The site offers an easy way of digitizing old analogue videos and hosting them online

Aug 12, 2009 14:26 GMT  ·  By
Pixorial offers an easy way of digitizing old analogue videos and hosting them online
   Pixorial offers an easy way of digitizing old analogue videos and hosting them online

With all the focus on YouTube, camera phones and digital videos in general, it's easy to forget about the good old days of the VHS tapes. But, while there are dozens of ways of converting them to a digital format, many less tech-savvy users are put off by the do-it-yourself methods and even by the commercial services catering to the market. Now Pixorial wants to offer an easy way of converting the old videos and sharing them online all within one product.

The second part of the service, the online video sharing, is pretty straightforward. Users upload their videos directly to the site but, used just as video sharing site, Pixorial doesn't make for a compelling product. Videos can be uploaded and hosted for free but the site has a 10 GB total storage limit and some files, the ones digitized by the service, expire and are taken offline after 60 days on free accounts. In a world where YouTube and countless other sites offer unlimited storage and straightforward tools to upload and share the videos, Pixorial wouldn't make a lot of sense. There is also the online editor, which offers a set of tools for fixing up and editing the videos, and which is an interesting addition, but it doesn't make up for the disadvantages.

However, the main draw of the service is the possibility to bring new life to the old videos you may have even forgot you owned and which gather dust now that hardly anyone owns a VHS player anymore. Users can send their old videos through UPS and Pixorial accepts VHS, VHS-C, Digital8, Hi8, Betamax, miniDV, 8mm, and Super 8 films with or without sound but also DVDs and memory cards. Users pay a fee depending on the media format and the length of the video and the originals can be sent back to them or recycled.

The digitized videos are then made available online in the users' account so they can edit and share them with their friends. A DVD copy can be sent back to them for $10 and there is also the possibility to download a high-resolution version of the video to their computer for $0.99. The service also comes with a premium account, which offers unlimited storage, no ads and no expiry date on the videos.

UPDATE: The 60 days limit on free accounts is just for the files digitized by the service not for the ones uploaded.