Create a folder
ComputerIn Drive: “New” → Folder, then drag your files in
PhoneDrive app: “+” → Folder → Upload
Rescue & Restore
Old Video Restoration | Seeing old memories clearly again
Video from VHS, DV tapes, early digital cameras and old phones can be watched properly again on today's screens, after noise reduction, deinterlacing and picture rebuilding.
Interlaced · noisy
Deinterlaced · denoised
Old video looks especially bad on today's screens, and low resolution is not the only reason. Early recording formats used interlaced scanning, which shows up as horizontal jagged edges on modern players; tape ageing brings noise and colour shifts; and if the transfer settings were wrong, the footage was compressed a second time, damaging the picture again.
Most of this can be improved noticeably by dealing with each problem in turn. BoFrame restores old video, tidying old material into a version that is comfortable to watch on current devices.
What restoration involves
- Deinterlacing: removing the horizontal jagged edges and combing that appear when the picture moves
- Noise and grain suppression: reducing tape noise, colour noise and the blockiness caused by compression
- Colour correction: fixing yellowing, colour casts and fading, and bringing skin tones back to something more natural
- Stabilisation: improving handheld shake and the picture judder of tape playback
- Upscaling: enlarging 480i / 576i material to 1080p or 4K, and rebuilding edge detail
- Aspect ratio and letterboxing: reframing when 4:3 material goes to 16:9 or to a vertical output
- Audio sync: fixing the out-of-sync sound that old transfers so often have
How much improvement to expect
Picture restoration is essentially “bringing out detail that noise has buried, and rebuilding edges sensibly”, not making something out of nothing:
- Clearly improved: combing, noise and grain, colour casts, picture judder — nearly all of this can be dealt with effectively.
- Improved only so far: shots that were badly out of focus, blown out or completely black to begin with. If the detail was never recorded, it cannot be recovered.
- Worth stating plainly: upscaling to 4K is not the same as footage shot in 4K. The point of upscaling is to stop the picture looking soft on a large screen, not to obtain new detail.
We test a short section of the material first and show you a before-and-after comparison. Only once you agree that the improvement matches your expectations do we process the whole video.
Common situations we are asked about
- Home video tapes transferred to digital, to be made into a keepsake film that can actually be played
- Old footage of weddings, first birthdays and graduations, to be shown at an event
- Recordings of an older relative, for use at a memorial occasion
- Old promotional or historical footage from a company or institution that needs to be published again
- Video shot on an early phone that is going onto social media or YouTube
About the source material
If what you have is still a physical tape, it needs to be transferred to a digital file before restoration can start; the transfer settings directly affect the final quality, so we suggest capturing to a low-compression format. If you already have a digital file, please send us the version straight from the transfer, not compressed again — files sent through messaging apps are usually heavily compressed, which leaves far less room to work with.
Send Files
How to send us your files
Put the files on Google Drive and share the folder with us — we can only tell what is possible once we have looked at them. Assessment is free.
Turn on sharing
ComputerRight-click the folder → “Share” → “Anyone with the link”
PhoneHold the folder → “⋮” → Manage access → “Anyone with the link”
Send us the link
ComputerClick “Copy link”, paste it into an email or LINE
PhoneTap “Copy link”, paste it into LINE
Tell us what is wrong
One line is enough: will not open, noisy, volume jumps around…
Knowing the symptom lets us give you a more accurate assessment
Not sure how? Just message us on LINE and we will walk you through it.
Process
The repair process
Every file is damaged differently, so the process starts with looking at it — not with a price.
Send the files
Upload the original files to Google Drive and share the folder link with us. Please send files that have not been through any other software — repair works best that way.
A real assessment
We open the file and actually listen to it and watch it, work out what caused the damage, and how far it can be improved. Every file is different, and this step cannot be guessed at from experience. The assessment stage is free.
Report and quote
We tell you what we found and how much improvement you can expect, and send a quote for you to decide on. If we judge that it cannot be handled, we will say so directly rather than take the job on regardless.
Payment, then work begins
We start work once the quote is agreed and payment is complete. When it is finished we deliver the files through Google Drive, along with a before-and-after comparison for you to check.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can you transfer my tapes into digital files?
Transferring physical tapes needs the matching playback equipment; we assess this case by case depending on the tape format, or help you find a suitable transfer service. If you already have a digital file, we can go straight into the restoration process.
Can it be restored to 4K?
We can output 4K, but it is worth understanding that this is “enlarging and rebuilding edges”, not obtaining detail that was never recorded. In practice, most old material actually looks more natural output at 1080p, and we will recommend an output spec that suits your footage.
How long does one video take?
Picture restoration is calculated frame by frame, so the time is proportional to the length of the video. Short films usually take a few working days; anything over an hour takes considerably longer, and we set out the timeline together with the quote.
Can you restore just one section?
Yes. If only a particular section is going into a keepsake film or an event screening, working on a specified range is usually the more sensible approach, and it costs less.
What if the video has sound problems as well?
We can handle both together. Tape noise, volume that is too low and out-of-sync audio are all common with old video, and can all be repaired within the same project.
Will I be able to see the difference?
Yes. We do a short test section first and provide a before-and-after comparison; we only work through the whole video once you agree it matches your expectations.
Want us to take a look at a file first?
Upload the original to Google Drive and send us the folder link. We will assess it and tell you how much it can realistically be improved.