We digitize photos, videotapes, and home film reels, then organize every file into a family archive you can actually find things in — built by hand in Itabashi, Tokyo.
Videotapes lose picture quality every year, even sitting untouched in a closet — the magnetic coating sheds a little more oxide with every temperature swing the tape goes through. Photographic prints fade under UV light, curl in humidity, and grow brittle enough to crack along old fold lines. Slides and negatives hold up better, but the paper sleeves and cardboard boxes they usually live in do not.
Daily Pixel Box converts every format into stable, organized digital files — labeled, dated, and backed up across two independent locations. Once your archive is digital, it can be copied without any loss in quality, shared with family anywhere in the world, and viewed on any device you already own. The format problem disappears the moment the transfer is finished.
VHS, Video8, Hi8, MiniDV, and Betamax cassettes are played back on professionally maintained decks and captured frame-by-frame into crisp digital video files. We time-base correct faded or wobbly footage wherever possible, and flag any tape that needs cleaning before it plays. Every reel comes back to you as a video file named by date and event.
Prints, slides, and negatives are scanned at high resolution on scanners built for archival work, not consumer flatbeds. Color and exposure are corrected where fading has occurred, and duplicates are flagged for your review before filing. The result is a searchable digital archive sorted by year, not a folder of thousands of unlabeled images.
8mm and Super 8 home movie reels are scanned frame-by-frame on a dedicated telecine rig rather than projected and re-filmed, which avoids flicker and focus loss. Sprocket damage and splices are inspected before the reel runs, so fragile film doesn't tear mid-scan. Finished files are delivered at up to 4K resolution with smooth, stabilized playback.
Every digitized file is renamed with a consistent date-and-event format, then sorted into a folder structure built around your family's actual timeline rather than a generic template. Duplicate photos and near-identical takes are flagged for removal so the archive stays easy to browse. We hand you a short guide explaining exactly how everything is organized.
Finished archives are stored on redundant local drives and mirrored to secure cloud storage, so no single hard drive failure can erase your family's history. We follow a three-copy, two-format, one off-site backup principle for every project we deliver. Files are also checked for corruption before final delivery.
Every tape, print, and reel is logged by item number the moment it arrives, so nothing is ever misplaced or mixed up with another family's order. Fragile or moldy items are handled with gloves in a separate cleaning area before they touch our equipment. Everything is returned to you in the same condition it arrived, along with its full digitization log.
From a single shoebox of prints to a full basement of tapes, our workflow scales without losing the personal touch.
VHS, VHS-C, Betamax, Video8, Hi8, and MiniDV tapes, plus 8mm and Super 8 film, prints, slides, and negatives — even formats most shops no longer touch.
Film is scanned frame-by-frame at up to 4K, and prints and negatives are scanned at high resolution suited to archival reproduction, not just screen viewing.
Choose a USB drive, a private cloud download link, or both together. Files arrive in standard formats that play on any computer, phone, or smart TV.
Most orders are ready in two to three weeks depending on volume. Rush service is available when you need a project finished sooner, for an added fee.
Files are renamed by date and event, grouped chronologically, and checked for duplicates, so your finished archive is easy for any family member to browse.
Every item is logged and insured while in our care, and you approve an itemized quote before any digitizing work begins — no hidden fees at pickup.
Most families arrive with a mix of formats — VHS next to MiniDV, prints mixed in with negatives — in cases with no labels or dates at all. Some tapes haven't been played in over a decade, and a few show visible mold or tracking damage. We start by logging every single item before anything is touched.
Every tape becomes a dated, titled video file, and every print is scanned and grouped by year, inside one folder structure built around your family's actual timeline. Duplicate shots are flagged, blurry throwaways are separated out, and everything is named so a search for "2003 birthday" actually finds it. What used to take an afternoon of digging through boxes now takes seconds.
Bring your tapes, prints, and reels directly to our Itabashi studio, or pack them in a padded box and mail them to us with our prepaid shipping guide. Either way, you'll get a written intake confirmation the same day your items arrive.
Every item is logged individually by number, checked for damage, and gently cleaned if dust or mold is present before anything goes near our equipment. You'll receive an itemized quote to approve before any digitizing work starts.
Tapes and film are captured frame-by-frame on professional decks and telecine equipment, while prints and negatives are scanned at archival resolution. Files are then renamed, dated, and sorted into a folder structure built around your family's timeline.
Your finished archive is delivered on a USB drive, a private cloud link, or both, exactly as you requested in your quote. We keep a secure backup copy for thirty days in case a file ever needs to be re-sent.
VHS, Hi8, MiniDV, and Betamax tapes converted to crisp digital video files on professionally maintained decks. Every tape is inspected and gently cleaned before playback to protect fragile footage.
Prints, slides, and negatives scanned at high resolution and corrected for fading before filing. Every batch is sorted chronologically so your archive stays easy to browse.
Home movie reels scanned frame-by-frame at up to 4K resolution on dedicated telecine equipment, not projected and re-filmed. Splices and sprocket damage are checked before your reel ever runs.
A complete setup for files you already have: renaming, tagging, folder structure, and duplicate removal handled start to finish. Ideal if your files are already digital but scattered across drives.
We never keep, discard, or alter your physical tapes and prints without your explicit say. Every original is logged on intake and matched back to your order for return, exactly as it arrived.
Drop off in person at our Itabashi studio, or ship items in with our prepaid guide and track your order by phone at any stage. We're not a mail-in service that disappears for a month.
Fifteen years of hands-on experience with obsolete and fragile formats means we know a fifty-year-old reel behaves differently from a ten-year-old MiniDV tape. We adjust our process per item, not one generic setting for everything.
You approve a written, itemized quote before any digitizing work begins, so there are never surprise fees at pickup. If a tape turns out to need extra cleaning, we call first.
"Forty years of family videotapes were sitting in a closet, and we thought they were already gone. Daily Pixel Box brought back footage we hadn't seen since childhood, organized by year and playable on a phone in minutes."— Client family archive, digitized 2025
"They handled my mother's entire photo collection with so much care. Everything arrived labeled by year, and she can finally show her grandkids old photos without digging through six boxes in the closet."
"I had a box of MiniDV tapes from my kids' childhood that no device could even play anymore. Now they're all backed up in the cloud, and my brother in Osaka can watch them the same day I do."
"The folder structure they built for our archive made it so easy for the whole family to find old home movies. I sent my parents the link and they found their wedding video in under a minute."
We handle VHS, VHS-C, Betamax, Video8, Hi8, and MiniDV, along with most other consumer tape formats from the past five decades.
Yes. Every original item is logged on intake and returned to you along with your digital files unless you request otherwise.
Standard turnaround is two to three weeks depending on volume. Rush service is available for an additional fee.
Files are renamed with dates and events, then arranged into a clear folder structure so any family member can browse it easily.
Yes, our studio in Higashishinmachi, Itabashi-ku accepts walk-in drop-offs during business hours, or you can mail items to us with our prepaid shipping guide.
In most cases, yes. We clean and stabilize tapes with mild mold or tracking damage before playback, though severely deteriorated tape may only be partially recoverable.
Yes, just note it in your order form or mention it when you drop items off, and we'll digitize those tapes or reels first.
Archival-grade tape decks and time-base correctors we rely on for accurate, frame-stable video capture.
Our film processing partner for cleaning and stabilizing fragile 8mm and Super 8 reels before scanning.
Supplier of the archival scanners we use for high-resolution print, slide, and negative digitization.
Backup storage and redundancy infrastructure partner, keeping every finished archive mirrored off-site.
For a small handful of tapes and a shoebox of prints — a light first step into digitizing your archive.
¥12,000 one-time
Our most popular package, sized for a typical family collection built up over a few decades.
¥38,000 one-time
For basements, storage units, or multi-generational collections that need a dedicated plan.
Custom quote
Guide
Magnetic tape sheds a small amount of its oxide coating every time it's played, and even more just sitting in a warm closet. Here's what's actually happening inside the cassette, and why some tapes fail with no warning at all.
Guide
A simple system for grouping decades of loose prints by decade and event before a single one reaches a scanner, so your finished archive isn't just fast — it's actually organized.
Guide
One copy is not a backup. Here's the three-copy, two-format, one off-site storage approach we use for every family archive we deliver.
