Akai 1/4” video tape transfer and digitizing

For Akai 1/4-inch video tape transfers we utilize an Akai VT-150 for NTSC tapes. This machine has been meticulously restored to excellent working condition in our own shop. This was a painstaking process resulting in “like new” performance for beautiful high quality digital transfers from your old Akai 1/4” NTSC video tapes. The playback video is processed through a DPS timebase corrector to stabilize the video and allow video adjustment if needed for high quality capture to digital files.

The Akai VT-150 was the pinnacle of Akai 1/4” VTR models. This model has the highest performance for picture quality of any in the series, and is the only model capable of COLOR video. The earlier models were all black-and-white only. Our restored VT-150 plays NTSC COLOR tapes beautifully, and is 100% compatible with NTSC black-and-white tapes as well.

New for 2024! We have recently completed restoration of a PAL Akai VT-110. This new addition allows us to playback and digitize PAL Akai 1/4” black-and-white tapes. This VTR was obtained from a museum in GB where it had been on display for several years.

Important note about sticky tape: All of these older reel-to-reel video tapes generally require treatment to eliminate “sticky shed” before they can be played successfully. With this in mind, our standard practice includes carefully processing the tapes through a dehydrator for 24 hours before loading the tape onto the machine. This process gently removes moisture that has been absorbed into the "back-coating” of the tape over time. This process aims to eliminate the “sticky shed” problem, allowing us to play the tape for transfer to digital. Failure to follow the dehydrating process can result in destruction of the magnetic recording on your tape, and leaves sticky residue in the VTR which requires extensive cleaning to get the machine working again.