General FAQ

1. We are Local. No need to ship off your precious irreplaceable media out of town, out of state, out of country.  Our customers feel safe that they can bring their precious, irreplaceable media to our brick and mortar store and on-site lab in Newton, MA.  Local also means faster turnaround. Local also means a Warm Body to help you discuss options, questions, issues.
2. We have been serving Greater Boston families since 1986. We have the highest referral rate in this community because of our excellent customer service, fair prices, and unbeatable quality. Click here to read what our customers say about us…
3. We guarantee our work. Hey, we have a 25-year old reputation to keep, we’ll make sure you are completely happy.

We transfer the following formats:

• Film: Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm, Silent and Sound.
• Tape: VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, Video8, 8mm, miniDV, BetaCam, BetaCamSP, PAL/SECAM, Umatic 3/4″
• Slides/Photos: 35 mm Slides, Photos up to 8″ by 14″
• Audio: Cassette Tape, Reel-to-Reel, Vinyl Records, D.A.T.

Your format is not listed above? Call us at 617-332-3300 so we can refer you to other transfer labs that can work with your format.

Pricing varies depending on the amount of film, video and images you may have as well as what other services you order. We also have an aggressive volume discount up to 30%.

Click on the link below to visit our pricing page.

The shelf life of your tape / film / photo / slides varies a lot on how well you’ve taken care of them.  Assuming you’ve protected them against humidity, extreme temperatures, rough play, the list on the link below takes you to a chart of shelf life for different media.

Because we do our work on-site, our turn-around is pretty quick.  Turnaround time depends on the time of the year, and the amount of film, or quantity of tapes, photos, slides.  Generally: you will get back your DVDs or hard drive in 5 business days except for film.  Film processing is a lot more labor-intensive, it takes 2 to 3 weeks to clean and condition the film, digitize it, transfer it to DVD or hard drive.

Your precious media does not get shipped out of town, out of state.  They stay safely in our on-site lab until you pick them up.  Our professional-grade equipment also ensures that your images and movies are not destroyed or damaged in the process and you’ll be able to view or even transfer your media again! We return everything that you send to us- film, cans, boxes, reels, video tapes, albums, negatives, slides, carousels.

A technician is with your movies and images during every step of the process.

We guarantee our work.   Hey, we have a 25-year old reputation to keep, we’ll make sure you are completely happy.  We are committed to fixing any problem that is not inherent to the original media in a timely manner. Visit our guarantee policy for more information.

Let us know how many extra copies you need when you drop off your order.  If you need more copies at a later time, just bring back your DVD and we can make copies while you wait.  Copies start at $10 a copy, goes all the way down to $5/copy for 100 copies or more.  By the way, our DVDs are not copy-protected.  So if you have a DVD burner on your computer at home, you can make your own copies and save yourself some money.

There are several instances where your media will be returned without being converted to DVD. If we do not transfer your home movie or images for any of the following reasons, you will not be charged any fee:

• Blank or undeveloped film
• Non-supported Format
• Objectionable Material
• Copy Protection
• Copyright (unless you signoff that it’s not for commercial purposes and it’s not available in DVD format anywhere else)
• Media with extreme physical damage

We use brand name DVD-R (Verbatim) which has been shown to be the most compatible general use media. Our discs have been found to be compatible with over 95% of home DVD and Blu-Ray players made in the past three years.

Not directly.  DVDs are formatted to play in DVD players.  If you want to edit your films or videotapes on your computer, ask us to transfer the media into a hard drive.  Files on a hard drive can be easily dragged and dropped onto your computer, edited, and turned into your own DVD.

If you ask us to transfer your videos onto DVD but wish to edit the video, you will need to first RIP the videos off the DVD.  Only after you rip the videos on the DVD into your computer, can you import them into your video editing software.  Again, if you want to prevent this extra step of RIPPING the DVD, please ask us to transfer the media to an external hard drive.  Remember to bring the hard drive when you come in with your media.

We are conveniently located in Newton Highlands, off Route 9 . If you are not able to get here in person, you can mail your video tapes, 8mm/16mm films, slides or photos to us instead. You can pick up your finished order, or you we can mail it back to you. We use FEDEX Ground or UPS GROUND to safely mail your package. It’s fast (one-day within MA), it’s safe, and we can track it anytime.

1. Place your items in a ziploc bag or similar waterproof packaging.
2. Print the mail-in form and complete. Click here for mail-in form.
3. Mail your items, payment check, completed form to the address label provided on form in step 2.

If you have any questions, please call: (617) 332-3300. One of our friendly customer service managers will be happy to walk you through the process step-by-step.