Legacy tape formats
Complete recovery for VHS, Betamax, Video8, Hi8, and Digital8 tapes. We perform physical tape inspection, casing repairs, and mold remediation before any playback attempt is made in our facility.
Professional video digitization and storage preservation
Safeguard your critical video assets before magnetic decay sets in
Magnetic tape degrades silently, losing fidelity and physical structural integrity every single year. Our specialized laboratory digitizes legacy video archives with broadcast-grade equipment, ensuring your historical, educational, or commercial media remains accessible forever.
20+
Years of tape lifespan remaining before permanent binder hydrolysis sets in
100%
Frame-by-frame monitoring for signal drop-out and tension tracking
4.8TB
Secure local physical backup capacity managed in climate-controlled vaults
Zero
Content loss guarantee during our specialized non-destructive ingestion cycle
Precision digitization for all magnetic video formats
We do not use consumer-grade capture cards. Our workflows employ time-base correctors, professional playback machinery, and uncompressed capture routines to preserve every pixel.
Broadcast and commercial video
High-fidelity capture of Betacam SP, U-matic, and DVCAM tapes. We output to high-bitrate archival formats including Apple ProRes and uncompressed 10-bit files matching your exact production specs.
Cloud archival & delivery
Once digitized, your video assets are safely delivered via secure, encrypted digital downloads or physical solid-state storage. We also offer metadata tagging for easy organizational searchability.
Our thorough preservation cycle
We treat every single tape reel as an historical artifact. Our non-destructive process ensures the original physical media is handled with extreme care while pulling the cleanest possible signal.
01
Inspection & prep
Every tape is manually inspected for physical debris, mold, housing cracks, and tape tension issues. If necessary, we perform wet-cleaning or physical housing replacement before playback.
02
Hardware-level capture
Tapes are played on professionally maintained decks passing through external Time Base Correctors (TBC) to stabilize jittery sync signals and resolve tracking issues dynamically.
03
Digital mastering
The captured video streams are verified for frame drops, color corrected to restore faded analog hues, and rendered out to modern, widely-supported digital formats of your choice.
Frequently asked questions about video preservation
Everything you need to know about tape decay, safe handling, and modern digital delivery methods.
How fast do analog video tapes degrade?
Magnetic video tapes generally begin to show noticeable signal degradation, tracking issues, and magnetic oxide shedding within 15 to 25 years of creation, even when stored in normal domestic conditions.
What is physical tape baking, and do you do it?
Tape baking is a process of applying controlled, dry heat to tapes suffering from binder hydrolysis (sticky-shed syndrome). We evaluate each tape individually and apply this specialized process when needed to make tapes playable for capture.
What file formats do you deliver?
By default, we deliver high-quality MP4 files for easy viewing and sharing. For professional archives, we also offer uncompressed AVI, MOV, or Apple ProRes formats to allow for future editing and structural preservation.
Do you return our original physical tapes?
Absolutely. All original physical tapes are returned to you safely after the digitization process is complete, along with your new digital files. We never discard your physical media unless specifically requested.
Let us rescue your physical video archive
Do not wait until magnetic decay renders your memories or historical records unreadable. Reach out today to discuss your project scale, format requirements, and secure shipping or drop-off options.
Our preservation lab
212 Scott Ferry, H2X 1Y4 Montréal, Quebec, Canada