What is "Standards Conversion"?

Many people are unpleasantly surprised to come home from a trip abroad and find that video tapes or DVD's purchased or recorded by foreign friends will not play in American VCRs and DVD players. Video signals can be recorded in a large number of different standards even though the basic tape shell (VHS, 8mm, VHS-C, Etc.) or DVD is the same. The only thing which can be done in this case (other than throw the tape out or send it back) is to convert the tape or DVD to our video standard. This process is called 'Standards Conversion' and is a rather complicated process. The Video signal must be broken down into a digital form and reconstructed into the other standard of play. This requires highly specialized equipment and is expensive.

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Quality/Affordability

The good news is that the quality is gradually getting better and the price is coming down. Twenty years ago, this service cost $100 to $200 per hour of video running time. It is much more reasonable now. Unfortunately, the finished product still often has a grainy look to it and the color is sometimes weak.

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Available Formats

We can convert back and forth between nearly any standards. The American standard is called NTSC. Foreign standards are generally of the PAL or SECAM variety, there being several sub-categories of each.

We can convert any NTSC format (VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, Hi8, etc.) to PAL or SECAM in a VHS size. We can likewise convert any PAL or SECAM in VHS size to NTSC in any format. If a PAL or SECAM tape is in any other size than VHS or needs to be converted to any other size than VHS, additional charges will apply and additional time will be needed.

When converting a tape to PAL or SECAM, it is imperative that you tell us which country the tape will be sent to as there are several variations that could apply.

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Pricing

Standard Conversion (2 hour max.)	$25.00
Each additional hour	$5.00
Sizes other than VHS	Call for quote
Additional copies of same video to PAL/Secam	$15.00
Additional copies PAL/Secam to NTSC	Charged at regular duplication prices

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