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Pro Video Tape Transfer

High-Quality Transfers and Upscaling for Broadcast-Grade Formats

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U-Matic, Betacam, Digital Betacam and more in HD or 4K
Prices in HD
1-4 tapes = £85 per tape
5-9 tapes = £76 per tape
10-39 tapes = £72 per tape
40+ tapes = £68 per tape

U-Matic, Betacam, Digital Betacam and more in HD or 4K
Prices in HD
1-4 tapes = £85 SALE £63.75 per tape
5-9 tapes = £76 SALE £57 per tape
10-39 tapes = £72 SALE £54 per tape
40+ tapes = £68 SALE £51 per tape

Examples
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Pro Video tapes

Video Tape Archive Services

With over two decades of expertise, Alive Studios excels in video restoration services, consistently delivering exceptional quality to archive facilities, TV and film production companies, and documentary makers.

We have an in-depth understanding of your industry’s unique requirements, and we take a hands-on approach, collaborating closely with a select group of discerning companies. We offer tailor-made services to prepare your videos for seamless broadcasting.

At Alive Studios, we work with a wide range of tape formats, including U-Matic, Betacam SP, Betacam SX and MPEG IMX, DigiBeta, HDCam, DVCam, DVCPro, VHS, Betamax, all camcorder formats and more.

Money-back guarantee; you will only pay for tapes we can transfer, so in the unlikely event they are not what you thought they were, you won’t pay a thing.  We also don’t charge for tapes which are blank.

Easy to understand pricing:
Video tapes are charged per item no matter the length.

Find out what videotape format you have.

Cine Film Transfer Raw Scan Cine Film Transfer Ai Remastered

Ai Pro Video Restoration

Our in-house Stable Diffusion AI system is purpose-built to restore and upscale broadcast-grade videotapes with unmatched precision. By analyzing each frame using temporal data, we deliver exceptionally clean visuals and enriched audio clarity.

We’re experts in handling damaged, mouldy, or degraded tapes, including those affected by Sticky Shed Syndrome (SSS) a common issue where aging tape stock becomes sticky and unplayable. To safely recover this footage, we use a professional video tape baking oven, applying a controlled heat process that temporarily restores the tape for safe playback and transfer.

Our experienced editors also specialize in reconstructing footage from multiple sources, often combining different versions to create the most complete and seamless final result.

Every transfer includes advanced colour correction, image enhancement, and noise reduction, ensuring your footage looks its absolute best. From vintage SD recordings to challenging, deteriorated tapes, our AI-powered restoration delivers consistently impressive outcomes.

Read about our output formats.

U-Matic Tape with Alive Studios USB Stick

Pro Video Tape to USB stick

Once your professional tapes have been transferred and upscaled, we deliver your footage in your choice of MPEG-4 (ideal for easy playback) or ProRes (perfect for editing and archiving). Your files will be provided on a USB stick or external hard drive, depending on your needs.

For added convenience, we also upload your videos to our secure Alive Cloud, making it easy for you to stream, download, or share your content instantly.

To find out more about our digital output formats click here.

Teranex AV

Teranex 4K with UltraStudio 4K

At Alive Studios, we use the industry-leading Teranex AV standards converter, paired with 12G-SDI UltraStudio 4K and our advanced in-house Stable Diffusion AI software, to professionally upscale and remaster your video tapes.

Whether you’re looking for HD or 4K UHD quality, there’s no better place in the world to have your tapes upscaled and restored. To read more about our video restoration equipment click here

Service Features​

Free Delivery icon

Free collection and delivery

We’re happy to arrange for your postman, or our courier to collect and deliver your films from your work or home address. Delivery is always free, and collection is free for orders over £100.

Learn more on courier service
4K UHD icon

Delivered in HD or 4K UHD

We transfer video tapes in HD, which has 5 x the mega-pixels of SD, or 4K Ultra HD, which has over 20 x the mega-pixels of SD. Phew!

Why upscale to HD/4K?
Cleaning Icon

All tapes are cleaned

One of the things that makes our transfer superior to others is the cleaning process we undertake prior to transfer.  Our decks also feature continuous head cleaning even as the tape is being transferred. 

Watch Example
AI icon

AI Video Restoration

Alive Studios now uses advanced AI to restore video tapes with precision. Our in-house diffusion model sharpens details, reduces noise, and preserves the video’s natural look.

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Alive Cloud icon

Free 14 Day AI Movie Hosting

All videos we transfer for you are uploaded to our password-protected Alive Cloud; our Ai analyzes and indexes your video library, letting you search for speech, text, vehicles, sounds and more.

Learn more about Alive Cloud
Dual USB

Supplied on USB stick

Your video files will be supplied in MPEG-4 format on a Dual USB Stick or ProRes on a Hard Drive. both formats can be edited.

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Examples of work

The clips we’ve used are from various commercial clients; genuine customer tapes to accurately represent typical commercial tape content. We don’t cherry-pick the best tapes for our demos – we try to use very ‘normal’ commercial tapes to show you what you can expect from a tape transfer to digital with Alive Studios.

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Alive Cloud

Search. Watch. Share.

Everything we transfer is uploaded to a private Alive Cloud account — free for 14 days! After that you have the option to extend it for just £24 per year for 10GB of secure storage.

Alive Cloud isn’t just storage — it’s smart, searchable, and shareable. Powered by advanced AI indexing, your videos become fully searchable. Find specific words, objects, text, actions, and more within your movies — instantly.

Share your memories with friends and family effortlessly, anytime, anywhere. Alive Cloud works through any web browser and is also available via our iOS and Android apps.

Alive Cloud Web Version

The web version of Alive Cloud is where your journey begins. Here, you can track the progress of your order, message your editor directly, keeping you connected every step of the way.

Once your movies are ready, Alive Cloud uses powerful AI indexing to make your videos fully searchable.

You can personalise your movies by updating titles, writing full descriptions, and even adding chapter menus—just like a DVD. When everything is set, you can easily share your individual films with friends and family anywhere in the world.

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Alive Cloud TV App

The Alive Cloud TV app makes it incredibly easy to enjoy your home movies right on your television. Simply log in once, and all your videos stored in Alive Cloud will be instantly available to watch on your TV.

Alive Cloud is available on Apple TV, Android TV, and Amazon Fire TV, with dedicated apps for Samsung and LG TVs currently in development.

It’s the easiest, most enjoyable way to relive your treasured memories—right where they belong: on the big screen!

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Alive Cloud Mobile App

The Alive Cloud Mobile App makes it easy to enjoy your home movies on the go. All your videos stored in Alive Cloud are instantly available right on your phone or tablet.

Our app is available for iPhone, iPad, all Android devices, and Amazon Fire Tablets — giving you the freedom to relive your memories anytime, anywhere.

It’s the perfect way to take your home movies with you, wherever life takes you.

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Alive Cloud Tablet App

The Alive Cloud Tablet App is simple and seamless. Just log in once, and instantly access all of your home movies stored in Alive Cloud—directly on your tablet.

Our app is available for iPad, Android tablets, and Amazon Fire Tablets, making it easy to enjoy your memories on a larger screen while you're on the move.

It’s the ultimate way to watch your home movies when you're away from home.

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Ordering is so easy!

Online
  1. Build your order using the ‘Order and quote form’ button below.
  2. Print off the confirmation email.
  3. Wrap your films securely and place them in a box/Jiffy bag with your order form.
  4. Send at the post office, or use our FREE courier collection service.

  5. Or order by Phone/Email and we’ll handle all the paperwork for you.

Order by Phone

Speak to one of our friendly team at the studio who will do everything for you.
Lines are open 9.00 am to 5:30 pm weekdays, and most Saturdays Tel: 01626 683139.

FREE Collection Service

We are happy to arrange to collect your tapes from your work or home address. We use Royal Mail for small boxes and DHL for larger orders. The collection is completely free if spending over £100 or just £10 if spending under £100.

FREE Delivery Service

Delivery back to you is completely FREE on ALL orders, whether large or small. We even provide you with a precise timed delivery window, so you don’t have to wait in all day.

Get a quote & build your order

Use the handy “save for later” feature to return anytime.

Get a Quote or Order

Our Clients

Discover how we’ve helped our clients preserve their archives

Free Delivery icon
FREE Collection

We are happy to arrange to collect your tapes from your work or home address. We use Royal Mail for small boxes and DHL for larger orders. The collection is completely free if spending over £100 or just £10 if spending under £100.

FREE Delivery

Delivery back to you is completely FREE on ALL orders, whether large or small. We even provide you with a precise timed delivery window, so you don’t have to wait in all day.

HD and 4K UHD icon
Why upscale to HD/4K?

Converting SD to HD or 4k will give stunning improvements in video quality.

We transfer your tapes with Teranex
This is the world’s most advanced video converter to transfer your analogue and digital tapes. Giving the finest quality conversion between video standards and frame rates. Teranex features proprietary and patented PixelMotion de-interlacing algorithms, so you get improved image quality.

Professional decks
With any tape conversion we always use the highest quality professional decks featuring auto video head cleaning, Video Stabilizer, Advanced 3D Y/C separation, Line Time Base Correction (LTBC) functions for perfect frame synchronization. Poor analogue source video is filtered and stabilized prior to conversion.

AI Upscaling and restoration
Our system specializes in using temporal information to create significantly cleaner video and sound. We can go from videotape, DVD or any video file to a clean, fully restored HD or even 4K video.

Video Tape Cleaning

One of the things that makes our transfer superior to others is the cleaning process we undertake prior to transfer.  Our decks also feature continuous head cleaning even as the tape is being transferred.

We’re also experts in handling damaged, mouldy, or degraded tapes, including those affected by Sticky Shed Syndrome (SSS) a common issue where aging tape stock becomes sticky and unplayable. To safely recover this footage, we use a professional video tape baking oven, applying a controlled heat process that temporarily restores the tape for safe playback and transfer.

This work is carried out as standard with all orders at Alive Studios.

AI Video Restoration

We now use Artificial Intelligence to colour correct and restore video. This time-aware enhancement system sharpens and de-noises video while recovering incredible amounts of detail. 

This work is carried out as standard with all orders at Alive Studios.

Alive Cloud
ALIVE CLOUD

Alive Studios AI Movie hosting is free for 14 days.
 Log in via your computer, or download the free APP to your phone or tablet so you can take your memories with you wherever you go. Automatic AI indexing of your videos, Search for words, car, dog, person and more.

Log in online to make changes to the titles of your movies, make dvd style chapters and create multiple user logins for all your friends and family so they can share the experience too. from £24/year

Supplied on USB stick

Your films will be supplied in MPEG-4 format on a USB Stick. Plug into your TV to enjoy on the big screen. Then pop it into your computer to re-order, rename, and edit. Add your titles, music etc., to create amazing films.

PHOENIX 5K

New for 2023, our Phoenix 5K full frame scanner gives us our most significant camera system update ever, offering next-level image quality in a 16-megapixels frame scan. Our scanner takes individual photographs of each cell of your film from 8mm all the way up to 35mm film. You can have your film scanned in 2K, High Definition, or 4K Ultra High Definition. AI technology is then used to remove dust, remove harsh noise while recovering real detail, restore colours and create an artefact-free perfect 24fps movie.

Terms and conditions.

General
Alive Studios is a trading name of The Good Life Studios Ltd.

Leader tape
We edit out as much unused film as possible including the leadertape at the start of each reel. Whilst we cannot remove everything without charging for a full edit, we do endeavour to remove as much unused film as possible.

How long does it take?
This is a tricky question. We receive orders from a single video/reel to a room-full, so we’d need to know what you’re sending to give a lead-time. We find we are in high demand and always have seveal weeks of work already scheduled in, so if your order is needed in a hurry, just phone and tell us what you need :)

Damage, Loss, Post & Insurance
Orders are accepted on the basis that the liability of Alive Studios for any lost or damaged material shall be limited to the replacement with an equivalent amount of new blank stock. This is due to the unavailability of General Insurance cover for work of undefined value. When returning material to you we will use the post office services or a courier for larger items. We respectfully remind customers to retain a safety copy or take out Specialist Insurance Cover where appropriate.

Film Format
Our DVDs are region-free and play in PAL. DVD’s are normally DVD-R, but we may use DVD+R or Dual-layer discs where required.

Framing and TV Cropping
In standard definition, some film types do not fit modern TV formats, so we may re-size to fit for the best viewing pleasure. You should also note that some TV set apply their own cropping to a picture as well. By agreeing to these terms, you accept this information.

Damaged Film
Whilst we don’t generally charge extra for poor/damaged/dirty film, we reserve the right to do so if we feel it is required, but will always agree it with you before starting work.
Where splices break, we repair them without charge. If a film is temperamental and doesn’t want to go through we will always try it in several machines to make sure it’s had it’s best shot at a transfer. Where sprocket holes are punctured or torn, we will still transfer the film, often with no visible problems. However, some sprocket damage prevents a steady image from being obtained, in which case we transfer the whole film, then edit out any sections which ‘jump’ or drag because of the damage. This way we keep as much film as possible, and with careful editing you don’t even notice any is missing.
information.

Dust and Hairs
We employ a very good dry-cleaning system which catches most of the dust and hairs commonly found on cine film. It is inevitable however that there will still be dust and hairs present, as it’s impossible to remove them completely with a dry-clean system. It is also common for the dust/hairs to be imbedded into the emulsion making them impossible to ‘blow’ away, so you should expect a small amount to be visible in any transfer. The demos on our website give you a very realistic example of what you can expect.

Content of film
By signing our terms you are stating that you own or have permission to copy the material provided, and indemnify Alive Studios against any action including copyright infringement. If we feel the material to be of an indecent or illegal nature we reserve the right to refuse to continue and no refund will be offered.

Mistakes/Backups
We aim to keep your film footage on our editing suite for 30 days after completion to allow us to correct mistakes, after which time all footage is deleted. You must report any problem with your order within 14 days of receipt. We will retain a backup file of your DVD/Blu-ray for 60 days after completion to allow you to order extra copies. After 60 days, you would need to return your original disc if you wanted us to duplicate it for you. Due to the instability of data storage devices, this backup service is not guaranteed, and whilst every effort is made to retain your files for these periods, we cannot be held responsible for hard-drive failure resulting in us not being able to access your job. For very important projects, we suggest you order a digital copy on a hard-drive for your own security.

Delivery/Collections
We return orders via signed delivery with royal mail, or courier. This courier demands that items delivered damaged are reported within 24 hours of receipt, so it’s essential that you contact us immediately if your parcel is damaged.

Cancellation Policy
You can cancel your order by email any time up until we begin physical work on your job.
If no work has been started, we will refund you in full (less any costs we have incurred in taking your order shown below).

Cancellation fees
If we arranged a free courier collection, you will need to pay for this at £8.50.
If we processed a card payment, we will have incurred a handling fee which will be deducted from your refund. If we have to return your material to you, we will deduct £8.50 for the courier fee.
We will deduct £2.50 admin fee in handling the paperwork involved with a cancellation.

Refunds
Orders paid for by card will be refunded to the card.
Orders paid by cheque or bank transfer will be refunded by bank transfer.

Faults/Returns
You must notify us of any damage to your parcel or missing items within 24 hours of receipt.
You must notify us of any errors or faults with your transfer within 14 days of receipt.

Order Cancellation
In the unlikely event that you cancel your order, we reserve the right to charge a fee to cover admin/postage/bank fees we may incur.
Credit card payments are refunded subject to 1.197% charge.

Misc
We reserve the right to demonstrate our abilities by showing examples of work undertaken for our clients on our website, brochure, DVD and other advertising or promotional activities.