Tape-to-Digital Capture
Native 1080i transfer using calibrated JVC BR-HD50 decks, time-base corrected and captured as lossless FFV1 master files for archival longevity.
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HDV Archive · Est. 2007
A living archive of high-definition video craft.
We digitize, restore, and curate HDV footage captured on the tapes that defined an era — preserving motion picture memory frame by frame for filmmakers, broadcasters, and family archives alike.
4,200+
HDV Tapes Preserved
18
Years on the Format
312
Independent Filmmakers
100%
Lossless Master Files
What We Do
A complete workshop for HDV.
From the first capture off a deteriorating MiniDV shell to a broadcast-ready master file, every step of the HDV chain is handled in-house by engineers who learned the format the year it launched.
Restoration & Repair
Stabilization, dropout concealment, chromatic aberration correction, and audio denoising — every frame inspected, every artifact removed by hand.
Learn more →Codec Transcoding
Convert HDV's MPEG-2 transport stream to ProRes, DNxHR, H.264, or your NLE's preferred intermediate — bit-for-bit accurate, no generation loss.
Learn more →Timecode & Metadata
Rebuild broken timecode tracks, embed camera metadata, generate per-scene BWF sidecars, and export ALEs for Avid, Premiere, and DaVinci workflows.
Learn more →LTO Cold Storage
Triple-redundant LTO-9 archival with checksum verification, geographic separation, and a printed catalog of every tape, scene, and take.
Learn more →Archive Consultation
Audit, catalog, and accession planning for production houses, broadcasters, and family estates with hundreds of hours of legacy HDV material.
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The HDV Difference
Why a dedicated HDV house, in 2025?
HDV is a 19-year-old format, but the cameras and tapes that recorded it are still out there — in boxes, on shelves, in vaults. Most modern shops don't have the decks, the knowledge, or the patience for the format. We do. That's the entire job.
01
Real HDV Decks
Six working JVC BR-HD50 playback decks maintained with replacement heads, aligned weekly, and monitored on vectorscope throughout every capture session.
02
Format-Native Engineers
Our team captured their first HDV wedding in 2004. We understand the MPEG-2 long-GOP quirks, the 1440×1080 anamorphic flag, and the timecode drift patterns of aging tape stock.
03
Frame-Accurate Ingest
Every transfer is captured to a frame-accurate FFV1 master with embedded timecode, hash-verified, and reviewed in a color-managed suite before delivery.
04
No-AI, No-Autofix
Restoration is done by hand using DaVinci, with documented operator notes on every clip. We will never run your footage through an opaque neural upscaler without your written consent.
How a Project Flows
From your shelf to a master file, in five steps.
Every project follows the same transparent pipeline. You'll know where your tapes are, what's happening to them, and when to expect delivery — from intake to final checksum.
Intake & Catalog
Tapes are received, humidity-conditioned, logged with your reference notes, and photographed for the project manifest.
Health Audit
Each tape is fast-forwarded and inspected for mold, shedding, stretching, and dropout patterns before capture.
Native Capture
Real-time 1080i transfer through a calibrated TBC, recorded as FFV1 master with sidecar metadata.
Restoration
Frame-by-frame cleanup, audio denoising, color consistency, and timecode rebuild — all hand-graded.
Delivery & Archive
You receive a checksum-verified drive plus an LTO-9 cold-storage copy, retained for ten years at no charge.
Voices from the Archive
Filmmakers and families, on the work.
Eighteen years of HDV projects, from a one-tape family home movie to a 600-hour documentary series. Here's what the people who trusted us with the footage have to say.
They pulled 412 hours of HDV out of a Bangkok storage unit that had been flooded in 2011, and the result is indistinguishable from what I remember shooting. I'd written those tapes off as lost. They were not.
ML
I'm an editor, not a tape engineer. The deliverable came back with every clip properly named, timecode intact, and a printed catalog I could hand to a junior assistant and trust. Worth every cent.
RP
My father shot our family on a JVC GR-HD1 from 2004 to 2009. Those tapes are now a chronologically-ordered, indexed, beautifully restored set of files that my kids will be able to open in 2099. That's not a small thing.
EK
Start a Project
Got tapes on a shelf? Let's talk.
Tell us how many tapes, what camera, and what condition. We'll send back a flat quote, a turnaround estimate, and a written plan — usually within 48 hours.
Request a Quote