Throughout the 1980s and into the new millennium, camcorders were considered peak technology. You could film hours of footage with a camcorder that fit right onto your shoulder – which eventually grew small enough to fit into your hand. 

Of course, in the modern era, this technology isn’t so exciting. People can capture video footage on their smartphones with just a click of a button and store countless hours of videos like never before. They don’t have to worry about storing boxes of tapes and sorting through the content on each one. 

So what do you do with all of the camcorder tapes you recorded? If you are like some families, you might have decades of video footage from weddings, school plays, graduations, births, and other significant events. Take steps to preserve these memories (while also freeing up space in your home).

Don’t Let Your Camcorder Tapes Collect Dust 

There are severalreasons why you should digitize your old camcorder tapes. They take up a lot of space, you can’t share the footage easily, and you likely don’t have the technology to view them anymore. However, there is one more factor that should motivate you to act on this digitization project now: film breaks down over time. 

Most VHS tapes lose between 10-20 percent of their quality over 10 years. If you have camcorder tapes from the 1990s, they are almost 30 years old. The film will start to become dry and brittle, which could cause it to break. 

Your camcorder tapes will start to break down in almost any storage space, regardless of where you put them over the years. While they might have sustained greater levels of damage if you kept them in an attic, garage, or storage unit, there will be some natural wear even if your camcorder tapes were kept near the TV in a climate-controlled environment. 

The sooner you digitize your camcorder tapes, the more footage you can preserve and watch in future years.

Can you digitize camcorder tapes by yourself? 

If you prefer to take on DIY projects in your home, you might want to convert your camcorder tapes on your own. This project is completely doable. There are multiple converters on the market for camcorder tapes that can transfer your footage onto DVDs or onto USB drives. You can also save these files on your computer – with options for both Apple and Windows products. 

For a single converter, you can expect to pay between $30 to $90 to digitize your recordings. If you want a faster converter with more features, you will need to pay more. Be sure to read online reviews to learn about the conversion experience and check the store’s return policy if the model you choose doesn’t meet your needs. 

While the price might not be a factor for you in video conversion, consider how long it takes to digitize each tape. It might only take a few minutes to convert a tape with one tool, while another might take an hour or more to become a digital file. Count the number of tapes you need to digitize and estimate how long the project will take. 

From there, you can decide whether it is worth the cost and time to DIY your digitization project or if you would rather ship your camcorder tapes out to the professionals. 

DIY Alternative: Send Your Tapes to Memory Fortress

If you find that the scope of your digitization project is more than you can handle, learn more about the digitization options offered by Memory Fortress. The process is simple: let our team know that you are shipping a box of camcorder tapes to our office in Duluth, Georgia. (If you live nearby, you can even deliver your tapes in person.) Ship your camcorder tapes to our team and let us take care of the rest. We will digitize the tapes, send you the digital files, and return the originals to you. 

Our company is designed to take on large digitization projects that most people can’t handle on their own. We often receive large boxes that are packed with camcorder tapes, rolls of film, print photos, and even scrapbooks. We even developed sliding-scale fees where your project becomes more affordable the more you need us to scan. Here is what you can expect for digitizing camcorder tapes:

  • 1-3 tapes: $20 apiece
  • 4-10 tapes: $18 apiece
  • 11-20 tapes: $17 apiece
  • 21-50 tapes: $16 apiece
  • 51-100 tapes: $15 apiece
  • 101+ tapes: $14 apiece

You can decide whether you would like these tapes sent to you via the cloud, stored on DVDs, or saved on a USB drive. At Memory Fortress, we strive to make digitization projects affordable and keep our prices below our competitors. We invite you to shop around to see if you can get the same service and fair prices as the ones we offer.

Give A Digitization Gift Card to a Loved One

If you are researching how to digitize camcorder tapes because a loved one asked you for help with this project, consider sending them a gift card instead. You won’t have to take on this project and you can find better ways to support your family member or friend instead. 

We frequently work with customers who want to downsize or are preparing to move into assisted living. Digitizing old media is a great way for someone to bring their memories with them – without having to move bulky, heavy boxes.

A Memory Fortress gift card is also a good idea for relatives who live far away. You can help them preserve their memories even if you live across the country.

Start Your Order Today

There is a lot of satisfaction that comes with completing DIY projects, but some activities are too tedious to do on your own. If you have boxes full of camcorder tapes in your house, consider shipping them to Memory Fortress for digitization. Enjoy the relief of completing a project without doing the work by yourself.

You can start your order for as little as $29 down so we know to expect your tapes, photos, and other old media.

We digitize everything right here at our facility in metro Atlanta, processed by US citizens.

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Local Atlanta walk-in customers MUST have an appointment for prompt service. This applies to both dropping off materials and picking up materials.