Updating Your Old Home Movies with Pixorial

If your home videos are collecting dust, this service makes sure they last forever

by Phoebe Assenza

If you bought a camcorder in the '80s or '90s and filmed every birthday, graduation, school performance, and random family event in between, you probably have a big box of VHS tapes you haven't watched in years.

I recently sent six of my old home videos to Pixorial, a new online service that will digitize your old VHS, Mini-DV, 8mm, and BetaMax tapes; safely archive the footage on its servers; and allow you to edit and share your videos instantly. Within two weeks of mailing my tapes (with a kit Pixorial provides), I received an e-mail saying my videos were online and ready for viewing.

Seeing all those old tapes, the contents of which I had mostly forgotten, all in one place on my computer was astounding. I immediately edited a video my parents made of me in 1984, dancing and singing to Cyndi Lauper, for my grandmother. I cut out the less-exciting footage, sent friends and family a link to my finished video, and became a minor Internet sensation among them for about a week. I can also add titles and order a DVD copy of anything I create.

Even if you're not the most savvy video editor or producer (I'm certainly not), Pixorial is an incredibly useful service. Its editing tools are easy-to-use and fun, and the peace of mind you get from knowing all your treasured family footage is now in a safe digital format, rather than collecting dust in your garage, is well worth the $25 annual membership fee.

If you have digital footage now, you can upload up to 10GB with a free Pixorial account. If you'd like to convert your old media as I did, you pay $25 for each year you use the service, plus $4 and up for each tape.

Learn more about Pixorial's services and its prices here.

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