Pricing - Rates and Fees

PRICING SUMMARY

If you want no explanation and simply want to know the prices without further explanation, here they are...but for more detailed explanations, please feel free to continue to scroll further down the page.

Hourly rates:

$75 per hour for "human" time - actions requiring 100% of a person's time, attention and skill

(e.g. scanning/digitizing, cleaning, repairing, creating, editing, etc)

$40 per hour for automated "machine" time - partially- or fully-automated processes

(e.g., digitizing videotapes and/or audio tapes, encoding, rendering, etc)

Flat rates:

40 cents per linear foot (digitizing home movie film - 8mm or 16mm sizes)

AND NOW FOR A MORE DETAILED EXPLANATION, PLEASE READ BELOW:

In order to remain fair in our pricing, we have different prices for different tasks...to us that just makes sense.  Where some other services have only one rate and they apply that rate to everything that they do for you, regardless of what the specific task may be, we at FSA Digital Services recognize that not all services are the same, and so we have established different tiers/levels of service to help save you money.  By reducing our rates for some tasks (see "machine time" versus "human time" explanations, at the bottom of this page) and by pro-rating our charges down to the individual minute instead of rounding up to the nearest quarter-hour, we find that this helps to control your costs and keep our prices reasonable.

There are:

1) Hourly rates;

2) Flat rates;

3) Variable Costs.

We are happy to perform ANY and ALL services that you request, and we pride ourselves on the unparalleled diversity of the products and services that we can offer, but in the interest of full disclosure we want to offer you the most specific disclosure of prices that we can.  We also understand that the processes and steps involving in getting your project completed can potentially be a bit confusing, so please know that WE ARE HERE TO HELP.  If anything in our pricing structure is unclear to you in any way, please contact us for clarification PRIOR to having that service performed...we will happily explain anything that we can.

SECTION 1: HOURLY RATES

$75 per hour (pro-rated by the minute) - this is for "Human Time" (when a person is dedicating 100% of their time, attention and creative effort to actively working directly on your project).   Examples include :

1) Scanning (of all types of your items - picture prints, negatives, papers, glass, metal, etc);

2) Editing of all types of materials - audio, video, images, etc and can include video and audio editing as well as Photoshop image work including cropping, color correction, repair/restoration, etc);

3) Authoring/Creating (for all types of specialized creations, including specialized videos, audios, images, documents/files, etc); and

4) Physical Item Cleaning and/or Repair (motion picture films, photographic negatives, etc -- this process is done by hand due to the sometimes-fragile nature of the items).

$40 per hour (pro-rated by the minute) - this is for "Machine Time" (here you are basically renting time on the equipment, similar to when you take your car to the mechanic; it is considerably less than "human" time because it is at least partially automated and therefore requires less direct supervision and human input).  Examples include:

1) Videotape transfers of recorded footage, regardless of format; with a $20 minimum;

2) Audio transfers of any standard format (e.g., reel tapes, Compact Cassette and Microcassette tapes, record albums, etc) with a $20.00 minimum;

3) Encoding (the process of converting digital video files from one standard digital video format into another) or otherwise processing project files; and

4) Digitizing (in specific circumstances, etc).

SECTION 2: FLAT RATES

$30 per hour (pro-rated by the minute)

Transfer fee from master files to your devices (e.g., flash drives, hard drives, etc); $25 minimum when applicable.

$0.40 per linear foot

Motion picture film ("regular" 8mm, "Super8" 8mm, and 16mm, silent or with sound).

SECTION 3: VARIABLE COSTS

INDIVIDUAL ITEMS AND STORAGE HARDWARE

Once we get your project(s) done, then we can take care of short-term sharing and long-term archival storage for you.  Some of our most commonly-requested storage items are:

1) Storage discs;
2) Hard drives;
3) Flash drives;

4) Various storage containers; and
5) Other items purchased as required to complete your project(s).

A WORD ON INDIVIDUAL ITEMS AND STORAGE HARDWARE

1) Prices on the individual items and storage hardware (above) are not listed here because they will vary based upon a number of factors, including:

1) Storage size capacity;

2) Brand name;

3) Market availability; and

4) Your specific requirements (specific brands, sizes, options, etc).

Item prices will always be shared with and approved by you prior to any purchases on your behalf.

A FEW QUICK WORDS REGARDING VIDEOTAPE TRANSFERS
1) We do NOT charge you flat fees "per videocassette" but instead add together the runtimes on ALL the tapes that you submit to us, after we have precisely determined how much actual footage is on the tapes themselves, and we can therefore save you money versus charging you "per tape";

2) We cannot offer you any sort of cost estimate on any videotape without either you or us knowing how much video is on the tape(s) because the cost is based upon the runtime of the video.  For example, a random videotape might only have ten minutes of it, or it might be up to six hours...we won't know until we look, and that look by us is at NO COST to you.  We'll tell you the amount of footage and then YOU decide what you want to do.  But until we get to that point, we cannot offer you a dollar estimate; and

3) Our efforts to precisely and properly document your videotapes and their contents may, depending upon the number of tapes and the level of detail that you want preserved, involve building you a customized spreadsheet showing you the details of each tape (type, size, total runtime, title and note details as provided by you, etc) so that you do not have to physically dig out the videotapes themselves in the future to know what is on them, or how long they run, etc.  You will be provided with both a physical and electronic copy of this spreadsheet with your completed order.

A WORD REGARDING STANDARD PRICING

Some services have a standard price because there is largely only one way to perform it, while other services allow the customer more flexibility in the type of final product, because we custom-build our methods and services around your specific requests and needs.  In these cases, we find that it is simpler and more cost-effective to our customers to simply charge an hourly rate and that encompasses everything that we can do for you in that period of time.

Pricing Terms - Explained

"Machine" Time versus "Human" Time: The Differences