BOXES · PLATFORMS · COUNTERS · SPECIALISTS
Picking a digitization service.
Legacybox, iMemories, the Costco counter, or a specialist shop like ours: four different models, four different trade-offs. Here is an honest map of the market, including the cases where we are not the right answer.
i. The market
Four ways to get tapes digitized.
Every service you will find falls into one of these models. The model determines the price structure, who touches your tapes, and what happens when a tape misbehaves.
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Box services (Legacybox, Southtree)
You buy a box with a fixed number of item slots, fill it with any mix of media (tapes, film reels, photos, audio cassettes) and mail it to a large processing facility. Pricing is per slot, not per tape, and list prices change constantly with sales. Strong choice for mixed-media collections. Weaker on video-specific quality control: a facility processing thousands of items a day cannot give a stubborn tape twenty minutes of attention. There is no enhancement step at that scale either: a tape that faded in storage is captured as it plays, artifacts and all, because the line is built for throughput, not for the result.
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Per-item platforms (iMemories)
Mail-in with per-item pricing and a polished app for viewing the results. Full-resolution downloads and some features sit behind a subscription. Also a large centralized facility. Good app experience; same distance between you and the person handling your tape.
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Retail counters (Costco, Walgreens, CVS)
You drop tapes at the store counter. The store does not digitize anything on site: tapes are shipped to a third-party processing partner and come back weeks later. Convenient drop-off, but you are adding a middleman between yourself and whoever actually does the work.
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Specialist shops (us, and good local shops in your city)
Video tape only, done on purpose-built equipment, by the same person who answers your email. Per-tape pricing published up front. This is our model. The trade-off is honest too: no photo scanning, no film reels, no audio cassettes. Tape is the whole job.
ii. Side by side
The comparison table.
Checked July 2026. Competitor offerings and prices change; verify current details on their sites before deciding.
| SaveVHS | Legacybox | iMemories | Costco / Walgreens | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per tape, from $7.50 | Per box slot, any media | Per item | Per item, set by partner |
| Prices published | Exact calculator online | List prices, frequent sales | Listed, plus app subscription for full access | At the counter |
| What the price includes | Capture, MP4 files, disc set or cloud year | Capture plus one output; extra copies and formats cost more | Capture; discs, downloads and app features priced separately | Capture; disc and drive add-ons at checkout |
| Who does the work | The specialist you email with | Central facility (Tennessee) | Central facility (Arizona) | Third-party partner, off site |
| Free local pickup | Portland metro courier | Mail only | Mail only | Store drop-off, then mailed out |
| Time base correction | Line TBC on Basic, Full-Frame TBC on Advanced | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Edit before delivery | Dashboard: reorder, rename, trim, disc menu | No | Viewing app | No |
| AI upscale to 1080p | Optional, $0.35/min | No | No | No |
| Damaged tapes | Free quote, sticky-shed treatment | Often returned uncaptured | Case by case | Typically declined |
| Media besides video tape | No, tape only | Yes: film, photos, audio | Yes: film, photos | Yes, via partner |
| Typical turnaround | 2-5 business days after receipt | Weeks | Weeks | Weeks |
iii. Straight answers
When a box service is the better pick.
We would rather tell you this ourselves than have you find out after ordering.
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You have mixed media
A drawer with tapes, film reels, photo albums and audio cassettes is exactly what box services are built for. We only take video tape. Splitting the job across two services is an option, but one box is simpler if convenience matters more than per-format quality.
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You want one national brand with retail presence
If handing tapes to a store counter feels safer than mailing them to a small shop, that is a legitimate preference. We think our courier-and-tracking process is at least as safe, but trust is personal.
iv. Our case
When a specialist shop wins.
Four situations where the model difference shows up in the result.
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Your collection is all video tape
Then per-tape pricing beats per-slot pricing, and equipment built for tape beats equipment built for throughput. You pay for exactly the tapes you have: 2 tapes cost $25, not a half-empty box.
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Some tapes are in bad shape
Mold, sticky-shed, broken shells. Factories skip problem tapes because slow tapes break the line. We quote restoration for free after inspection and treat sticky-shed with controlled baking. The tapes other services return uncaptured are a normal Tuesday here.
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You care what the file looks like
Professional decks with time base correction, Advanced deinterlacing on worn tapes, and an optional AI upscale to 1080p that no box service offers. Plus the dashboard: you arrange clips and the disc menu yourself before anything is burned.
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You live around Portland
Our courier picks tapes up from your door and returns them, free, across the Portland metro. Your tapes never enter a national shipping stream at all.
v. Q & A
Common comparison questions.
The questions people actually ask when choosing between services.
For all-video collections, usually yes: our per-tape price runs $7.50 to $12.50 for Basic depending on order size, and you pay only for the tapes you send. Box pricing depends on the sale of the week and charges per slot whether or not a slot holds a long tape. One more thing to compare: the checkout total, not the advertised rate. At many services the headline price covers capture only, and the disc, the drive or even the download link appears as a separate line item at checkout. Our calculator total already includes the MP4 files and a disc set or a cloud year. For mixed media, a box can still come out cheaper than using two specialists; run both numbers.
No. Retail counters collect tapes and ship them to a third-party processing partner. The work happens off site and typically takes weeks. You are choosing a drop-off point, not a digitization service.
The same small team that answers support@savevhs.com. Every tape is inspected by hand, captured on professional decks with time base correction, and checked before it lands in your dashboard. No batch line, no subcontractors.
Yes, that is a specialty. Mold, sticky-shed syndrome, broken shells, tapes returned by a box service as unreadable. We inspect for free and quote any restoration before doing paid work. If we truly cannot capture a tape, that tape's portion of the order is refunded.
Compared enough? Count your tapes.
Two tapes cost $25. The calculator shows the exact total before you pay, and every price on this site is the real one.
See Pricing