Video to DVD companies

ecopuffin

I hope this is the right part of the forum to post this in.

We have a home video of my daughter as a baby and want to convert it to DVD. The problem is that the video is damaged so we can't just use a home machine to transfer it.
We sent the video off originally to 'Memories on Video' but they only transferred part of the video across to DVD. When we asked them about it we got a rude response telling us that their techniques were better than our memories concerning the contents of the video. I was shocked and am now cautious about where to go next. There doesn't seem to be much on the net about the best companies to use for this purpose. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

stilltheone

In which way is the video damaged?

ecopuffin

It's been played a lot, probably wasn't the best quality in the world to start with and it looks like it is close to snapping near the beginning.

moronic50

I wonder if this is at all possible, as an alternative. Purchase a DVD recorded and hook it up to your tv with your vcr
set both vcr and dvd recorder to the same channel then simply press play on one and record on the other. I have a suspicion that you would also need an adaptor to run two scart plugs out of one socket for this to work (these are available from amazon). anybody seriously tech minded could tell me if this would work?

ecopuffin

it is a good idea, my concern is that the tape won't play as it is on it's last legs

S0litaire

sounds like the physical tape might need to be strengthened.

Depending on the actual state of the tape, the only way would be by un-spool the tape and use a backing support film (thin adhesive plastic or chemical) to shore up the tape then running it through a professional grade Video machine to recover the video.

google "Video tape restoration" there are a couple of companies in the UK that should be able to do it..

googler

ecopuffin wrote: »

The problem is that the video is damaged so we can't just use a home machine to transfer it. We sent the video off originally to 'Memories on Video' but they only transferred part of the video across to DVD.

Honestly, do you really think they're using a special machine that's going to be extra delicate with your tape? They'll be using a standard video machine, same as anyone else.

spannerzone

The thing is to carefully manually wind the tape forward passed the weakened damaged part (you stick a pen into the little hole underneath and then you can turn the spools) - of course you need a properly working VHS deck to then transfer it to a DVD drive.

As Googler says, it's unlikely that the DVD company has anything special other than perhaps some properly working VHS players that might have been fairly good spec machines.

ecopuffin

Thanks for the info. I'll look into the strengthening the tape and transferring it.