Vhs conversion to dvd

[Jkidwell]

Please help. I just took all of my old vhs and 8 mm tapes to a local dvd video album business and received a sad phone call. He told me that all of my mini vhs tapes have jumps on the screen. These tapes are so special because they are memories of my children along with my husband who passed away from cancer. I was told that there is nothing to do to fix this because it must have been a default in my video recorder. I have not received them back but he said that there are moments that are fine but the majority will give you a headache to watch.
Any help would be so appreciated.
Thank you!

[hech54]

8MM tapes can be picky. There is a good chance that it is only his machine that does not like the tapes....or his/her machine is a piece of junk. Never trust the opinion of one person.....especially when it comes to "a local dvd video album business". Many of them are weekend warriors who THINK they know everything about capturing/recording video.

[Jkidwell]

Thank you for your reply. It is the mini vhs tapes that he is having trouble with. I might be wrong but he's actually got a good reputation and longtime experience in the business. Any suggestions as to who I should consult?

[TreeTops]

Do you still have the camera that produced those tapes? If so see if they will play in the camera.

[hech54]

Ahh....those require an adapter. That's even worse than an 8mm tape with multiple recordings on it in different speeds.
If you are indeed talking about VHS-C tapes....and you watch them easily/normally via your VCR, then try giving him your adapter.
Unless you see visible tape (wrinkled, folded tape on the spool), in my experience the little tapes (analog 8mm and VHS-C) are VERY picky.....play in one machine and not another, look great in one machine and look like crap in another. With those variants....you need access to a couple of machines (I have 3 VHS machines) to see what works best with what. Sad but true I'm afraid.
Whatever you do, don't throw them away or give up on them based on their playback in one machine. What you are experiencing is not "the norm" but it's pretty common.

[Jkidwell]

He still has all the tapes so I don't have one to check it out in the camera. But yes I do still have the camera.