are your memories fading?
Recently I started looking through boxes of old photos and realized regretfully that my photos are starting to fade, especially the Polaroid’s. This got me thinking about my 30th birthday video that we had stored up in our attic (and who knows how many others) oh so long ago. Once I got them down, I pulled out my videos poured myself a glass of iced tea, sat myself down in the den and called my husband on the intercom to come set up the VCR for me so I could cuddle up with my memories. My husband intercomed me back saying that we haven’t had a VCR player in the house for about 4 years now. The world moved onto DVD and my memories were stuck on video cassettes.
Can you guess which Bridesmaid is me?
The moral of the story is that if you can remember video taping your little cutie pies riding their bike for the first time, or if your wedding “video” was taken over 12 years ago…you might be in trouble. According to the video tape industry a video that has not been stored properly (in a hot attic is not properly) will noticeably show degradation after 15-20 years. YIKES!
So, how much are your memories going to cost you if they fade away or are lost forever? I know, they are priceless, but unless you invest in hundreds of dollars of professional video transfer equipment and devote a big chunk of time to transferring photos and videos to safer formats, a professional is the best way to go. Here is what I found to be the best Scene in SCV for video and picture transfer:
To transfer your memories from VCR will cost you about $20 per 2 hour tape when you use JBL Video Services. That’s $10 per hour tape hour of transferring your family memories from a video cassette (or Beta Max – heavens!) onto an archival DVD that will preserve them for a lifetime. Sounds good to me. Not only do they do the basic home video transfer; VHS to DVD, they also transfer slides, 8mm and 16mm film, and ¼” audio reels to DVD (check out your parent’s memory stash). They have a “Hollywood” transfer version with a custom menu and scene selection for an extra charge. Speaking of Hollywood, Bob Lederman, the owner of JBL Video Services, has a film editing background which makes him a pro at video taping and editing commercials for websites or taping and editing for special events. He is reasonably priced, fun to work with and has great sci-fi memorabilia in his office. JBL can also transfer LP’s, 78’s and 45’s for you too! Rock on Bob!
lederman1@mac.com
661-670-9001 Located in Newhall
Appointment only
Stuff as many standard sized photos that can fit into their pre-paid postage box (11 x 8.5 x 5.5) that they send you and for $124.95 all your photos will be converted into high-res JPEGs and burned onto a CD. The company says that you can stuff as many as 2000 photos in one of their boxes (that’s .06 cents per memory). I recommend organizing your photos by subject and rubber banding them in groups with a titled index card as your first picture of that group (Tucson 1990, Disneyland 2003, etc) because the index card will serve as your title for the proceeding scans. Then fill up your box and they will be returned in two days with your original photos and your new CD. Once returned you can re-organize the photos anyway you want on your computer. They are running a special right now: buy 2 boxes and you get the third box transferred for free! This is my favorite service that they offer, but they do offer so much more….
http://www.scanmyphotos.com/
info@scanmyphotos.com
949-474-7654 – Located in Irvine but you mail in your photos
