WorldVitalRecords.com Introduces Scanning Service

WorldVitalRecords.com announced today a new genealogical service to preserve photos, documents, videos and slides. The following announcement was written by WorldVitalRecords.com:

Provo, UT - November 12, 2007 -- WorldVitalRecords.com announced today a new genealogical service to preserve photos, documents, videos and slides.

"The idea behind our Preservation Package was to provide a much broader dimension into helping people preserve their family legacy. With thousands of printed photographs and old videos that can become damaged or deteriorate, it only made sense for us to offer a service that allowed people to convert their items to a digital format. It has never been easier nor more cost effective to do that than today," said Scott Spencer, Call Center Manager, WorldVitalRecords.com. "Customers can experience the piece of mind knowing their precious memories are safe and secure. Best of all, they can share them with family and friends quickly and easily, anywhere, any time, online through FamilyLink.com."

Many people have stacks of videotapes and old photos at home. Unfortunately, the quality will not last. For example, videotapes have an expected life of 7-15 years before the quality deteriorates, whereas DVDs have an expected life of 100-500 years. Over time, photos and film can fade, discolor, deteriorate, dry out or become brittle, regardless of how well they are stored.

In an effort to preserve these valuable tapes, photos and documents, WorldVitalRecords.com now offers the following Preservation Package services:

• Converting 8mm, 16mm, miniDVs and VHS tapes to a DVD
• Scanning photos and documents
• Digitizing slides and negatives
• Secure storage filing

WorldVitalRecords.com decided to offer this service after discovering that 91 percent of the WorldVitalRecords.com survey panel said they were concerned about preserving their family photos, videos and/or documents in a digital format.

"I really see the need for digitizing documents, photographs and other family history artifacts. These items that we have been collecting throughout our lives can be digitized so that they can be easily shared using the Internet, modern social networks, as well as e-mails," said David Lifferth, President, WorldVitalRecords.com. "We should share these artifacts with friends and family who need them for their own family history research, as well as to preserve them for posterity."

The stories on the importance of preserving photos and old documents are endless. For example, an employee at WorldVitalRecords.com mentioned that recently the water pipe broke in his basement. He had lots of photos nearby that were almost ruined. Other catastrophes such as the fires in San Diego and Hurricane Katrina have also caused many people to realize the importance of converting their heirlooms to a digital format for backup and preservation.

"A few years back we had some of our genealogy stuff in boxes in our garage. We had a flood, and it ruined everything in the boxes. I called my uncle the night before he died, and he gave me some information on my grandmother's family, including information on our family line from Denmark. I wrote it down and had it with some other genealogy papers in my garage. All of that information was destroyed in the flood and no one has been able to track it back since. Everything that has to do with genealogy is in the house now," said Alice Danby, Provo, UT.

One of the benefits of using WorldVitalRecords.com's scanning services is that individuals have the option of having WorldVitalRecords.com upload all of their photos, and also store them for free on a secure server at FamilyLink.com, a social network for genealogists.

Half of WorldVitalRecords.com panel members said they were interested in a service that could upload their photos to a secure site to share with other family members of their choice.

Preservation packages are priced very competitively at WorldVitalRecords.com. Some packages are 50-70% off of the retail value.

Individuals can take advantage of this new offer by calling WorldVitalRecords.com at its toll-free number (1-888-377-0588).

Comments

[Beverley]

I was one of those surveyed and while I replied that I would like to have a safe way to scan and preserve my records, that I would not entrust them to the mails for someone else to scan and return. I wonder how many others feel the same. I bought a scanner and am doing it myself.

[MLB]

I wholly agree with Beverly that I would absolutely NOT trust the mail and delivery services with my treasured photos and documents. I have a home scanner and took classes in the use of Photoshop, so that I can do the restorations myself. For those who do not want to do the work themselves, I suggest using a service that is within driving distance.

[Kenneth]

I had a large collection of slides scanned and digitized by a firm in AZ. I shipped them both ways from IN by Fedex - couldn't have been happier with the service by the scanner or the transportation.

[LDrewitz]

Has anyone called for pricing? I wonder if they are quoting as great a deal as they say they are...

[Nancy]

. . . experience the "piece of mind," which piece? Sorry for the nit-pick.

[Cedric]

Am I correct (from the fact that they give a phone number rather than an email address) that this service is not set up to be readily accessible to people outside North America?

How does it work? What is the advantage over scanning yourself, & spreading a few long life DVDs around family members to increase security? In the case of movies, I belong to a user group that has developed software & hardware to project them onto a screen & video the result. Is this service superior to that?

[Dino (All Dino, All the Time)]

Cedric,

The last I heard was that the use of the telephone has now spread beyond North America. So they should be readily accessible.

[Lynn]

Kenneth, Which company in AZ? I live in AZ and have been looking for someone to do my 8mm films.

[Betsy]

What reliable archival research journals or other data support the allegation that DVDs are likely to last for 100-500 years? That is not congruent with things I've read. But then there is another issue: suppose your DVD does last for hundreds of years. Who is to say that the technology for extricating the data from that DVD will still be around?
Think about finding a cache of rolls of wire recordings from late 1800s. What would you do with them? And that's scarcely over 100 years ago...

[Richard Brandstetter]

I bet there some one out there right now that can extricate the data from wire. I know the Finns can and do it now And I bet there some one out there that can make a reader.
If no one cares to copy the DVDs to the new technology you think they will cares to save the paper copy. Oh a flood is not that good for paper, a CD or DVD can be wash with water with a little luck.
A west cost famous Photographer lost his best Negatives in a wild fire when he moved the boxes with the not so inportan Negatives and missed the best Negatives. I bet he wish he had a DVDs made.
I’m sitting here with a film scanner with my film slides making the largest Files I can and saving them to 2 hard drives ( 1 is USB for backup) I make DVDs backups too. Stord in 3 different location.

[Dee Ferris]

I also have my own scanner for scanning documents, photos, and film negatives. But I have several old 8mm film reels that I would like to have transferred to DVD. Some photographer studios will do it but the ones I contacted don't do it in-house - they send them off to someone else. There's also "Yes Video" which is available at some Walgreen's stores and so forth, but again... you're shipping them off. I haven't checked on the costs of the World Vital Records service, yet, but plan to. I was wondering if anyone here had all ready transferred their films to DVD, if they had any recommendations for the rest of us.

[Marilyn]

I have 33 records of my grandmother and grandfather singing and my mother singing at age 19. Could they put those into electronic format?

[Marianne Fisher]

I,too,was surveyed regarding this "new service".
I scan all of my photos and documents myself.
If a problem happens,I will stay local and keep them in my hands until I can personally hand them to the photo tech to scan for me.
I told them that I felt theirs' is/was a duplication of services that are readily available close to home.
And that they should stick to providing the documents for our research needs.

[L G Greene]

I have to agree - there is no way I would allow any of the cherished old family documents to leave my hands. But having just been evacuated by southern California fires (safe return with house still standing), it occurs to me that these can get lost to fire, future generations, and lack of space. We need an online central clearing house to which we can all upload our scanned documents that later generations can view, should the originals ever get lost or damaged. I wonder if Rootsweb could provide such a site? The problem with paying for it is that subscriptions could be dropped years down the road, defeating the purpose of digitally preserving these treasures.

Re: old movies - we had all our old movies converted to DVD (from 1924 on) by a local company, done on site. Most larger towns and cities have such an individual or company. It's worth a drive to one to make sure they do not have to be sent off by mail to anyone, and will not leave the premises where you drop them off. It also was not particularly expensive.
For those of you with very old movies, or defunct video with no way of viewing it such as Sony's old helical scan video, there is a restoration company in New York that can convert them called Vidipax (vidipax.com) recommended to me by film professionals and professors at film schools.

[Patsy Stephenson from California]

I have a wire recording of my wedding vows from 1949, and would love to save it for my children and grandchildren. I keep hearing that a wire recording can be converted but company info given by other genealogists is vague with no address, or I would have to send the wire somewhere across country. Also I have a boxful of 8mm and super 8mm movie film that I took of my children beginning back in 1951 with no way to save it that I have found. That technology disappeared without giving us a chance to transfer it to another. I have seen for sale at reasonable prices, machines to convert cassettes to DVD, LP and older records to DVD, VHS to DVD and I have a scanner to convert slide pictures to DVD, but... nothing for old movies or wire. Even when said it can be done, where is that place, and anywhere in Northern California? I gladly would make the drive to keep from mailing precious film.

[Peter]

For all those people who are looking for services for conversion of various media, look in your "yellow" pages (if they still exist) under media transfer, media conversion, etc. You can also call in at a "good" photo processing/camera store and ask. Even here in the "backwoods" of Canada, most big camera stores offer these services or know of someone who can, depending on the media.

For conversion of old computer disk formats, look up services for companies which may have the ability. Perhaps big cities are the best place or state capitals where government offices often find "lost" diskettes or even tapes. Another place is to contact a state archive to find out what they know. There may be professionals who do this - even wire recordings.

There is no need for an individual to purchase equipment just to convert a few things and often the equipment is very expensive to do a good job. However, if you want to do it yourself here are a few possibilities:

- to "digitize" photos, papers, etc, use a digital camera. I use a now old 4mp camera. I've used it at our archives and I can reproduce a full scale copy which is readable after some simple adjustments for contrast and brightness. Basically, I use what Word image adjustment has for most work.

- to copy 8mm or super 8mm films, you can project them on a matte white surface and then use a camcorder to copy them. Be sure to use a tripod and offset the camcorder a bit so the brightness of the projected image is not so bad. If you don't have a projector, look in thrift shops, at garage sales, etc. They often go for a song.

- to copy 33/45/78 vinyl records, look up Google for various articles on techniques and software (freeware is often the best) and use your computer. See above for getting equipment.

Most of these techniques will produce digital copies adequate for family archiving and it will cost very little. Better than losing it.