Is it legal to duplicate a bought VHS tape?

Factual Questions
1

Here is the scenario:

My folks have taken a 2 month Vacation to New Zealand to visit some freinds. I received a fax from them the other day. They would like to know if I could buy a VHS movie and get it copied to their TV format (They use PAL, don’t they?) It is not available to purchase in PAL format, yet… and won’t be for some time, supposedly.

I know some photo stores offer this service, but since it would amount to duplicating a purchased, copywrited tape, would any legit one even do it for me?

2

Probably not.

If you buy a tape, convert it, send your friends the copy, and keep the original, that’s copyright violation.

If you buy a tape, convert it, send your friends the copy and the original, that is, IMHO, fair use and possibly legal, but a shop still may refuse to copy material that is copyrighted.