Is digitalizing process legal?

» We assume that you legally own any vinyl albums, cassette tapes, or VHS tapes. Copyright law generally allows for people to make digital backups of their analog recordings like cassettes, records and VHS tapes for their own personal use; however, you must legally own the cassette tape, vinyl album or VHS tape in the first place, and the program that is recorded on it. In addition, according to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, a VHS recording cannot be transferred to digital if it contains the Macrovision copy-protection signal. As of yet, we are unaware of any legal issues with the service we provide.
   

   Just to be clear, if you fail to follow the above conditions, or you are charged with violating copyright law for any other reason, we are not liable or responsible for your violation.

What about my personal information ?

» We will never share any of your contact information (including email address) with anyone else unless required to by law.

Can I make copies of my new CDs/DVDs ?

» Certainly. As long as it is for personal use, you can make copies of the DVD or CD that we create for you. It's formatted like any other disc so that you don't have to do anything special if you want to copy it.
   

Do you return the original media ?

» Of course, we always return the original tapes and any other media you send to us.

What happens to the audio and/or video contents that we send to you?

» With respect to content quality, our technicians monitor your personal content to ensure proper transfer and use their experience to insure the digital quality is at its highest.  With respect to storage, we do not keep permanent copies of your personal content.  Even if you asked us to store them for you, we are not a digital storage facility and do not have the capacity.  In fact, based on our processes of duplication and transformation, we briefly listen to the original content unless, of course, we experience a problem during recording and need to perform in-depth analysis in order to compare and contrast the digitized audio to the original. We keep a copy of your personal content we send you for 30 days to ensure your satisfaction, and the quality of the original content.

Why is the price of your DVD conversion process slightly higher than some of your competitors?

» Many of our competitors started offering DVD authoring services after the introduction on the consumer market of stand alone DVD recorders. Most of the DVDs recorded on these units have lower rates of compatibility with many DVD players and the quality is considerably reduced by the fact that the unit has to record in real-time.
   
   We offer workstation-authoring that uses the same type of equipment and software used to author the    commercial DVDs. In other words, our equipment is commercial grade and the output quality is higher grade.

Do you offer volume discounts ?

» Yes. If you order between 2 and 10 units, the cost is lower. Plus if you order more than eleven units, the savings really add up for you. We offer high quality, cost effective services regardless of the quantity ordered.

I just don’t feel comfortable shipping my original tape or vinyl album. What can I do?

» Your hesitation is perfectly understandable.  Rest assured that misplacement or damage to client property is extremely rare.  If you take your items to a professional courier (i.e., UPS, Federal Express, DHL, etc.) and have them professionally packaged and insured, the chance of your precious items being lost or damaged is greatly reduced.

• If you can’t part with your cassette tapes, you can make a copy of your audio cassette tape with any dual-deck cassette player. Send us the copy!
                                
• If you can’t part with your VHS tapes, you can plug one VCR into another VCR and make a copy. Send us the copy!
                                
• If you can’t part with your vinyl albums, you can have them copied to a cassette tape and let us convert the cassette tape to CD for you. However, the sound quality degradation on this approach is noticeable and certainly not the optimal approach that we recommend. The most desirable option is for you to professionally package, insure, and ship your items to us and trust us. If you are unwilling or unable to trust us with your precious keepsakes and timeless memories, then please get back to us when you are ready.

Do you have any shipping recommendations?

» Yes. We highly recommend that you pay for a professional courier service to package, ship, and track your     items. This is the process that we will use to return your items to you.  If you choose to package and ship yourself (not recommended), here are some useful facts:

• Average vinyl album size just short of 13 inches square.
• Most vinyl albums should fit in a 13 wide x13 deep box
• Average height of 20 vinyl albums (in jackets): just short of 3 inches
• Average weight of 20 vinyl albums (in jackets) is approximately 10 pounds
• DO NOT SHIP VINYL ALBUMS UNPROTECTED. Please package responsibly. Vinyl albums are easily broken.
                                
• The vinyl album in the jacket should be protected on both sides, preferably by several sheets of thick cardboard. By alternating the direction of the corrugation of the cardboard its strength and resilience will be greatly improved. Cut the cardboard to squares a little larger than the vinyl album and tape these squares firmly around the jacket. The vinyl album and jacket should be held tightly by the pressure alone of the cardboard surrounding it - don't stick any tape onto the vinyl album itself. If the vinyl album has a protective paper or card sleeve, please keep it inside this. When you've finished, there should be very limited possibilities that the vinyl albums can be bent or dropped on their edges.
                                
• Postal charges are based on weight, not size - the more lightweight packaging around the records the better.
                                
• Cassette tapes and VHS tapes should be shipped in the hard case with proper containers and then properly packaged and shipped.

How long will the transformation process take?

» 2 weeks, generally for those orders that are not too large or very complex. This estimate is based on our    average workload per day. If your order is very simple, it usually takes less time to complete (almost all of our orders are processed under 2 weeks). If we receive an inordinate volume of orders within a short time frame, it may take a little longer (a few extra days). Remember, every order receives our personal attention, so our estimates vary a bit.

   Very large orders (40+ restoration units), take longer. Very complex orders (noisy recordings, multiple source recordings, custom restorations) and "special requests" orders also take longer.

   Restoration requests that    arrive damaged (and can be repaired) will need to be repaired before the transformation can commence. This process varies, but can usually be completed within a few extra weeks.    

Some of my VHS tapes are longer than 2 hours. What can I expect from your service?

» Current DVDs are limited to 2 hours in length. If your VHS tapes are longer than 2 hours, please use our  Custom Order feature to get the process started. It costs more, but it is worth it.

Some of my vinyl albums contain only a few songs on each side while other vinyl albums have more, what can I expect from your service?

» The number of tracks varies depending on the vinyl album; therefore, to avoid the confusion of multiple albums and numerous songs per album, we limit the number of albums per CD to one.  This limitation has less to do with song quantity or placement; it has more to do with helping you stay organized when you send us numerous vinyl albums to convert and then receive multiple CDs in return. As a standard service from BenchMark Digital Services, we include the title of the album on the disc label. We have learned from experience that in order to avoid confusion, the tracks uniformly will be placed in order on the CD as they are on the vinyl album. Side A of the vinyl album will be the first tracks on the CD and, of course, side B will follow.

Some of my cassette tapes have a few songs on each side while other tapes have more, what can I expect from your service?

» The number of songs varies depending on the cassette tape; therefore, to avoid the confusion of multiple tapes and numerous songs per tape, we limit the number of tapes per CD to one. This limitation has less to do with song quantity or placement; it has more to do with the feedback we have received from customers.  You will be able to keep your CDs better organized when you send us numerous cassette tapes to convert and then receive multiple CDs in return. As a standard service from BenchMark Digital Services, we include the title of the cassette tape on the disc label. We have learned from experience that in order to avoid confusion, the songs uniformly will be placed in order on the CD as they are on the cassette tape.

Can all types of problems be fixed?

» No. Listed below are some of the limitations. We want our customers to be informed. Please familiarize yourself with these limitations and write or call us if you have any questions. The quality of our work is 100% guaranteed, but this guarantee does not apply to defects that are impossible to fix, such as those described below:

• Unplayable cassette/VHS tapes or vinyl albums:  DO NOT send us any items that are cracked, warped, or otherwise unplayable. We are digital conversion specialists, not digital conversion magicians.
                                
• [VINYL ALBUM] Off-center hole:  Some vinyl albums have the center hole slightly off-center. These records will play with the pitch varying slightly at each revolution.
                                
• [VINYL ALBUM] Skips:  If the record "skips" on your machine, it will more than likely "skip" on any machine. If the needle skips forward we will continue processing. If the record skips in place we will push the needle gently into the next groove. We will repeat this a few times until the needle will track again. Some discontinuity may be noticed. We may not detect if the needle has skipped only a few times and then continued. If any of these conditions are not acceptable, please do not submit records that skip.
                                
• [VINYL ALBUM] Severe scratches:  We routinely eliminate 50,000 to 100,000 clicks, pops and scratches per record. Most clicks are completely eliminated, however, if the scratch is very severe (the underlying music is gone for a considerable amount of time) there will be a trace of a "pop" in the restored version.
                                
• [VINYL ALBUM] Distortion:  There are many types of distortion and possible causes: over modulation at recording, defective microphones or recording equipment, faulty stamping or quality control when the record was pressed, playing the record with a worn needle or with improper tracking force. A distortion becomes part of the sound. The computer and filtering software can not detect what is distorted and what is not. Therefore, if your source recording is distorted, the restored copy will also be distorted only the sound will be "cleaner".
   

My albums or tapes (VHS and/or cassettes) are not perfect, should I convert to digital anyway? If so, what are the trade-offs?

» It is worth the attempt, as evidenced by the numerous positive feedback we have received from customers.    Keep in mind that there are some trade-offs:

1. Degraded Signals. Intense computer processing of very degraded signals may result in music that sounds somewhat muted. It is a much more enjoyable experience to listen to a clean sounding recording, but somewhat muted, as opposed to a recording with severe hiss, crackles and pops.
                                 
2. Audible Imperfections. There are cases when a recording sounds clean for the most part, and needs a less drastic approach in restoration in order to preserve the "liveliness" of the original recording. In this case it is more desirable to apply less severe processing, which may leave some occasional imperfections more audible. We would like our customers to be aware of these trade-offs.
                                 
3. Super long tracks. Sometimes there will be no pause between tracks. There must be few seconds of actual pause (silence) between the songs in order for us to be able to accurately assign tracks. If the original material does not contain a few seconds of silence between the songs, and timings are not provided we will try to guess where the tracks should begin, but may not exactly match the tracks of the original. This happens frequently with "live recording" albums, medleys, opera and sometimes with compilation tapes. If our "guessing" is not acceptable for you, please do not submit recordings without a few seconds of silence between songs.
                                 
4. Excessive prior duplication. Inferior quality home or commercial recording reduce the quality of the audio and/or video. Some customers prefer to record their vinyl or shellac records onto a cassette, and send us the cassette for processing. Please be aware that if the cassette is recorded with inferior equipment (noisy turntable or cassette recorder) the resulting CD will also be of inferior quality. It is impossible to make a perfect CD out of a technically inferior recording. This also applies to inferior commercial recordings (recordings with metallic, tiny sound, recordings with bad sibilants, recordings badly mixed). We can not create frequencies that have never been recorded and can not re-mix a recording since we do not have the multi-track master.

What if the order is canceled due to damage to original tape or vinyl album?

» You will be consulted. We always give you the choice whether or not you wish us to attempt any repair. If    repair is possible and you allow it, we will proceed and convey to you any output issues that arise on the DVD or CD. If, however, an order is canceled, we assess nominal handling and processing charges of $25.

Can you remove every pop and click on my vinyl album?

» No.
   There are some vinyl album purists who enjoy the audible pops and clicks. For many others the pops and clicks are somewhat distracting. There are numerous pops and clicks on each vinyl recording. When we restore a record we have to decide how severe the pops and clicks are, and how much correction to apply to the music  with our software (see Trade-offs)