Lifeclips - Good news and bad news

[TheJeffy]

I think this is the best forum for this, but I could be wrong so feel free to move it

I just received my first home video to DVD conversion DVD from www.lifeclips.com so I thought I'd report the results, as well as mention a couple of service problems I had...

First, the quality is better than I expected. My original source was full-size VHS and I sent the original. I haven't noticed any compression artifacts. The only minor thing was it seems some bright surfaces and objects are way too bright...an over-exposed effect like they must have upped the brightness. It's not too bad though.

The disc comes in a white Amaray case with your title on the front & spine, and a blank sheet marked 'Highlights' for you to write down up to 15 chapter notes and numbers. The DVD itself is automatically divided into up to 70 chapters and mine used the full 70..they say it automatically detects when you started a new recording..not sure how that works but it isn't perfect.

The DVD menu is simple.. "Play", "Chapter Liist" and "Information", which takes you to screen describing how to order additional digitally mastered copies and view online.

The chapter list is numbered thumbnails from each scene. Now, my camera had a fade in and out to/from white and in about 12 chapters out of 70, the thumbnail was captured during one of these transitions, resulting in a sort of washed out thumbnail but I could still tell what scene most of them were.

Okay, now as to their service itself. They only offer forms of UPS shipping which frankly I'm not too fond of. The standard shipping is ground, 4-5 days for 5.95. 2nd day and overnight are very high-priced and I don't believe you can combine orders..each tape has to be a seperate order I believe.

Their shipping kit was sent either First Class or Priority and I got that the Monday after I ordered on Friday...if only they'd used mail as a shipping option too

I sent my tape that same Monday and good old UPS's tracking didn't show anything for a few days, then I called and was told it would arrive that Friday...it didn't until the next Monday, so a full week for my tape to get there. By that Wednesday Lifeclips had my tape digitized and all 70 chapters available for viewing online with Real Player.

It took them a full week to send the tape & DVD back to me, sent this past Monday and arrived today...so their advertised 'two weeks after sending your tape you'll have your DVD" didn't quite cut it in my case.

Now, onto the BIG problem. They sent two packages back. I thought perhaps they sent the tape in one, DVD in the other but when they arrived, my tape and DVD were in one box, and this other huge box addressed to me contained someone else's 3 tapes which Lifeclips had rejected for copyright reasons (some guy wanted his 3 workout tapes put on DVD...LOL)

So.....a word of warning...your tape(s) could get sent back to the wrong person. I called and they're sending me a prepaid return label but it's kind of a scary thought. At the very least, make a copy before sending your tape! They stress to send the original for quality reasons of course.

I should mention I received their promotional offer for a free conversion, so I got this for only the 5.95 shipping charge. Standard charge is $29.99.

I'm not so sure I can trust them again knowing they might send me tape to someone else next time, but I think if I do decide to give them another shot, it might be an edited highlights tape, quality aside I would feel better keeping my originals.

If you do decide to try them out, be sure and check their site for player compatability issues. There is a list of known players that aren't compatable.

Hope this might be of some help to someone considering using their service. Overall I think it's pretty darn cool to see my family on DVD

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Jeff