Audio Video Workshop — Local services in Redwood City

The short version: Scott converted 13 slides to digital files within a few days (even more quickly than he'd promised) and was friendly throughout. I've removed two stars for his repeated attempts to charge me $19 extra for a $3–4 thumb drive that I didn't need. Be sure you provide your own thumb drive to avoid getting hugely over-charged for one provided by A/V Workshop!

The long version: I brought my own (1GB and 16GB) into the store when I dropped off my slides, and Scott told me that the 1GB version would suffice—but then when my files were ready, he tried to charge me $19 extra for a bigger thumb drive. I pointed out that I'd provided a thumb drive that he'd said would be big enough, and Scott replied that mine was too small (even though he'd said it would be fine).

To solve this problem, I offered to bring in my 16GB version instead of paying for another one (which retail for like $3–4 each, not $19). Scott didn't reply to that offer, and when I came in and reiterated the offer, he said that I'd have to wait an hour for him to transfer the files.

I said I'd be happy to do so myself on my laptop, and he warned me that it would take 25–30 minutes. I told him I was fine with that, so he gave me the thumb drive with my files on them and was shocked to see that the whole set was only about 775MB! That's PLENTY small enough to have fit on my 1GB thumb drive, and the transfer process took less than 60 seconds to complete on my tired old 2012 laptop—not the 25-30 minutes Scott had claimed...

AV Workshop did a wonderful job- I called Scott to ask questions and go over details before I mailed off my film to him, since I was pretty nervous about doing so, and he walked me through it no problem. My footage was a single 8mm reel, specific contents unknown, that had been sitting in a metal Lipton's Tea container for probably close to a century. I wrote this thank you note to Scott: I received my flash drive and the returned reel of 8mm old family film of Lake Tahoe yesterday. Thank you SO much! You did a great job and I also appreciate how quickly you got it back to me. It will be treasured by my family. (Never saw my grandmother smile or laugh before! And take a drag off a cigarette! Never knew that my dad was so sinewy and outdoorsy as a youth!). It also provides unique, valuable footage that will be incorporated into a video celebrating our Tahoe community's Centennial this summer. So thanks again, just wanted to let you know how meaningful...

My siblings and I wanted to surprise our parents with a meaningful gift this year. We decided to put our home videos on a hard drive for them. Little did I know how incredible of a gift this would be for the entire family. Thanks to Audio Video Workshop for helping us preserve our childhood memories. My family deeply felt such a connection to the past with the clear pictures and audible sounds that were transferred over with such care. Scott is so kind and makes sure tapes are returned as they were originally with new organized files on a hard drive to share with the entire family. It’s the best gift we’ve ever gotten and given to all our loved ones. Wish I had done it sooner but so grateful to have it now. Five stars for this...