Help & Advice

[BBC Tomorrow's World clip, 1980] In 1980, Michael Rodd of Tomorrow's World looked at the latest video recorders and then at something the programme was sure would replace them: the video disc. It looked like a record, played films on your television, and promised a sharper picture than any tape. It was, according to the programme, the format of the future. It wasn't. But the story of why is worth telling, and it ends somewhere surprising. You can see the full video here:...

Somewhere in the loft, in a wardrobe or at the back of a cupboard, many families have a box of small film reels. Holidays, weddings, children on the beach, grandparents in the garden. Most of it was shot between the 1950s and the 1980s on Standard 8, Super 8 or 16mm cine film, and much of it hasn't been watched in decades. It's easy to assume film lasts forever if you leave it alone. It doesn't. Cine film slowly breaks down, and the damage is often well underway long before a

[BBC Tomorrow's World clip, 1968] "It's going to do for television what the record did for radio," said James Burke. You can see the full video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=331363491615829 Little did he know where this would all lead, and what incredible technologies lay in the future. What Burke was showing The machine on screen was EVR, short for Electronic Video Recording. Despite the name, it couldn't record anything. It was a play-only system that stored pictu

You've found a box of old film reels in the loft, or inherited them from a parent. There's no projector, no labels that make sense, and no way of knowing what's on them. The first question is what kind of film it is. Most home movies are on one of four formats: Standard 8, Super 8, 16mm or 9.5mm. Each needs different equipment to play or digitise, and knowing which you have also gives you a rough idea of when the films were made. You don't need any special kit to find out. A

When you have old photographs scanned or videotapes digitised, the files usually come back on a USB stick. But not every USB stick works with every device. A stick that plugs straight into your laptop may not fit your phone, and one that works on your computer may not play on your TV. There are three things to check: the connector, which determines whether the stick physically fits; the stick's speed and quality, which determine how quickly and reliably it works; and the form

Once you've scanned your old photographs or digitised your videotapes, storing the files online seems like the obvious next step. Cloud storage lets you view your memories on any device and share them with relatives without passing USB sticks around. But there is a catch. When your files live in an online account, your access depends on two things: the service provider and your ability to get into that account. Before you trust a cloud service with your family history, it is

How Long Do Video Tapes Last? VHS and Camcorder Tapes Explained Many families still have boxes of old video tapes tucked away in cupboards, filled with recordings of birthdays, holidays, weddings, childhood memories, and family occasions. Some are full-size VHS tapes, while others are much smaller camcorder tapes. Whatever the format, these recordings may contain moments you can't recreate. But how long do video tapes last, what causes them to deteriorate, and can you do anyt

If you have a box of old cassette tapes containing family recordings, music, or other important audio, you may wonder whether they are still safe to keep for another few years. The short answer is yes: cassette tapes deteriorate over time, just like VHS and other magnetic tapes. The good news is that deterioration doesn't necessarily mean the recording is lost. Cassette tapes can remain playable for many years if stored properly, but age, storage conditions, and repeated use

WhatsApp is an easy way to share photographs and videos with family and friends. However, if you have had your old family memories digitised, there is an important difference between sharing them on WhatsApp and sharing the actual digital files. When you send a photograph or video as normal media in a WhatsApp message, WhatsApp compresses it. This reduces the file size and makes it quicker to send, but it also reduces the quality. You may not notice much difference when looki

If you have found a box of small, square photographic slides among your old family belongings, you may be wondering exactly what they are and what you can do with them. 35mm slides are photographic transparencies, usually mounted in small square frames. Unlike a conventional photographic negative, which must be printed or scanned and inverted to create a normal photograph, a slide contains a positive image that you can view directly when light passes through it. For many year

If you have a collection of old family photographs, you may also have the original negatives tucked away in a drawer, envelope or photo album. So, if you have both, which should you digitise? The answer is usually the negative, if it is still in good condition. However, negatives are more expensive to scan than photographic prints, so you don't necessarily need to scan every negative you have. For many collections, a mix of photographs and negatives is the best approach. Use

Many people have boxes of old VHS and camcorder tapes stored in cupboards, lofts, garages or spare rooms. Often, these recordings contain family holidays, weddings, birthdays and other special moments that have not been watched for years. A common assumption is that if the tapes are not being used, they remain unchanged. Unfortunately, this is not the case. VHS and camcorder tapes continue to age even when they are sitting untouched in storage. Are VHS and Camcorder Tapes Sti

If you have a collection of old CDs, DVDs, or memory cards sitting in a drawer or box, you may wonder whether you can still access the files stored on them. The good news is that old digital media can often still be read, even when the equipment you originally used to access it has long since disappeared. CDs and DVDs Many people still have CDs and DVDs containing photographs, home videos, music or documents. The discs themselves can last for many years, although their condit

Once your family photos and videos have been digitised, it is worth thinking about how you'll look after the digital files. One big advantage of digitisation is that you can easily copy the files. You can download them from the cloud, copy them from a USB, move them between computers and share them with other family members. The basic rule is simple: don't keep all your copies in one place, and keep multiple copies. Make Copies of Your Digitised Files There are several easy w

When you digitise a collection of old family photographs and videos, you end up with digital image files that are much easier to store, copy, and share. But you can do more with those files than simply look at the photographs. You can also add information about them, such as when a photograph was taken, where it was taken and who is in it. This information is called metadata. What Is Metadata? Metadata is simply information about a digital file. With a digital photograph, som

We receive videotapes from customers in every imaginable condition. Some have been stored carefully for decades, while others have spent years in damp lofts, garages or basements. Although most tapes can still be digitised successfully, some require specialist cleaning or repair before they can even be played safely. Here are six of the most common problems we encounter and how we deal with them. Mouldy Tapes If your tapes have been exposed to dampness, water, dust, or humid

USB memory sticks are one of the most popular ways to receive digitised family photos and videos. The amount of data they can hold is remarkable, so whether you have one video or one hundred, it's usually possible to store everything on a single USB stick by simply using one with a larger capacity. Many people, however, are unsure what they can actually do with a USB stick once they receive it. Can you watch the videos on your TV? Can you make copies? Is it safe to keep every

Once your old videos, photographs or slides have been digitised, you'll need to decide how you would like them returned. The three most common options are a USB memory stick, a DVD or a cloud download. Each has its advantages, but they are not equally suited to long-term storage. This guide explains how each option works and which is best for preserving your family memories. We always recommend having at least two copies of your digitised files, or creating additional backups

When DVDs first became popular, many of us were told they would last a lifetime. They were promoted as a safer, more durable alternative to VHS tapes, and countless families transferred their home videos onto DVD before throwing the original tapes away. Fast forward twenty years, and many people are discovering that some of those DVDs no longer play. They freeze, skip, refuse to load or are not recognised at all. So why does this happen? Can anything be done to recover the vi