Toronto-Based Transfer Service Warns of Closing Window for Analog Media Preservation

As manufacturers discontinue analog equipment, Toronto transfer service rushes to help Canadians save decades of family memoriesTORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA,

 A former theatre student operates a Canadian business which helps families throughout Canada to protect their essential life stories from complete destruction.Azure Production Inc. operates as a video transfer company (mainly converting VHS to digital in Toronto) which has served customers since 2004 to convert old tapes, various camcorder recordings into digital formats for family preservation.The company's founder, stumbled into the business while studying technical theatre at Ryerson University, now known as Toronto Metropolitan University. Back then, several student productions were recorded on tapes for archival reasons. Later, some were needed to be transferred onto computer files for editing purposes.“Sometimes, we needed to edit our plays. It was a challenge to transfer that footage. I was in a group that was tasked to do it," the Founder explained. “the technical problem-solving exercise I worked on during school developed into a business and was later incorporated in 2007.”The company operates mainly with consumer video formats which include VHS, 8mm film, Betamax, Hi8 camcorder tapes and broadcasting formats including Betacam, Umatics and DVCAMs. The service primarily serves the generation who has old family video tapes which they have stored in their home basements and closets."Our services are normally for people who have retired or have a bunch of old tapes of their family videos that they'd like to transfer," the Founder said.The midtown location of Azure Production provides customers with complimentary service for pickup of client materials. They maintain their equipment and clean it frequently noted by the Founder. Before any transfer begins, a technician inspects each tape to ensure nothing is broken and that there's no mold on the reels which is an occurrence to look out for.The technician also monitors video scopes to achieve proper exposure levels in the footage being captured. They also check the audio levels to stop any sound clipping from occurring. The quality control process starts after capture completion when the technician checks each file for anomalies at three different points during the process.The final files are then converted to MP4 format through a software developed by Adobe before uploading to Google Drive and becomes available for clients to view their memories. The files are available for clients to download for a 30 day period. The Founder used his technical theatre experience with electronic knowledge from multiple years to achieve business success. “The practical work with advanced equipment helped me learn how to use and preserve the outdated video transfer systems.”Transferring your tapes does not require urgent attention at present but the existing outdated media have a limited time frame before they become obsolete.Further, the Founder warned that manufacturers have stopped producing machines like VCRs and other equivalent products. Once they are broken beyond repair, it will only be more difficult to find the machine and the people that know how to repair it."The Founder achieves his greatest sense of purpose when he hears that his clients share their videos and rediscover lost memories of their family traditions."We get compliments from our clients saying that their family enjoyed watching the footage together. It brought their family closer," he said.A project from recent times became his most notable work. A family brought in several hundreds of 35mm slides to be scanned as their mother lay in a hospital bed, nearing the end of her life."It will be nice to have her look at it again as everyone gathered around the room viewing and reminiscing about their old memories," the Founder recalled.The Founder is realistic about the future. The business operation will disappear as families will eventually have no more tapes to convert to digital because cloud storage is becoming ever so popular."A lot of recordings are now on the cloud and one doesn't really need to transfer video tapes anymore once we have completed their batch. Our service does not have recurring income" he said.Azure Production handles a large volume of transfers each year; these transfers contain vital wedding footage, precious family memories and important life moments.The Founder tells Canadians who keep their outdated tapes in boxes to start their conversion process immediately.The tapes need to be transferred to digital files because their condition will deteriorate with time according to him. "Just like when film was transferred to VHS, then from VHS to DVD and DVD to digital. The quality deteriorates with each transfer and it continues to decline throughout time." It’s best to give us the original formats.He has a saying: "Memories can fade, but film lasts forever.” The process of preserving analog memories through these tapes becomes increasingly difficult because machines which read these tapes are disappearing while tape deterioration accelerates.

C.I. ChowAzure Production Inc.

+1 416-850-7976.

https://www.azureproduction.com