Legacybox vs. Forever Studios: Better Alternative to Legacybox
Are you looking for a reliable way to digitize your old photos, get old media like VHS tapes & camcorder tapes digitized, and restore old photos that have been damaged by time?
As you can tell if you have been doing your research on google or asking friends and family, there are a number of home movie digitization services with reputations for getting the job done in this regard. And though the product offerings from each of these companies may appear to be similar, if you look a little closer and are concerned with the quality, speed and customer service, then it's worth it to compare the well known LegacyBox vs Forever Studios.
Which company gets you the results you need, for the most fair price, and can be counted on to do your priceless family memories justice?
Most people looking for a provider for digitization of their old media have knowledge of one mainstream brand in LegacyBox. They were an early market leader in this space, and they have definitely spent the most money on advertising in the last 5 to 7 years. So this begs the question: Is their mindshare in this market the result of providing consistently good work, or is it the result of spending more money on advertising?
Both LegacyBox and us here at Forever Studios offer VHS to DVD transfer, photo scanning, tape digitizing, 8mm film digitization, and simple shipping options. On paper, we're offering a very similar experience. But you may be surprised to find that there are more differences between LegacyBox and ourselves than there are similarities.
Affordable High Definition Quality Tape Transfer
Quality of Service and Customer Experience
Let's get the big one out of the way first. Let's say you could expect the same exact product from two companies looking to help with a project like yours. It's probably fair to say that the company with the better reputation for customer service and personal attentiveness wins that match-up.
WHAT IS FOREVER CARE FROM FOREVER STUDIOS?
Plenty of companies look to spend as little money and time on customer service as they are able to get away with. The goal is to minimize the amount of money that needs to be spent on the customer, and the result is a poor experience where (given you can get a hold of someone), the quality of service is going to be "lip service" at best.
That’s not what you should expect from Forever Studios. We're basically obsessed with customer experience. We like to call our package of support resources Forever Care, and it includes a whole host of people you can talk to, help via email, tutorial videos, and you can also track every step of your project at any time with our exclusive tracking options and regular email updates.
Forever Care is a truly exceptional customer experience.
HOW IS LEGACYBOX CUSTOMER SERVICE?
What you should be asking yourself with regards to LegacyBox and customer service is, "where does the marketing money come from?" If it comes at the expense of getting you the customer service you deserve, isn't that indicative of what a company's priorities are?
LegacyBox originally built a reputation for its user-friendly approach and streamlined process. And that reputation was well deserved. But if you are to Google for what people have to say today, it tells a relatively unflattering story. Companies have difficult decisions to make when it comes to how they choose to grow. And if every part of that focus goes into growing the bottom line, you end up with untrained staff that are under a lot of pressure to perform work that they aren't even qualified to do.
Learn more about LegacyBox reviews and testimonials
VHS & Camcorder Tape Transfer Services
Let's talk tapes. The vast majority of people looking for these services are looking to have their original tapes digitized. And if you're one of those people, you're probably concerned with three different factors here. One is the quality of the transfers, two is likely the safe & professional handling of your materials, and three is probably the overall time it takes to get the job done.
WHAT ARE FOREVER STUDIOS CLASSIC & GOLD TRANSFERS?
Forever Studios employs advanced technology and equipment to convert various tape formats, such as VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, MiniDV, Beta, Umatic, DVC Pro, and DV CAM into digital formats.
Tape digitizing is the “bread and butter” of most digitizing companies.
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM CLASSIC TRANSFERS?
The aim of classic transfers is to be the best possible product for an affordable price. Our benchmark for the quality of Classic Transfers was the exact product offerings of LegacyBox and iMemories, but slightly better.
WHAT MAKES GOLD TRANSFERS SPECIAL?
Gold Transfers are simply the best product we can offer at a given point in time. Whatever the latest tools are to improve the quality of a tape transfer, our R&D staff is always working to implement them into our Gold Transfers. Originally introduced in Oct 2023, Forever Studios Gold Transfers are the only mass market option for tape transfers that upscales, de-interlaces, improves frame rates, and uses AI to expand color depth.
HOW GOOD ARE LEGACYBOX TAPE TRANSFERS?
LegacyBox offers the same tape transfer services for VHS, VHS-C, Hi8, Digital8, MicroMV, and Beta formats that Forever Studios does. It could be argued that LegacyBox were the pioneers of this business model, including the concept of the ship kit, which even we would admit is the right way to go about handling tape orders. But that's about the end of the similarities between LegacyBox and Forever Studios.
A LegacyBox ship kit (Photo from the Legacy Box website)
One of the big questions you may have is, "who, exactly, is handling my tapes, and what are the qualifications of the people working on them?" And that's a great question to ask, because it has a huge impact on what you can expect to get back, when you get it back, and whether or not your expectations are met.
In other words, you may pay a similar price per tape with both LegacyBox and Forever Studios, but what you get for that price can be wildly different.
Forever Studios' Digitizing Studio only hires seasoned, dependable professionals. And no matter what skills they come in with, they receive weeks of one on one training with all of the senior staff. Our policy is to never give up on a tape, and deliver the best possible results, no matter how long it takes.
It's this commitment to excellence that allows Forever Studios to have such an efficient production process. While LegacyBox has to store your materials in a separate warehouse for months at a time, waiting for their production team to hit enough quotas from their middle managers, Forever Studios is achieving faster VHS tape digitizing in just 2-3 weeks, vs a 4-6 months turnaround time.
Photo Scanning and Digitizing Services
The same factors that make Forever Studios the superior choice for video tape transfers extend to digitized photos as well. When it comes to digitized memories in general, the quality of equipment, and the degree of care put into the work means everything.
Scan and enhance your photos with Forever Studios.
FOREVER STUDIOS PHOTO & PHOTO ALBUM SCANNING
Forever Studios' photo digitizing service is performed by real professional archivists, using high-resolution photo scanning equipment. Additionally, accurate color reproduction and preservation of details during the digitization process are guaranteed, even with Classic Transfers.
We also offer specific and fair pricing for any type of photos your family has safely stored in boxes. All loose photos? Awesome, you're going to save money on those scans. Photos in albums? Our services include careful hand removal and replacing of photos just as we received them from you.
We also provide great options for organizing and categorizing your digitally scanned photos, making it easy to locate and access specific photographs with a Forever Cloud Membership. The best part? digitizing times are only 2-3 weeks.
Forever Cloud is the best way to view and share your photo memories.
HOW DOES LEGACYBOX PHOTO SCANNING WORK?
LegacyBox offers photo scanning services to convert physical photos into digital formats. While LegacyBox focuses on convenience and simplicity, there isn't much to note about quality or execution. Your materials go in a box, get scanned by a technician of unknown expertise, and make it back to you at some point in the future. Also, please note they only scan loose photos and loose slides. If you have anything odd sized or stored in something they will not accept that as of the time of this writing.
The most annoying thing is the processing times that sometimes reach out past 6 months. If you can wait that long and snag a google LegacyBox groupon deal, maybe it's worth it for you.
8mm & 16mm Film Transfer Services
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT FOREVER STUDIOS’ FILM DIGITIZING?
Forever Studios is a known and trusted specialist in film transfer services, including 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm film formats.
Of course, we use only the best professional-grade equipment to convert movie film reels into high-resolution digital files, ensuring optimal image quality and color reproduction. But the most important thing is that our production staff at our Digitizing Studio is not only trained extensively before ever touching your film, but they are all true enthusiasts. To be honest, they would probably do the work for free. When not here transferring your home movies and photos you can often find them on analog message boards or local salvation army rummaging for old analog equipment.
Expert Forever Studios technicians work hard to give you great results.
We also enhance all film after digitizing to ensure you have the best possible result. You can expect a great upscaled High Definition video and modernized look at your films that will look great on any device.
Most importantly, our technicians manually inspect each film reel, clean or repair them if needed, and perform necessary adjustments for exposure, stabilization, and noise reduction.
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM LEGACYBOX FILM DIGITIZING?
LegacyBox also offers film transfer services for various formats, including 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm films.
The issue is that, like their other services, the end result is probably not going to be anything all that special. First off, they aren't known to offer any improvement or enhancement of your film after transferring. But more importantly, film transfers require a significant level of competency and expertise. You can't just hire someone off the street, and expect them to do a good job with a little bit of training. And we have to wonder why LegacyBox doesn't ever talk about the actual people doing the work.
One other thing, if your films are damaged at all or have sound on them or they even think they don't want to give it a go, they won't. They will send your movie reels back to you.
Simply put, while LegacyBox provides convenience, their level of expertise and attention to detail in 8mm film transfer might not match the specialization and precision offered by Forever Studios. And the level of convenience isn't even all that novel anymore.
Pricing Considerations
FOREVER STUDIOS PRICING TRANSPARENCY
Forever Studios adopts a transparent pricing model, clearly outlining the costs for all services individually and up-front.
Instead of package pricing which obfuscates how much you're paying for each item, you can expect a reasonable price that only decreases as you add more items to your order. Our pricing for Classic Transfers is very specifically meant to undercut LegacyBox while delivering a superior quality product if we're being honest.
The whole concept of our pricing model is to offer a better service than LegacyBox for a similar price, while also offering products that are of significantly better quality for the people who simply do not want to compromise on quality whatsoever.
At the end of the day we do this because we love it, and we think it's very important work.
LEGACYBOX’S…. BOXES
LegacyBox offers several boxed packages based on a set number of materials to be digitized. For example, if you have 15 items you are required to pay for a 20 item box while ordering on their website, which may cause confusion, and frankly, frustration.
Aside from their pricing generally being higher, we just do not like the concept of this work being based around the box. It's just a weird thing to focus on the shipping box instead of the quality of the work. Convenience is great and all, but any company today is going to be able to make something convenient if they're worth your time at all.
And then there's the general lack of responsiveness and accountability. We very specifically choose to do things the way we do to avoid falling into the same pattern that LegacyBox has. If you ask us, it's about the memories themselves, and the people. And so yeah, Forever Studios can get you a box if you would like one, but we care a great deal more about what is inside of it. And we figure you do too.
Which Transfer Service Should You Select?
Forever Studios stands for a few very specific things: quality, dependability & transparency. And we’re confident that no other company is better prepared to deliver on all three. The truth is we have a dedicated team of passionate people who are all family memory history enthusiasts. We genuinely care, and it shows in the amazing results that our customers can’t stop talking about. Explore our digitizing services today, and get ready to relive your memories in amazing new ways.
