arrogant digitizing companies on YouTube in 2025

[VHSvideocapture]

Digitizing companies on YouTube are becoming more and more arrogant.
This video has made me very angry that's why I have started this thread.

Does this guy think we are fools? If you watch all of the video you will get angry too 😡

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFPzLIxyoiY

In this video Phil Thomas can be seen being arrogant he says his captures are good
He is capturing EP speed tapes and compressing them to death justifying it all by calling them 'customer friendly files'
He says by doing that he is making it 'easy for the customers.

He charges on average $35 per tape. [Extra for cleaning mould]


Here is an emails he sent me (I set him up to give me a quote) bear in mind he uses an elc*apo usb capture card and a Panasonic ES45 VHS DVD recorder combo (NO TBC) no DVD recorder pass thru ect.

For a good 😂 😂 😂


I asked him to capture some tapes for me his reply email


Got the pix, tapes look ok physically but that usually tells me nothing until I run them. My adage is things go to plan 60% of the time lol!

I have a $350 min on any projects I take on, most of my orders are large family archiving projects so the smaller projects take up way too much time and admin for it even to be worthwhile. I’m only one guy + Samantha when needed so I keep things manageable and enjoyable for me so I don’t get overwhelmed and go mental, esp with more and more redo workfrom all these crappy companies.

As for LB, even I find their prices confusing. I sometimes think, given their shady tactics it’s by design. Whatever their pricing, they are trash.

If you want to get those tapes done, it would be $350, that does include round trip shipping and a usb and a shareable download. If you’ve got more tapes to get more bang for your buck let me know.

Best regards,

Phil Thomas


MY REPLY to him
Hi Phill,

The tapes are fine they have been kept in a cupboard for all this time so no mold to deal with or major problems.

$350 on 1 tape or all 4 tapes?
You can keep things manageable
by accepting orders like mine 2 to 4 tapes per customer that way its less work for you and much lower prices for the customers. You can see why people go to these crappy companies that charge $10 a tape, yes the quality is no good but $10 is a small amount to lose even if they don't refund.

$350 on 4 tapes is very expensive in my opinion roughly $80 a tape I was hoping you were going to be much cheaper than that since you had a YouTube channel and a lot of compilation in this field and as you have just said in this email that its yourself and Samantha who do this, you do it for a bit of enjoyment im assuming Samantha does part time or covers for when your away?

What equipment do you use?
What is the final quality like?
Do you give customers.h264 files on memory stick?

What if we choose to use the cloud services from got memories because it must have a yearly charge for each file depending on the about of space used the price goes up?

Lets say my tapes are 2hrs 20 mins how many GB would that file be and since I have 4 tapes what would be the cost of keeping the on the got memories cloud online with my own personal login username and password

Could this VHS convertion work be done at home by any chances? I've heard you say it's not rocket science in some of your videos, is it easy to do and what equipment would be needed apart from a VHS obviously would the equipment needed be under $350? If it's going to be under $350 its worth giving it a try for recording 4 tapes because the amount quoted is very high, one can buy the equipment use it and resell it.



His second email to me

You can get up to 10 tapes done for the $350.

Small orders are too much admin and liability isn’t worth it. A lot of my work is government contract stuff, 1000’s of tapes at a time.

I’d recommend just buying a vcr and an Elgato and do it yourself if you’re on a tight budget.

Best regards,

Phil Thomas



Misleading videos like this is creating confusion
What do we believe? Do we believe VH DFAQ?
Do we believe Got Memories?
He claims to be in the business for 24 years.
DFAQ owner Lord Smurf also says he has been doing this for 25 years giving advice for free and selling gear.

The got memories owner is looking for business but he has made a lot of money here is an old article I found about Phill got memories.
https://www.sweetprocess.com/phil-thomas-systematized-business-enable-work-15-minutes-...nually-profit/

Got Memories earns $200k annually
Article claims he only works 15 mins a day?
My question to all you knowledge people is converting VHS that profitable in 2025?
Was it ever that profitable in the early days?

Digital faq also provided a service I would go with DFAQ if I wanted to get something captured
I don't know what they charge but Lord Smurf does talk a good game.
What do DFQ charge per tspe?
What equipment do they use?
Are they professional?

I hope Lord Smurf sees this post and replies

[The 14th Doctor]

Cheap DVD Combo VCRs plugged into equally cheap capture cards running some capture software I have never heard of, end result is vomited as a 640x480 mp4 file that is probably so starved with bitrate the end result looks like a craptastic mushy mess. Guess his clients just don't know any better. I'd be ashamed if I was representing a government or organization and asked him to do some important videotapes. Love how he says LegacyBox is crap, which it is, but he doesn't seem to be that much better in comparison.

He and the Emerald Cost Digitizing guy come across as only caring about money and 'ease of use', not quality. But I, and others, do care about quality.

Since this thread mentioned EP Mode, I know I'm tooting my own horn here, but if you want a proper example on what an EP mode recording of broadcast TV can look like, then here you go. While yes, restoration work was done to the raw .avi video file, my point still stands that these tapes can look a whole heck of a lot better when properly converted and restored using Avi/Vapoursynth, not hastily digitized using cheap Chinese junk.

[Alwyn]

bear in mind he uses an elc*apo usb capture card and a Panasonic ES45 VHS DVD recorder combo (NO TBC) no DVD recorder pass thru ect.

If the ES45 has the same DIGA system that the ES15 has, it has the Panny stabiliser and the "DVD passthrough". My ES-48 (a PAL machine) is a ripper: good quality, stabilised video and would be ideal for consumer-grade transfer services like these guys.

Have you actually used the Elgato?

I don't know what they charge but Lord Smurf does talk a good game.

Yes, people should put their money where their mouth is so we can do the cost-benefit analysis. It's one thing to rant and rave about Elcrapo but to not back up the criticism with evidence just isn't right.

While yes, restoration work was done to the raw .avi video file, my point still stands that these tapes can look a whole heck of a lot better when properly converted and restored using Avi/Vapoursynth,

Let's be realistic. Of course the quality improves. But have you actually done a critical comparison between the Elgato and your nothing-special Pinnacle 510? As soon as you start doing that the time involved goes up. How much is your time worth? Enthusiasts might spend time getting things right but by the same token I'll bet here are plenty who get their tapes done, watched once and never viewed again.

How much would you charge (or think would be a reasonable charge) for a tape processed your way?

[lordsmurf]

I hope Lord Smurf sees this post and replies

Hello.

Got Memories earns $200k annually
Article claims he only works 15 mins a day?

Lots of people claim lots of BS to make themselves seem successful/important. Obvious hogwash,

My question to all you knowledge people is converting VHS that profitable in 2025?
Was it ever that profitable in the early days?

No, and no.

The real money came from contracts or/added added services, like anything else (both then and now). But that takes knowledges, experience, and skill. The non-basic/non-conversion is not something that "everybody can do".

The only way to make big bucks on mere conversions is if you treat tapes like trash, which burns your reputation. Hence why video conversion was dominated by fly-by-nights. So many hucksters have come and gone over the decades.

LegacyBox was founded by a pair of "serial entrepreneurs" (not a compliment), who didn't know jack about video. It was always about money. They invested heavily in advertising, and zero in quality equipment, and it's never changed. (This is all available in old interviews online, not making it up.) So while their quality is indeed trash, they funnel money into advertising and profit, to stave off bad reputation. But I don't think it's worked well for them for years now.

Digital faq also provided a service I would go with DFAQ if I wanted to get something captured
I don't know what they charge but Lord Smurf does talk a good game.
What do DFQ charge per tspe?
Are they professional?

The pandemic years were not kind to us, and it has forced some dynamic changes. (Long story, sad story, not sharing it.) So in more recent times, I've been handling projects myself, both finishing the past due (just a few), and some current (but at reduced acceptance in 2025). Feel free PM me there (not this site), or email me, and we can discuss. I may accept, decline, or refer.

I try to never ignore anybody, and I try to always help others obtain quality preservation of their videos (be it with advice, or doing it for them).

What equipment do they use?

We/I have the good stuff.
- multiple VCRs (JVC S-VHS with TBC, Panasonic AG-1980, others)
- multiple frame TBCs
- multiple capture cards
- other items as needed (proc amps, detailers, others rarely discussed by invaluable)

[The 14th Doctor]

Let's be realistic. Of course the quality improves. But have you actually done a critical comparison between the Elgato and your nothing-special Pinnacle 510? As soon as you start doing that the time involved goes up. How much is your time worth? Enthusiasts might spend time getting things right but by the same token I'll bet here are plenty who get their tapes done, watched once and never viewed again.

How much would you charge (or think would be a reasonable charge) for a tape processed your way?

I don't have the Elgato anymore that I previously used over two years ago when I was starting out digitizing tapes before finding this forum and DFAQ, nor any of the footage I specifically captured using it. Guess I should've kept the card and made a comparison using footage from a video game console or something. I've used it once, and can never look back to it after seeing the night and day different between it and a consumer VCR vs a proper workflow with an S-VHS VCR, TBCs, etc.

Aramakolt did make a comparison between it and an AJA KiPro when he was comparing U-Matic captures. I understand how there are many different factors between that and what I do, but to me the general point of the Elgato being much worse in comparison still stands.

Maybe my view on time vs quality will change if I'm actually overwhelmed with videotapes that I need to work on, which I haven't been since I only do this for family and close friends, if anything I'm more overwhelmed with photos, but nobody has been giving me deadlines to get them finished, if anything I've been giving my own deadlines to finish scanning pictures, ain't a good mindset imo...

Ideally I want to spend my time digitizing a tape once, and properly, so I don't need to spend more time transferring it over and over again. That's my stance on TV recordings, really only care to do it once. My main goal doing this was to preserve my family memories first, then make some money back on all the equipment spent by extending my services to close friends of my family second. I'm not in it to make money quick and dirty.

If I'm coming across as unfairly angry then I do apologize.

[Sharc]

.... But have you actually done a critical comparison between the Elgato and your nothing-special Pinnacle 510?

Not rating anything, but for info here a former comparison:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/407779-Elgato-vs-Diamond-VC500-vs-Dazzle.

[aramkolt]

The comparison above isn't particularly useful in this context because the companies referenced aren't using the elgato to capture losslessly (using something like virtual dub), they are using the included Mac software that compresses things down to about 2.3GB per hour, throws away half of the fields, and as pretty low bitrate audio as well.

According to VWestlife, most of the elgatos actually use the same chipset as the VC500 (though it could have varied due to the long production run), so the difference when using them for lossless capture shouldn't be very different theoretically, though for some reason it does worse with horizontal timing errors as also shown in the same video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NuquTDhjGY&t=759s

This second video there shows that when used at least with the stock software it is pretty wobbly horizontally, causes motion blur, and has other issues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0zs_E1VETk&t=551s

[Gary34]

Legacybox stores customers tapes for like 6 months in a non climate controlled warehouse before digitizing. The VCRs they use all beat up. One person watches one pod. A pod is 5 racks. A rack is 16 VCRs each going into a signal splitter that sends the signal to a composite security camera system and then the other part of all 16 signals goes into one Haugpauge HDPVR2 capture cards and those 16 cards go into one computer. They got a company called Bespoke to invent capture software for them. That’s their workflow since 2016. Before that it was different. From what I’ve heard you can’t reach them on the phone when you call. Then when you get your tapes back and a lot wasn’t captured there’s nothing you can do because the purchase was 6 months ago. The non climate controlled warehouse they store your videos in is enough of a reason not to use them. That place is all marketing.

Legacybox is good for Phil because even though he’s really bad he’s not worse than they are. I think the videos Aramkolt referenced do a good job of pointing out how bad that card is.

[dellsam34]

The bottom line is you get what you paid for, When people put a dollar number on their priceless memories a company like Legacy box or Got memories have to exist, I'm not trying to blame those people, They don't know what they don't know. This is art just like restoring an old painting, you want the best restorer not the cheapest, because you only get to do it once.

[jagabo]

This is art just like restoring an old painting, you want the best restorer not the cheapest, because you only get to do it once.

Yeah, you don't want this woman:

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/botched-restoration-of-jesus-fresco-miraculously-sav...sh-town-197057

[dellsam34]

Pretty much so.