Free printable checklist
The Family Tape Preservation Checklist
Fourteen steps from the closet shelf to dated clips your family actually watches — before you digitize, picking a transfer service, and what to do with the files when they come back, on one page. Check things off as you go; your progress saves automatically. No signup required.
The living version of this checklist (with links to every guide mentioned): www.tapesave.com/checklist
Phase 1
Before you digitize
Ten minutes of prep protects tapes that have already survived thirty years.
- Take stock. Count your tapes and sort them by format — VHS, VHS-C, 8mm/Hi8, MiniDV, DVD. Pricing and transfer services differ for each. Not sure what a tape is? Identify it here.
- Photograph every label. Snap a phone photo of every tape label before anything leaves the house. They’re the only clue to what’s on each tape — and your insurance if a box goes missing.
- Store them cool and dry until then. Room temperature, upright like books, away from magnets, speakers, and direct sunlight. Humidity is the #1 killer. How fast do tapes actually decay?
- Don't test-play fragile tapes. If a tape looks moldy, warped, or smells musty, don’t put it in a VCR — playing it can destroy the tape and the deck. Have a professional service handle it.
Phase 2
Choosing a transfer service
Three questions separate a good transfer from a drawer full of regret.
- Ask for MP4 files, not DVDs. DVDs are lower resolution and can’t be uploaded to Google Photos or Apple Photos. MP4 plays on everything you own today — and everything you’ll own in ten years. Why MP4 wins.
- Confirm turnaround and price per tape. Expect a few weeks. Every national service publishes its own rate — Southtree is ~$15 per tape at list, with frequent sales and output format priced separately and Legacybox is ~$31–35 per item at list (prepaid kits, $69.98–$2,499.98), with frequent sales, while Costco is set on the Costco Next listing — check the listing for the current member rate. Prices move and several charge by running time, so confirm the total before you hand the tapes over. Full cost breakdown. Competitor prices and turnaround checked September 2026 from each company's own published pages. All of these services discount frequently and re-quote by project — confirm your total at checkout.
- Get a written inventory. Some tapes are fragile and can’t be recovered. Make sure you’ll get a list of what came back readable — before you pay.
Still have physical tapes?
Mail-in kits and retail drop-off both get tapes onto files — no VCR, no cables. Ask for MP4 files, then come back here to turn them into dated, labeled clips.
Compare the digitizing services →Phase 3
After digitizing
This is the step almost everyone skips — and the reason most digitized tapes never get watched.
- Back up in two places. One copy on a local hard drive, one copy in the cloud (Google Photos, iCloud, or a backup service like Backblaze). Never rely on a single drive. The 3-2-1 rule, explained.
- Split long recordings into clips. A 2-hour tape is unwatchable as one file. Tools like TapeSave find the scene cuts automatically and give each memory its own dated clip.
- Label by date, not by tape. “1987-07 — Beach trip” beats “Tape 3, clip 4.” Your grandkids will thank you. A naming system that scales.
TapeSave handles the step everyone skips.
Upload your long digitized files and we split them into individual, dated clips automatically — scene detection plus the camcorder’s burned-in date, read by AI. $9.99 per video, no subscription, files auto-delete 30 days after delivery.
See how it works →Phase 4
Make them last another 40 years
The finish line: memories your family actually watches.
- Move clips into your photo library. Dated clips sort themselves into your family timeline in Google Photos or Apple Photos — 1987 footage lands next to 1987 photos. Google Photos how-to.
- Watch them on the big screen. Queue the best clips on the living-room TV at the next family gathering. That’s what this was all for. Every way to get clips onto a TV.
- Decide what to do with the originals. Keep one shoebox of the irreplaceable tapes, stored cool and dry. Let the rest go without guilt — the memories are safe now. Keep or toss? The honest answer.
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