Estimate for converting a 2 inch video tape

[davexnet]

Hi all,
a relative of mine thinks he has tracked down a video tape of a documentary he was in
taped in the early 70's .
Apparently it's on a 2-inch format, sitting in an archive somewhere.
He's looking into the possibility of paying to have it digitized.

Anybody have any idea what such a conversion may cost? The program is probably 45 minutes, PAL, B&W.
The tape is in England.

[filmboss80]

Two-inch quadruplex video was used primarily in the 1960s, though it faded away slowly into the early '70s when it was replaced by 1-inch. Workable VTR machines of that type are rare, and it may cost a great deal of money to do the transfer.

The first group of people you need to contact in the UK are these folks:

http://www.stanleysonline.co.uk/service-945.html

If they cannot help you, perhaps they can steer you in the right direction.

You may also get some consultation in the US from Quadruplex Videotape Transfer Services in Gray, Tennessee (do a search for their number; I don't have it), but it's doubtful they could handle PAL video.

The reality is that your friend may have procrastinated too long. If he can find a transfer house, he can expect to pay through the nose.

Many documentaries of that era were shot on 16mm film before being transferred to videotape. You might want to see if there might be a film print -- which would be much easier to transfer to a digital format.

[davexnet]

Appreciate the info, filmboss80. I know a little bit of his situation, it was a local government project,
the department was broken up and it took a long time to actually find out whether their film archive still existed,
let alone where it was.

The original recording medium was the VT itself; he remembers seeing the machines at the shoot.

I'll pass the info along - thanks again.