Media Recovery Services

At ARS Video Inc, we firmly believe memories are forever. Restoring, preserving, and eternalizing your recorded memories is our business and pleasure. As a family-owned business with customers across the country, we understand the importance of capturing those once-in-a-lifetime, priceless moments for future generations to see and enjoy.

If your precious memories are stored on a VHS or Betamax tape, they are highly susceptible to damage from the wear-and-tear of time. After three to four decades of humidity, the tapes get moldy, and the magnetic coating deteriorates.

Unexpected flooding from hurricanes and tornadoes can damage your video tapes (VHS as well as other formats), film and photographs. Professional attention for recovering your valuable media is recommended! If you wish to attempt recovering and saving your valuable tapes, films, or photographs from flood damage, please see these instructions from the NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION PRESERVATION PROGRAMS.

Timing is imperative – seal the wet media in zip lock bags and send it to us. We can remove the moisture and immediately recover as much as possible. Please contact ARS Video at 330.633.2255 for your next steps. We are here to be of assistance!

We can also address smoke damage from fires.

Don’t lose hope though! Thanks to our media recovery and digitization service, there is a solution for recovering and preserving your media. ARS Video’s media recovery services can easily restore damaged video tapes that have been damaged by mold and deterioration.

Digitization is the process of converting analog information into a digital form. Using a professional VCR for every format, ARS Video conveniently converts analog media into High-Definition digital files delivered on a USB flash drive that plays on your TV and PC. One USB flash drive can hold 30 hours of video!

We convert analog media in many different forms, including:

• VHS
• Betamax
• VHS-C
• Regular 8
• Hi-8

Consumer digital formats can also be recovered, such as:

• D8
• Micro MV
• Mini DVD
• MiniDV
• DVCAM
• DVC Pro

No matter where your memories are stored, we can recover and preserve them for future viewing enjoyment.

To begin the restoration and recovery process, simply pack all the analog media you would like digitized into a sturdy box and ship it to us.

Once we receive your pack of treasured analog media memories, we waste no time in calling you to discuss our film restoration services.

Before jumping right into recovering your media, we review the materials and create an estimate with a quantity discount for your approval. Then we set to work, turning them into digital DVD, MP4, AVI, or MOV files to be viewed, copied, uploaded, or edited.

ARS Video recognizes the value of the memories contained in your older analog media. When we receive your box of treasured memories, we ensure that we tag each item sent to us, so it’s carefully tracked as it goes through the digitization process. This ensures that no items are mistakenly lost in the conversion process.

In total, the media digitization process takes between 1 and 8 weeks, depending on your media volume. We have the best VCR video tape decks and conversion equipment for professional high-quality digitization. Our work is used by archivists and documentarians.

We also use professional broadcast VCR machines for Pro SD and HD processes including Umatic, Betacam SP, DVCAM, DVCPro, HDV and Digi Beta.

Correcting Additional Tape Issues

In addition to restoring damaged VHS tapes, we can correct issues with your analog media’s color, exposure, and content.

Over time, images on VHS tend to darken and get a hazy color. Our experienced editors lighten, darken, color correct, remove and move parts of videos according to your requests.

The results will include enhancing your video’s quality, one that is transferrable to the digital format of your choice.

Data Recovery Services with Disc Buffers

ARS Video utilizes storage devices and other data recovery tools to recover lost data from discs you thought were damaged beyond repair. Using disc buffers – hard disks with memory embedded, which act as temporary storage sites for data being transferred – your important files will be preserved for decades to come. We will burn a new disc for you or transfer everything to a high-definition file to prevent future data loss, as DVDs are quickly becoming outdated.

A substantial perk of using ARS Video – you will only have to pay for our recovery and conversion services AFTER we are successful in our recovery efforts, never before.

Video Files and Tape Recovery

Moldy Tapes

Videotapes that are stored in high-humidity areas tend to get moldy. Most services will not transfer moldy tapes because of the damage they can cause to their equipment. For a small surcharge per tape, ARS Video can and will capture those memories that you thought were long-lost because of the moldy condition of your VHS tapes or any other format that you have.

Once captured, your memories will be available in High Definition 1920 x 1080 format and returned to you on a free USB flash drive to use on your computer and TV. Unlike other media recovery services, ARS Video archives all of our work on-site, so if the work is ever lost, we still have another copy to share with you!

Sticky Shed

Sticky Shed is a phenomenon that occurs in videotape where humidity causes the tape to stick together and ruins the recording. In some situations, we have been successful “baking”, cleaning and hand winding the tape to recover these recordings!

Check out this article by the Library of Congress regarding Sticky Shed.

Smoke Damage

Smoke damage from fires can also be addressed; we may be able to recover your valuable audiovisual media recordings.

Choose ARS Video for Media Digitization

ARS Video offers media recovery, film/audio conversion, video tape upscaling services, and more! Our family-owned-and-operated business understands the importance of memories you and your loved ones have captured on videotape and DVD, and we are here to ensure you can revisit and pass down those memories for years to come.

Contact ARS Video today to get started, or visit our FAQ page for answers to many common questions our new customers have when visiting our site for the first time. We appreciate the trust you place in us with your precious memories, and look forward to caring for them as if they were our own!