| Introduction | Conversion Process | Rates |

Introduction

Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, is a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which VHS would eventually go on to win.

VHS's properties include longer playing time, faster rewinding and fast-forwarding, and a less complex tape transport mechanism. The open standard used for VHS technology allowed mass production without licensing costs.

VHS would eventually come out as the winning video tape format, surpassing other home tape formats by the 1990s. In later years, optical disc formats began to offer better quality than video tape, and took over in film studios, then retailers, and finally video rental stores.

By 2006, the United States had stopped releasing new movie titles in VHS format, opting for others such as DVD and Blu-ray. On December 31, 2008, the last major United States supplier of pre-recorded VHS tapes, Distribution Video Audio Inc. of Palm Harbor, Florida, shipped its final truckload.

The VHS cassette is a 187 mm wide, 103 mm deep, 25 mm thick plastic clamshell held together with five Phillips head screws. The flip-up cover that protects the tape has a built-in latch with a push-in toggle on the right side. The VHS cassette also includes an anti-despooling mechanism as seen in the top view, several plastic parts near front label end of the cassette between the two spools. The spool brakes are released by a push-in lever within a 6.35 mm hole accessed from the bottom of the cassette, about 19.05 mm in from the edge label.

Another variant is VHS-Compact (VHS-C), originally developed for portable VCRs in 1982, but ultimately finding success in palm-sized camcorders. Since VHS-C tapes are based on the same magnetic tape as full size tapes, they can be played back in standard VHS players using a mechanical adapter, without the need of any kind of signal conversion. The magnetic tape on VHS-C cassettes is wound on one main spool and uses a gear wheel to advance the tape; the longest tape available holds 40 minutes in SP mode and 120 minutes in EP mode.

VHS. (2009, December 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:55, December 7, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VHS&oldid=329728972

Conversion Process

We ensure the best quality in every single process of the conversion. All conversions are done on professional high end players with real time full frame time base correction (TBC) and digital noise reduction (DNR). Video and audio signals are transmitted on thick cables with gold plated connectors. No power source is placed near the players. All these are to reduce the interferences into the electronic signals so as to capture the signal in its original form as best as possible.

Encoding of video to formats such as MPEG is based on the AVI captured file. The encoding is done using production quality conversion settings, which requires much more CPU processing power but gives a slightly better end result. We utilize quad core processor workstations to process your videos.

Adjustment of saturation and hue is done on a tape by tape basis, real time, via a processing amplifier (ProcAmp). With all these, we always ensure audio and video synchronization is maintained throughout the whole process.

If we notice any major faults in the video, we will ask you before proceeding. At this point, you will not be charged a single cent if you decide not to continue with the conversion. Common major faults we've encountered are

1. Badly damaged taped (we do not convert these)
2. Snapping / tearing of tape
3. TV recordings in the tape

Rates

For conversion to VCD

For conversion to DVD (includes 5 minute chapter marks)

For conversion to other digital formats such as AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2, WMV and FLV

You can also try our calculator. Or contact us for a quote.