Brought over from Russia around 20 videotapes of three different formats, all filled with recordings from the past. Here in the city library of Leesburg, we have a free makerspace where one can use all sorts of equipment, from 3D printers and carvers to even sewing machines, and, joy of joys, a station for digitizing old videotapes.
Everything is absolutely free, though you do have to pay a bit for consumables. For example, for 3D printers, it’s the plastic. But for the video converter, it’s nothing at all.
Overall, I don’t think I’d sit through all 20-30 hours while all the tapes were being digitized, but I would at least figure out where to start, then hand it over to someone else (I’ve already found a few options).
And I came without any identification, and certainly without a library card. But nobody even asked for them.
In the end, I’m returning empty-handed.
The problem turned out to be that their VCR is NTSC, while my tapes were recorded in Russia and are therefore in PAL. In the PAL format, video is recorded at a resolution of 720×576 pixels (or 625 lines in the case of VHS) at 25 frames per second, while in NTSC, it’s 720×480 pixels (or 525 lines) at 29.97 frames per second, plus there’s different color modulation.
Now, I need to find out if any of these numerous services support capture from PAL.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 