Digitizing your old VHS tapes, analog film reels, and old photos allows you to preserve your most precious memories and share them on social media, but there are tons of digitizing services to choose from. One of the more popular options is Southtree, but do they provide the best services, prices, and security for your memories?
With over 25 years of experience in this industry, Capture knows what people look for when digitizing their family photos, home videos, and films. We put together this guide to Southtree reviews to help you make the best decision for your memories.
Read on to learn about Southtree and the services they offer, examine Southtree customer feedback, compare their services and claims with major competitors, and learn our own opinion of Southtree, both positive and negative.
Jump to:
- Understanding Southtree’s Offerings
- What Customers Are Saying: Southtree Reviews
- Southtree vs. Competitors
- Capture.com’s Take on Southtree
Understanding Southtree’s Offerings
Southtree is a long-established digitization service with more than a decade of experience converting analog media into digital formats. The brand is part of the same parent company behind Legacybox and Kodak Digitizing Box, which places it among the more recognizable names in the digitization space.
Southtree has over a decade of experience converting analog media into digital formats.
Southtree offers services for a wide range of media types, making it suitable for customers with mixed collections. The formats they accept include:
- Videotapes: VHS, VHS-C, MiniDV, Hi8, Digital8, MicroMV, Betamax, and PAL
- Photos: printed photos, photo slides, and negatives
- Film: 8mm film, Super 8 film, and 16mm film
- Audio: cassette tapes and reel-to-reel recordings
Orders are processed at Southtree’s U.S.-based facility, and each kit includes barcode labels to help track items as they move through the digitization process. Customers receive order status updates and have their original media returned after processing.
Once digitization is complete, customers choose how they want to receive their files. Available delivery options typically include digital download, USB drive, or DVD. At least one output format is required per order, and additional copies add to the total cost.
Southtree presents itself as a straightforward option for converting a broad range of analog formats. As with any digitization service, reviewing customer feedback on quality, turnaround time, and overall cost is the best way to decide whether it aligns with your expectations for preserving family memories.
What Customers Are Saying: Southtree Reviews
Southtree has been around for years, so reviews show up in several places. However, each platform tells a different story. So, it helps to check them one at a time.
Better Business Bureau: 1.05/5
The Better Business Bureau lists Southtree as an accredited business with an A rating, but its customer review score tells a more mixed story. BBB reviews show a 1.05 out of 5 rating based on around 40 customer reviews, with recurring complaints centered on quality issues, billing concerns, and customer support experiences.
Some reviewers complain about results, not just delays. One BBB reviewer sums it up as “HORRIBLE quality, long turn around.” Another wrote, “Flash Drives empty!” and said support refused a fix without originals.
Billing shows up a lot, too, especially around cloud access. One reviewer said they got placed into a monthly subscription they “did not even want.” That matters if you expect a one-time purchase and move on.
SiteJabber: 2.8/5
SiteJabber paints a tougher picture overall. It shows 2.8 stars from 381 reviews. So, that score suggests frustration for many buyers.
One review calls out the “Full Resolution… with no quality loss” claim. They say their HD MiniDV came back as 4:3 at 480p. They also say support pointed to a help article about limits.
Another reviewer describes an expired kit and no replies. They expected a paid reactivation but got long waits. Southtree’s blog says the UPS return label expires after one year, and reactivation can cost a small fee.
To be fair, some reviewers mention refunds later and raise their score. They still want better checks before transfers. So, the theme stays the same: quality and response time decide the experience.
Delays appear across multiple review platforms, not just one, so if this is a gift for Grandpa or Grandma, it helps to plan for extra time. Still, several recurring concerns can outweigh the benefits Southtree offers for some customers.
If you decide Southtree is not the right fit for digitizing home movies, photos, and film reels, it’s worth looking at other services that may better match your priorities.
Southtree reviews vary widely depending on the platform.
Southtree vs. Competitors
When comparing Southtree versus other digitization services, it’s a good idea to look at some of the most important factors like turnaround time, price, security, and services.
Starting with turnaround time, Southtree claims that they complete orders within 10 to 12 weeks. Southtree reviews often mention even longer wait times, but 10-12 weeks is close to the industry standard and similar to LegacyBox.
However, if you look at the turnaround time between Southtree vs iMemories vs ScanCafe vs Capture, you’ll see that Southtree is the slowest, with Capture and iMemories being the fastest at around 3-4 weeks.
Price
When it comes to price, Southtree’s base rates can appear competitive at first, especially during frequent promotions. Their standard pricing typically starts around $15 per videotape, $0.25 per photo, and about $25 per film reel, with similar base pricing for audio items. These prices are often discounted through sales, which lowers the advertised cost.
However, every order requires a paid output format, which adds to the total. Digital downloads, USB drives, or DVDs generally cost $9.99 each, and at least one is mandatory. In addition, shipping fees apply for sending originals back to the customer, which further increases the final price. Southtree also uses preset quantity packages rather than letting customers select an exact number of items, meaning someone with three tapes may have to pay for a larger tier. As a result, while the base prices look reasonable, required output fees, shipping costs, and package constraints can make the overall order more expensive than expected.
Tracking and security
In terms of tracking and security, Southtree provides barcode labeling and status updates throughout processing. Some competitors take this further with additional tracking methods or more transparent handling systems. For example, ScanCafe mentions item weight tracking, and Capture emphasizes a more detailed tracking and security approach.
Southtree also supports reel-to-reel and audio cassette digitization, which not all competitors offer. Still, pricing details and required add-ons are sometimes buried in checkout or deeper pricing pages rather than presented upfront, which can be confusing for new customers.
In summary, Southtree delivers solid, established services with broad format coverage and reasonable pricing. Still, it may not be the fastest option, and output fees and pricing transparency are areas where comparison shopping is especially worthwhile before placing an order.
Southtree can deliver good results, but reviews raise consistency concerns.
Capture.com’s Take on Southtree
From what we’ve seen, Southtree does produce good quality results when they convert photos to digital, transfer home movies, or digitize old film reels, but customer reviews and how they stack up with competitors like Capture or ScanCafe make it hard to trust them. Not only that, but there are much better services available for a similar price.
Unlike Southtree, which offers a 10-12-week turnaround time, Capture will finalize your order and upload it to your included MemoryCloud storage within 30 days. Plus, our multi-million-dollar tracking and security system is the best in the business.
Additionally, while Southtree offers standard photo scanning services, Capture offers the first touchless photo album scanning, which means we can create digital images without touching any of the photos in your photo albums or books. Finally, we offer a satisfaction guarantee, so if you don’t like the outcome of your order, we will reprocess it for free.
Choosing the Right Digitizing Service
Southtree digitizing has been around for more than 10 years, with services that turn your analog memories into digital files. While their services sound great, Southtree ratings and complaints should make you think twice about using their service. That way, you can avoid common Southtree complaints like excessive turnaround times, unexpected charges, or blurry results.
