With our program, shipping your home videos and photos to iMemories is very safe and reliable. iMemories has partnered with FedEx, as they are the most trusted and reliable shipping provider in the world. We service customers all over the United States as well as countries abroad. iMemories receives thousands of orders each year, and we've never had a case of a lost package with our program.

Our turnkey SafeShip Kit program is considered industry best – because of its track record of safety and reliability as well as its ease of use and convenience. Call iMemories at 800.845.8199 or create an iMemories Online account today and order an iMemories SafeShip Kit.

iMemories pioneered a sophisticated yet simple, turnkey shipping program to make it convenient and safe to transport irreplaceable, priceless home videos and photos from your home to iMemories. The iMemories SafeShip Kit is available in three sizes to accommodate any quantity of media. Each SafeShip Kit includes all of the necessary packaging materials to safely transport film reels, videotapes, photos, negatives and slides through FedEx. Included is a double-walled “crush proof” rated box, “shock absorbing” packaging foam, magnetic resistant static bagging, moisture resistant poly bagging, and free round trip FedEx shipping (with digitally printed labels to ensure address accuracy). In addition, SafeShip Kits are tracked throughout the shipping process by both iMemories and FedEx.

iMemories customers simply order the SafeShip Kit online or by calling iMemories at (800) 845 8199. When the kit arrives to your home a few days later, you simply package up your media with the included materials, and then drop the kit off at FedEx, FedEx Kinkos or any other FedEx partner for safe delivery to iMemories.

You are welcome to ship your home videos and/or photos in your own box. And, for rush orders, this is most likely the fastest method.

If shipping with your own box and packaging materials, iMemories recommends the following: 1) purchase or use a heavy duty, strong and sturdy box, 2) package your media securely with bubble-wrap, and 3) use FedEx as the shipping provider (remember, FedEx has many levels of service, you can choose from FedEx Express or FedEx Ground).

Beyond the tracking services offered by FedEx for every package they ship, a GPS device called SafetyNet is also available. This global tracking device can be ordered for placement inside a SafeShip Kit. The GPS tracking technology is the same used by our military to protect lives and can locate an iMemories SafeShip Kit package anywhere in the world - within 10 ft. of its location.

When you digitize (or transfer) home videos and photos, you are converting them from a physical, analog format to a computer file – a digital file. The reason this is important is that computer files never change – as they are digital (made up of computer code of 1s and 0s), whereas physical, analog film and videotape do change over time – they degrade, they fade, and eventually, they are unwatchable.

When you digitize, you preserve. When you digitize, you provide easy and inexpensive backups, copies, and most importantly, convenient access to modern digital lifestyle consumer electronics – digital TVs, digital DVD players, digital mobile phones (example: iPhone), digital media players (example: iPod), digital gaming devices (example: Xbox, Playstation).

Once home videos and photos are in a digital format, they are protected and can be enjoyed and shared with family members and friends, more often, more easily.

iMemories can digitize every type of consumer camcorder videotape, every type of home movie film, and every type of picture image (photos, negatives, slides). iMemories also can digitize audiocassettes, reel-to-reel audiotapes, and even vinyl records.

iMemories specializes in consumer grade film and videotape formats. Here are the primary formats:

• Home Movie Film: 8mm film, Super8 film, and 16mm film. For Super 8 and 16mm film, we also support optical and magnetic sound.
• Home Video: Betamax, VHS, SVHS, VHS-C, 8mm, Hi-8, Digital, MiniDV, MicroMini, DVD as well as digital camcorder hard drives and memory cards.

However, we can handle other professional grade formats as well as international formats (example: PAL) as well.

Over time, the magnetic particles on videotape that make up the picture and sound on your video begin to lose their bond to the plastic tape. You can permanently destroy videotape by simply playing it a single time. These particles (iron oxide) can also become detached from the plastic tape over time even without playback.

Film is organic, and degrades over time. Once the degradation occurs, film becomes very brittle and malformed to the point that it will not feed through a projector. Permanent damage can occur during playback.

In addition, your home videos are difficult to enjoy when you have to fast-forward and rewind to find the parts you want to watch. Watching home movie film reels is inconvenient or even impossible for most, because it requires setting up an old-school motion picture film projector.

When you transfer to DVD, your memories are easy to watch, share and enjoy on your DVD player. And under proper storage conditions, and with the long lasting archive gold DVD media iMemories provides, your home videos will last a lifetime.

Photo prints, negatives and slides are easier to enjoy and share once transferred to a digital picture format. iMemories is a great way to archive and organize your photos, and allows you to watch and share them on your computer or TV.

Most home movie films and videos are not labeled nor are they organized. And, most iMemories customers do not have access to film projectors or the variety of video players and camcorders necessary to watch home videos ahead of time to label and organize them. Plus, who has the time?

Our service does not require you to pre-label or pre-organize anything ahead of time. Once we digitally master your home movie films/videos, you can view them online and then, label them quickly and easily with a few clicks of the mouse.

If you are not comfortable using our iMemories Online experience, we will provide you with a physical storyboard of each home movie asset (reel or tape) – either via e-mail or as a printed document sent through the mail. An iMemories Storyboard is a one-page color document full of thumbnail images of your home movie content. It displays a high-level “picture” summary of what is on each videotape. With iMemories Storyboards, you can easily, quickly and accurately label your final iMemories Archives without the need to watch your home videos on legacy film projectors or outdated video players.

Each piece of physical media (reel/tape) is first carefully inventoried and assigned a bar code for accuracy and tracking. Our team of professionals inspects, cleans and repairs the reel or tape. Your media then goes through digital conversion and is safely stored in a protective container in anticipation of the final DVDs being produced. When your order is completed, your original media plus the completed DVDs are then shipped back to you safely via FedEx.

Yes, on many levels. First, your home movie media assets (film reels and videotapes) are bar coded and tracked throughout the entire process. Second, your home videos are not destroyed or damaged during the digital conversion process. A highly skilled technician is with your media assets during every step of the process.