy to share your home movies offline and online, to family and friends around the globe.

Because I deliver digital video files, you can edit your home movies with most video editing software apps on Mac or Windows computers. Apple iMove and the default Windows Video Editor are free and easy to use options that come pre-installed on your computer.

Depending on how many tapes there are, my standard tunaround time is 1-2 weeks. This is due to my running Digital Life outside of my full time employment at this present time.