Quality Overview

There are many different factors that can affect the quality of your tape, such as the camera used, how your tape was stored, and the recording mode. Below are some sample videos from James’ (owner of Save Your Tapes) family tape collection. The videos on this page are provided to help demonstrate the quality of different tape types.

VHS and VHS-C

A clip from a VHS-C tape from 1995 of James’ sister’s dance class.

 
 
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VHS tapes can hold up to 6 hours and quality can vary depending on the camera used. VHS-C tapes hold up to 35-1hr35 minutes of footage.

Hi8

A clip from a Hi8 tape from 2005 of James singing Seasons of Love at a talent show at Canyon Vista Middle School.

 
 
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Hi8 tapes (also in Video8 and Digital8 varieties) can hold up to 2 hours of footage and quality can vary depending on the camera used. Quality is typically much higher quality than VHS and VHS-C tapes.

Mini DV

A clip from a Mini-DV tape from 2004 of different members of James’ family introducing themselves (except his brother Paul) for a school project.

 
 
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Mini-DV tapes are available in standard definition and high definition formats. Tapes can hold up to 1 hour of footage and quality is typically very good. These tapes can suffer from digital distortions depending on the age, so we typically recommend transferring them as soon as possible.