Hi Folks,

We recently found a VHS video of a friend’s scumbag parent getting kicked out of the house back in the 90s. We really want to digitize this video, but I can barely get it to play. The two VCRs I’ve tried keep having issues and trying to chew the tape or just stop and turn off. I wonder if the reels are too hard to move. We know the video is on there because we watched it a few days ago and it was decent save some typical VHS fuzzies and the occasional drop out of the picture.

If it would play, I would just use an adaptor and capture the VCR output. What I need is some advanced data recovery.

Is there a service out there that can directly scan and digitize the ribbon itself or recover a cassette that hasn’t weathered the years so well? I’m happy to pay for this service, but I’m looking a skilled service that isn’t just going to do what I tried to do, but can actually deliver results in a difficult case.

Can anyone be my hero and help me understand what I’m looking for and maybe help me find a service? Colorado local is great, but mail order is acceptable.

I do have at least 2 more VCRs I could try, but I don’t want to do damage.