Sound Pictures, Inc.

07/02/2025

06/15/2024

Ever think about having someone produce your very own commercial? Sound Pictures can empathize with your need as a small business owner to advertise and the...

05/10/2024

How long has it been since you saw your tapes? What is going to happen when your VHS player stops working and you can’t buy another one? Not to mention THEY ARE DETERIORATING! Get them digitized today and save your memories. Don’t wait. Seeing Is Believing!

12/31/2023

WHAT IS THE SHELF LIFE OF A VHS TAPE?

Magnetic tapes (that includes VHS, 8mm and mini-DV) have a shelf life. If you have tapes from the 1990s they are deteriorating.

Most video experts agree though the life span is between 8 to 12 years and they recommend transferring them into digital media within the first 5 years.

Because we are busy, time-pressed people trying to balance living in the moment and capturing the moment, we often let our video tapes gather and collect dust. If you just can't find the time now to digitize your tapes, follow these tips below on handling and storing your tapes to slow down that degradation process.

How to Handle Your Video Tapes

- Never touch the tape itself. Hold it by the side of the cassette.
- Rewind the cassette before storing it.
- Avoid dropping/banging the cassette, i.e. keep away from curious kids.
- Keep cassettes away from magnetic fields.
- Don't leave a cassette in the car where it will be exposed to heat and cold.
- If using a new cassette and it's still cold, let it warm up to room temperature first.
- Occasionally fast forward and rewind a tape that's being stored a long time.

Where to Store Your Video Tapes
The conditions in which magnetic tape is stored and used can extend its shelf life. Stability is important because magnetic media materials respond to fluctuations in atmospheric conditions by expanding and contracting which changes (a.k.a. degrades) their physical dimensions and video quality. Follow these tips to store your tapes:

- Store in conditions that are stable, cool and dry.
- Stay away from hot, humid and dusty.
- Store cassettes in the cassette case.
- Store your tapes vertically and not flat to distribute the gravity pull and stably.

What do I use? I use a covered shoe box stored in a clean, dry office cabinet. And I do try to digitize them into my PC or DVD as soon as I can.

03/16/2023

You get a lot of bang for your buck when you get your media transferred to DVDs by Sound Pictures, including many personalized choices on your part! We transfer VHS tapes as well as any sized 8 mm cassette tapes to DVD at the highest quality possible.

Once downloaded, the footage is then edited to remove blue screens at the beginning and end. We will also remove those blank sections of tape or those sections when you forgot to turn the camera off if you prefer.

If you have multiple tapes with the same types of footage on them (for example, your soccer years as a child growing up or Christmas throughout the years) we can combine that footage onto one DVD for you. What a treasure to view those videos with your family, all years in one place, during a graduation party or at your next Christmas gathering with your family!

Once burned to a DVD, you will be amazed at the personalized, movie-like animation introduction prior to viewing your transferred footage.

The animated introduction concludes with music of your choice as well as menu “boxes” in the foreground. (This animated menu acts like a scene selection option on a purchased DVD movie.) Each menu “box” conveniently displays a short clip in each section you wish to view. Therefore, you have the option of viewing the entire DVD from start to finish, or simply view a certain segment of the tape without having to fast forward!

Our prices for these services are $20 per tape. Sound Pictures understands this may not correspond with your budget, so we offer a payment plan to afford you the opportunity to participate in this convenient, special offer.

Seeing Is Believing!

10/24/2021

An oldie but goody. 😃

08/17/2021

Due to breakage and liability, we do not transfer reel to reel film.

03/26/2021

WHAT IS THE SHELF LIFE OF A VHS TAPE?

Magnetic tapes (that includes Betamax, VHS, 8mm and mini-DV) have a shelf life. What you see ten, twenty years later was much sharper and smoother when the tapes were first created.

Most video experts agree though the life span is between 8 to 12 years and they recommend transferring them into digital media within the first 5 years.

Because we are busy, time-pressed people trying to balance living in the moment and capturing the moment, we often let our video tapes gather and collect dust. If you just can't find the time now to digitize your tapes, follow these tips below on handling and storing your tapes to slow down that degradation process.

How to Handle Your Video Tapes

- Never touch the tape itself. Hold it by the side of the cassette.
- Rewind the cassette before storing it.
- Avoid dropping/banging the cassette, i.e. keep away from curious kids.
- Keep cassettes away from magnetic fields.
- Don't leave a cassette in the car where it will be exposed to heat and cold.
- If using a new cassette and it's still cold, let it warm up to room temperature first.
- Occasionally fast forward and rewind a tape that's being stored a long time.

Where to Store Your Video Tapes
The conditions in which magnetic tape is stored and used can extend its shelf life. Stability is important because magnetic media materials respond to fluctuations in atmospheric conditions by expanding and contracting which changes (a.k.a. degrades) their physical dimensions and video quality. Follow these tips to store your tapes:

- Store in conditions that are stable, cool and dry.
- Stay away from hot, humid and dusty.
- Store cassettes in the cassette case.
- Store your tapes vertically and not flat to distribute the gravity pull and stably.

What do I use? I use a covered shoe box stored in a clean, dry office cabinet. And I do try to digitize them into my PC or DVD as soon as I can.

04/30/2019

Thank you Garden City Business Alliance!

Seeing Is Believing!

03/17/2019

Sound Pictures got a mention in "Newest Businesses in Westland." :)