The Library will close at 5 pm on Friday, June 9.

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MY ACCOUNT

Digitize Your Video Memories

Transfer your old VHS Tapes to a digital file

This service will be unavailable from September 2019-March 2020. 

 

 

If you have a Forest Park Public Library card you can transfer videos from VHS tapes only (no VHS-C, S-VHS-C) to a digital file (.mp4) that you can save to a USB flash drive, DVD, or your online storage service of choice.

How does it work?

Apply online and a staff member will contact you to setup your reservation.

Registrations should be made at least one week in advance and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Sessions are available for up to 1 hour and 45 minutes, with 15 minutes for set up and saving your file, between 9 am and 4:30 pm on Fridays.

Bring your FPPL card and an ID. You will be provided with a laptop and a VHS transfer kit to use at one of our study rooms.

General Guidelines

  • A Forest Park Library card and a photo ID will be required to check out equipment.
  • Transfer sessions are available Fridays between 9 am – 4:30 pm for up to one hour and 45 minutes of conversion, with 15 minutes for set up and file saving.
  • Cancellations must be done at least 24 hours before the session to allow notification for patrons on the waiting list.
  • Recording time is in real time, example:  one hour of video will take one hour to record.  
  • If the video you are converting is longer than the one hour and 45 minute maximum, we will need to stop the file transfer and continue on another date. Please note: we do not do video editing and if you have two files we can not merge them.
  • Allow five minutes for setup at the start of the session.
  • Allow 10 minutes before the end of your session to save/upload your file.
  • Transfer of copyrighted material is not allowed.  No commercial movies or TV shows.
  • Please bring the storage device you want to use to save your file (USB Flash Drive or DVD), or bring your user name/email and password if you want to save it to online storage services such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, DropBox, and others.
  • If you want to save to a DVD, it must be a DVD-R or DVD-RW type (NOT a DVD+R or DVD+RW). Note: not all DVD players will read .mp4 files. Verify your DVD specifications for compatibility.
  • When transferring to a USB flash drive, allow a minimum of 1.1 GB of memory for every 60 minutes of video.
  • Instruction sheets are available in the VHS Transfer kit.
  • VHS tape format only.

Questions? Call us at 708 689 6125 or askus@fppl.org.

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