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Phlex.South of the River, Twin Cities

VHS & tape digitizing, south of the river

Weddings, birthdays, school concerts, the family holiday nobody has seen since 1994. Tape doesn't last forever — it sheds, it sticks, and the machines that play it are getting harder to find. We move what's on those tapes onto files that will outlive them.

Ask about a transfer

How it works

  1. Tell us what you haveEmail roughly how many tapes and what kind. That's enough for us to talk about timing and cost.
  2. Get the tapes to usDrop-off is by arrangement — we'll sort out the details once we've heard from you.
  3. We transfer themEach tape plays through in real time and is captured to a digital file. A three-hour tape takes three hours; there's no shortcut.
  4. You get files backStandard digital video files, on a drive you supply or one we provide. Your original tapes come back to you too.

Worth knowing

What formats can you take?

VHS and common home-video tape formats. If you've got something unusual, ask before you write it off — and if we can't do it, we'll say so rather than experiment on your only copy.

Will it look better than the tape?

No, and be wary of anyone who promises otherwise. A digital copy preserves what's on the tape; it can't add detail that was never recorded. What it does do is stop things getting worse, and make the footage watchable on devices you actually own.

My tape is damaged or mouldy.

Tell us before sending it. Some damage is recoverable, some isn't, and a badly degraded tape can shed onto the heads and affect the next job. We'd rather look first.

How long does it take?

Depends on the queue and how many tapes you have. Because transfer runs in real time, a big box is genuinely a big job — we'll give you a realistic estimate up front.

Phlex does more than this. Tape transfers, computer repair, and buying and selling collectibles all come out of the same small shop south of the river.

See everything we do