Betamax Video Transfer to DVD :: Costs and information

Betamax Conversion starts at just £10 per Tape

Our Betamax transfer service is done onsite and is unique to Kodak Express in Camden London. Use our mail order service if you cannot make it into our Shop. Other names for Betamax Videos are Beta, Betamovie, Betacord and Beta Hifi. If you have a broken or unplayable Betamax tape please have a look at Broken Tape Repairs. You can also ask us to Edit your Betamax Tapes for you. Turn around time for Betamax conversion is currently 10 days but please let us know if you you need the tapes urgently. None of services are set in stone so please do not hesitate to get in touch with your questions. For conversion of professional TV formats such as, Beta Cam, Beta SP or DigiBeta Video tapes please email us.

Although DVDs last a lifetime without deterioration in quality one scratch or scuff mark will render it unplayable. For this reason we strongly advise you to order an extra DVD back up copy of your Betamax work - these are just £5 per tape.

Betamax Transfer Costs

Conversion Prices for encoded DVD or Editable Files

No of Tapes	Cost Per Tape
1 - 4 5-9 10+ Extra DVD Copies Broken Betamax Tape Repair NTSC to PAL Conversion	£20 £15 £10 £5 £40 £40
The tapes can be mixed e.g. VHS and Betamax Choose between DVDs of Editable Computer Files P/P is charged at 10% - All prices include VAT

New Video Transfer Website

We have a fantastic new specialist web site for video conversion. To see more details of our Betamax to DVD Transfer Service have a look at Videos-DVD.co.uk

Pop in or post your Betamax tapes to us
Extra DVD copies are just £5 each
You can have DVDs or editable computer files or both
We have a Betamax repair service for broken tapes
American Standards NTSC to PAL conversion is available
Converting family videos to DVD is an excellent gift idea

Mail Order Betamax Transfer

If you cannot make it into our shop simply post your tapes to us - don't forget to include your instructions, address and telephone number. On receipt of your work we will call you, confirm your instructions, and take payment by credit card over the phone

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Betamax Playing Times

Length of Tapes

A Betamax Video tape with L-750 on it means Length-750ft.

Betamax Code	Time
L-125 L-165 L-250 L-370 L-500 L-750	32 mins 43 mins 65 mins 96 mins 130 mins 195 mins

This applies only to PAL video tapes. NTSC Betamax tapes vary according to the NTSC video standard used

Betamax NTSC-PAL

PAL Conversions - £40

NTSC is a video format standard widely used in many other parts of the world such as USA. Japan and much of South America.

So if your Betamax tape was originally filmed in any of these countries it will need to be converted to PAL format to play on UK TV systems.

The cost of NTSC Betamax transfer to PAL and encoded to DVD is £40 per Betamax tape,

NTSC - PAL

Betamax Copyright

Copyright Issues``

If your own a commercial film on Betamax tape it is acceptable practice to make one copy on DVD without infringing copyright.

By asking us to complete Betamax Transfer work for you, you are giving us an assurance that the tape is your property and in the case of home movie footage, that you are the copyright owner.

We accept Betamax video to DVD conversion work only on the above understanding.

Editable Files

Editable AVI Computer Files

Our encoded DVDs will play on your TV system and on your computer but cannot be edited. We can supply you with editable computer files. These are supplied as uncompressed AVI's are are good for both PCs and Macs. An uncompressed AVI file is 4gb per 20 minutes. We ask customers to provide an external hard drive for this purpose.

We can provide a 50 GB external hard drive for you at a cost of around £80. Once you have finished editing, the hard drive can be used for any purpose.

Betamax to DVD Betamax Video to DVD Transfer Betamax to DVD Copy Betamax Video to DVD Betamax

Betamax Video :: General Info for Geeks only

Sony's Betamax video cassettes appeared 1975 and were derived from the U-matic professional video format. The name Betamax was derived from the greek letter beta and max means quality. Sanyo produced their own version called Betacord which was also called Beta. Many companies made Betamax video recorders such as Sony, Sanyo,Pioneer, Pioneer, Toshiba and NEC, Sony marketed one of the most popular Betamax video systems around 1975 called the LV-1901 Trinitron Betamax Video Recorder/Player.It gained a massive share of the UK video market. However, by 1985 the VHS video format rapidly gained popularity signaling the end for Betamax video systems.

The VHS format fight for domination over Betamax Video was classic marketing. Sony was trying to dominate the market with the Betamax Video format and license other companies to produce it the format. However JVC, launched VHS because it didn't want Sony dominating and dictating the Betamax market. Eventually, over 40 companies produced VHS technology by 1985 and only 12 were marketing Betamax Video technology. It was all too much for Sony and shortly after 1985 they too began producing VHS tapes, players and recorders and dropped the Betamax format.

However Betamax Video technology went on to be used by Sony in the form of Video-8, which is a mini Betamax format. Video 8 successfully dominated the camcorder market and had a far bigger share than the VHS-c camcorder video format. These have been superceded by Digital camcorder technology.