Lehi FamilySearch Center

Mary Baum

Very enlightening. I didn't know they had all that stuff.

Tamilisa Miner

Great building and set up for doing family history on a computer kiosk! The missionaries are there to help you... one of the advantages of going in to the center vs home. There are fun interactive kiosks where you can see who you are related to (famous people in history, people around you, people who have recently visited the center, etc.). Also a kiosk where you can find out about what was going on in the world when you were born (or when anyone else was born). And a kiosk that is geological based so you can see where ancestors are from, download family recipes from the region, see stories, etc. There is an audio recording room where you can tell stories and upload them directly to the Family Search website (I doubt you can edit anything though before upload - keep that in mind). Also there is a similar room for video recording. We brought my father-in-law to one of those to have him tell his life story, which will forever be a treasure. As far as the digitizing work that you can do for free there (I am a professional videographer and digitizer so I was most interested in what they offer): besides scanning photos and documents you can transfer audio cassettes (I believe just the standard size and not mini, and there are several computer stations available), 8mm film (one station available), slides (one station), VHS (6 stations... so you could get multiple tapes going at a time if they are not being used), VHS-C (you insert the tape into a case which then converts it into a regular VHS size), Hi-8 (a couple stations available), miniDV (a couple stations). There are 2 scanners you can schedule on their website... a larger one (can do 12x12 pages) and a smaller one. There is a little play area for kids in the back corner... very helpful! Except if you need the large scanner at the front of the building like I do which is a bit too far away from the play area. But it will be helpful to someone! Digitizing audio and video is done in real time. If your VHS tape is 2-hours long, for example, it will take 2 hours long to transfer. Once you have a digital file of the video, you can skip around in it and it is so wonderful! The computers used are PCs and they use a simple video capture software program along with a USB-to-composite video device attached. The output is mp4 (this is a small file, shareable, but not the highest quality - but for home movies perhaps it doesn't matter to you). The final file output is of the entire tape. If you want certain clips to be isolated then you have to edit at home. However, creating files like more mp4s from an mp4 will give you even less quality since mp4 is a "lossy" compression format. In other words you will lose quality every time you save an mp4 from an mp4. So the file you receive from the center is the lowest quality you would want to go. So you would most likely be sharing the entire tape's content if you shared the file (again, unless you edit which would be even worse quality). So plan on sharing an entire tape with friends and family when you come across the extended family and friends moments/events. My point is that the video digitizing offered here is very basic. But at least it would be done! As time goes on and technology changes, it is becoming harder to transfer these old DV formats. Apple has already stopped supporting DV video so the newer computers can't even "see" the cables that are necessary for transfer. Time to get it done if you haven't! The missionaries are there to help. There is info on their website for what to buy to create their basic setup. Also a lot of info on YouTube for specific media types/computer types. Bring your own thumb drives/external drives. Video takes up a lot of space (format drives to exFat in order to use on Mac and PC both... or you may get home and not be able to access your files). There is no way around the fact that digitizing media and doing family history takes time. The best time to start is now and this Center is a great place to begin. You can take a break at the picnic tables outside. 👍🏻😃❤️🥰

Chantilly Jay

I was able to convert VHS tapes to digital. Make an appointment online, bring your own flash drive (I used a 1 TB), bring VHS tapes. Each appointment is 2 hours and 15 minutes. I generally brought 6 VHS tapes. Sometimes I would only digitize 1 other times 4, based on the content. There are other resources but I haven't used those yet. Very helpful staff and it's FREE!

Tanner Broadbent

You don't need to be a Mormon to enter! It's a fun place, lots of activities, and takes a complex topic and easily breaks it down to bite sized pieces so everyone can enjoy and learn from it. 10/10