DVD Your Memories - Home Movie Transfer » film to dvd

8mm to DVD, Premium Film to DVD Transfer

Chris — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:40:57 +0000

Throughout the years, millions of families have been capturing their memories and lives with hopes of preserving them for future generations. As most of us are aware, these older media types will not stand the test of time and last forever. Luckily, technology has progressed to the point where near complete restoration is possible on much of the older media people may have. With new advancements in digital video editing, whole new digital masterpieces can be created which could incorporate any combination of film, video, images, audio.

During the 80s and 90s, many people opted to have their 8mm and 16mm film transferred to VHS or S-VHS tapes. Due to the nature of VHS tapes, and the material it’s composed of, the data on these tapes will not last forever, and often the original film will outlast magnetic forms of media such as VHS tapes. When it comes to precious memories such as your families archive of 8mm film, or 16mm film, you now have the option to digitally transfer these home movies to archival quality DVDs, or put them onto an external hard drive.

Over the years, film such as 8mm or 16mm will color-shift generally to either blue, purple, or magenta, depending on the material of the film. With the premium film transfer, you can have your film completely restored to it’s original colors, and make sure that your under and over-exposed scenes are corrected in real time. Take a look below for a couple of examples of some restoration work on some of our film to DVD transfers.

Here is one example of an 8mm film transfer, taken from an amusement park. The screen has been split to show the original colors on the left, and the restored film on the right. As you can see the film had been heavily color-shifted to red/magenta.

Here is another example of a film transfer with heavy color degradation and blue color-shifting.

As you can see, the restoration process can make a huge difference in the end product of your film to DVD transfers. We perform these types of transfers and restorations on a daily basis in our San Diego and Irvine office’s and countless people have been amazed at the stunning quality of their DVD movies.

Film Transfer to DVD – Ways to Preserve Your 8mm Film

Chris — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:40:02 +0000

Years ago, the process of capturing important memories on film often meant a time-consuming and expensive process. In addition to using heavy, awkward equipment, you had to then get the film developed at a facility, and then, most of the time, you had to splice everything together onto a larger reel for continuity. On top of all this, it was also a challenge to store all of the media, while keeping in mind the potential hazards such as moisture or heat can pose to your film. Having an old box of film in your attic is one of those “out of sight, out of mind” kind of situations, where people simply don’t think about it until it’s too late. Over the years, people have slowly begun to realize that their film is not going to last forever. Unbeknowst to countless people worldwide, their precious film is suffering from severe degradation at this very second, and before long will be destroyed without them ever knowing about it. Even today, thousands of people across the country are still holding onto boxes and boxes of old reels that could benefit highly from a service such as an 8mm film to DVD transfer in Orange County.

Transferring 8mm film to dvd or hard drive is currently the best way to preserve your film, and to stop the degradation dead in it’s tracks. Typically, film transfer services will capture each individual frame directly into the lens of a broadcast quality 3-CCD camera, and then specialized software will interpolate these individual frames into a movie and remove the flickering effect, in what’s called a “frame-by-frame” film transfer process. Frame-by-frame film transfer will provide you with the highest quality film to dvd in transfer in San Diego available, often looking much better than when shown on a projector. In addition to having a smooth, seamless capture, you can now perform color enhancements and restoration or editing with video editing software, if needed. When comparing film transfer companies, be sure to always ask about the method of transfer. There are still some companies who will project your film onto a white wall or screen and simply record the image with a camcorder. The quality of this method comes nowhere close the that of a telecine transfer descibed above.

It’s often wise to have a specialized film transfer company handle the transfer of your old film. Quality telecine transfer units typically costs thousands of dollars, and for most consumers, it just isn’t worth the cost to transfer a couple thousand feet of film. However, if you do plan on transferring your film yourself, a cheaper alternative would be to project the film onto a high quality screen, and record it using a quality digital camcorder such as Digital8, MiniDV, or a Hard Drive camcorder. Just know that the results of this method simply do not compare to the quality of a frame-by-frame premium film transfer.

Here at DVD Your Memories, we use a unique retrofitted projector with a built-in manually adjustable brightness controller to adjust over and under-exposed scenes in real-time, which can provide the highest quality film to dvd in San Diego.

Next time you’re going through the old attic or closet, please keep note of the box of family memories on film in the corner, as it simply won’t be there forever!

Top Ten Reasons To Get Your Media Transferred Sooner Rather Than Later

Chris — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:19:15 +0000

10. Ease
With the advancement of technology at the consumer-level, it’s now cheaper and easier than ever to get your old video tapes converted to DVD, photos scanned, and film digitized. Nearly all work is now captured directly into a computer’s hard drive, which allows for relatively easy manipulation of your video, images and audio with no quality loss from the original. You can now think about adding chapter markers and interactive menu screens for your kid’s birthday parties instead of sifting through 2 hours of raw footage.

9. Production and Editing
With advancements in technology propelling us to the ‘digital era’, producing quality media from the comfort of your own home or office is now a reality. Once your media is digitized, nearly anything is possible from putting together a new scrapbook, creating a graduation slideshow for your children, or even a new commercial for your business. People no longer have to pay outrageous production fees in order to create a viable video for them.

8. Celebrating a Special Event
Do you have a special event planned in the near future? Would you like to create a San Diego custom slideshow or video montage to incorporate into an event? For the next party or get-together, instead of dusting off the old slide projector, you can show off your fully-edited custom slideshow movie for everyone to enjoy. This is a great way to show off you latest product or idea, while getting everyone in attendance involved.

7. Portability
The newer they are, the smaller they get. This can apply to most media throughout history. Just think about how much easier it would be to do a little bit of 35mm slide scanning, and condense your 35 carousels of slides into a single disc. With video, for instance, VHS tapes were the standard for several years until laser discs and DVDs hit the market. As many people know, the more VHS tapes you owned, the more storage space you needed to allocate to them. When digitized however, you can save a remarkable amount of space. Instead of holding onto hundreds of old VHS tapes, you transfer them to some easy to maintain DVDs or even to hard drive to save more space.

6. Entertainment
Reflecting on past events can be entertaining as well! It’s always a treat to catch a glimpse of your vacation from years ago, and re-live the time you spent there. This is also great for family get-togethers or parties especially if multiple people attending are featured on the video! If you decide to go with a video transfer to hard drive, you can do some simple or advanced editing to create a new video for everyone to enjoy.

5. Reconnecting With Lost Friends
15 Years ago, you and your friend may have taken a video camera on that awesome trip to Europe. As time goes on, people change locations, and connections are missed or often lost. Without watching that video today, you may never ask yourself, what happened to this person? Where can I find them? Not only is it much easier these days to transfer your media, it’s also become much easier to find and locate people! Sometimes a little reminder is all you need.

4. Family Time
Everyone has busy schedules with school, work, football practice, church, etc. and often, time spent with your own family is overlooked. Once your media is digitized, it provides a great opportunity to spend and share time with family or close friends. People can relate to what they’re watching and can spark up some interesting discussions of the past, and connect with new friends.

3. Technology Changing
Technology is constantly evolving into “smaller” and better things. A closet full of old videos can now be placed onto a plastic drive the size of your thumb and your desk drawer full of photos can now be replaced with archival-grade DVDs. Now that most of the older formats are obsolete and often difficult to see or watch, it’s best to get them digitized sooner than later. As time drags on, it will only start to get more difficult to obtain the equipment needed to perform the video transfer, or image scanning that is right for you.

2. Degradation and Deterioration
During the 80′s and 90′s, most of us were under the assumption that our precious memories stored onto magnetic tape would be safe forever. Recently, however, more and more people are realizing that this is simply not the case. Magnetic tape is great for short term play back of our fondest memories, or to relive a historic event. Video tapes deteriorate every year even if you don’t view them. Your precious memories painstakingly caught on tape WILL someday be unplayable. Most VHS tapes, with proper care, can last up to 20 years with only minor degradation issues. However, since VHS tapes have been obsolete for nearly 10 years now, the timeline is running thin! If you want these images to last, it’s best to get the VHS transfer to DVD done now, before it’s too late. DVDs can last you hundreds of years with absolutely no degradation, as the laser never makes direct contact with the disc itself. I’ve seen where people have, unfortunately, waited a bit too long to get their tapes transferred, and as a result they’re left with a fraction of what they once had.

1. Archiving/Preservation
Archiving your family’s media should always be in the back of your mind. Older media types, such as slides and video tapes, were never designed or meant to last forever. It has now become much easier to archive your tapes and images by simply capturing them to a hard drive or DVD. While most consumer DVDs typically last anywhere from 5-10 years, there are a few high-grade brands that will last you 100 or more years with proper care. Virtually all recordings from the last 40 years are in jeopardy, whether it be unique mastered audio recordings or news broadcasts. No tape is safe from the multiple threats that range from physical loss due to disaster, accidental erasure, or the increasing disappearance of equipment needed to play them back. Realistically, most of the inventory of tapes are duplicates of other materials, but many others are originals, masters, or unique content that cannot be easily duplicated. The amount of tapes needed to be restored is so huge, that it would take decades, even if facilities, techniques, and funding were readily available.

If you have any questions regarding the media transfer service, give us an email: info@dvdyourmemories.com