DAC VIDEO in Santa Barbara: End of an Era
Oh John, we are sorry to see you had to close your doors.
DAC Video was an institution. During my "Brooks Institute" years in the mid-90's, they were known as the 'go-to place' for media transfers and any sort of video help.
John S. ran DAC Video of Santa Barbara [https://www.dacvideo.com] for the past 19 years; he was known in Santa Barbara for his professional work in tape, film, and audio transfer. Whenever we at FilmFix encountered a media format that we could not transfer, we'd refer that customer to DAC Video, and occasionally, he would send customers our way.
It is sad to see DAC go, but it's a clear sign of the times. These old video tapes have become more finicky and problematic to transfer. Aged plastics are temperamental. They shrink as they degrade, and then the tapes sometimes require multiple runs in order to achieve, hopefully, a better transfer. This causes us to lose money finishing up a job. It's likely why less and less companies will even take on tape transfers, as a service they offer.
Adding to the aging tape issue, is the equipment. They don't make the transfer units anymore. So now we're all working with aging equipment. One day it will be no more, so it's best to get your tapes digitized now!
We want to thank John for all these many years and wish him well as he returns to the medical field.