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Home Movies to DVD


JimBartell

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My recent foray amongst my relations yielded a new task on my platter. My family dumped a bag full of 8mm home movies in my lap and directed me to "use my contacts in the movie business" to get them transferred to DVD.

 

Well, I'm afraid you folks are the aforementioned "contacts".

 

I've Googled the appropriate sources and found dozens of sites that are willing to relieve me of some hard earned BFD profits in exchange for preserving the embarrassing moments of my childhood in eternal digital format.

 

If anyone has any "go here they're great" or "stay away from these guys" type advice I'd be grateful.

 

Jim "anticipating the laughter of my wife and friends already" Bartell

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http://cgi.ebay.com/Goko-Telecine-Player-T...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

buy it , use it, then sell it and probably get all of your money back out of it....

 

(just one way....)

 

Thanks David, but this leaves out the whole "video capture and DVD burning" part of the process. Also, I did a little research and many of the transfer houses brag about the fact they DON'T uses Goko telecines.

 

Again, thanks anyway, but I'd rather leave it to the professionals. I'd just like a heads up on who to use/avoid.

 

Jim "I wouldn't pull my own focus either" Bartell

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Jim, coincidentally I've been looking into this also, for my parents home movies. My intention was to get them xferred to HDV to make them sort of future-proof (at least for the time being), and this was the only place I could find that is accomodating that at the present:

 

http://www.videoconversionexperts.com/Film...DVD/default.htm

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Jim, coincidentally I've been looking into this also, for my parents home movies. My intention was to get them xferred to HDV to make them sort of future-proof (at least for the time being), and this was the only place I could find that is accomodating that at the present:

 

http://www.videoconversionexperts.com/Film...DVD/default.htm

 

 

from the website

********************************************************************************

Video Conversion Experts can now not only transfer your fragile 8mm, Super8 or 16mm film to durable, easy-to-use DVD

********************************************************************************

 

and now my translation

 

Video Conversion Experts can now not only transfer your fragile 8mm, Super8 or 16mm film (that has been in your family's possession for decades) to durable, easy-to-use DVD (that will be outdated in 2 years and can scratch)

 

 

Having said that, it is best to get it converted and DVD is probably the best option at this point. I'm mostly kidding but it is kinda funny, just make sure to make copies and keep a master far from the family.

 

Joshua Harrison

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No Joshua, that's a great point and certainly is worth discussing--the reason I was looking at that company is that unlike many, they don't just offer DVD which has the potential longevity issues you described plus is compressed more than would be desirable for a master. Apparently many folks prefer DVD as a medium because they don't have access to anything better so all transfer houses offer this; these guys in particular also offer MiniDV, Digital 8 etc. which is less compressed, and at their Platinum level, HDV tapes which do offer a more future-proof solution with the technology available today (which is what I'm looking at). I've' got an HDV-originated project coming up so one way or another I'll be ready for that pipeline into my edit system.

Edited by CharlesPapert
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A small caution:

Be sure to find out what flavor of "HDV" they provide.

 

HDV has some, what I would call "issues", with compatibilty, and therefore also longevity.

Basically non of the "HDV" formats in use are compatible between themselves. The Sony, JVC ('ProHD') and Canon HDV cameras all record to slightly different variations of the format - and non are directly compatible with each other.

 

As a result, I personally for would certainly not call HDV "future-proof" ...it apears to be having enough trouble beeing "present-proof" right now.

 

Quality asside, I think that the most future proof format at this time is DV.. with a copy on MiniDV tape, and another on a computer hard drive.

8mm film is often compared to standard DV in terms of quality.. I doubt you would gain much in terms of resolution by going HD(V) with it (though it would cost you other factors in quality as HDV is of course highly compressed).

 

Just something to be warey of.

 

- Mikko

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Mikko:

 

Certainly HDV as a format is a sticky one but I still think that to go through the bother and expense of a good telecine process for possibly the last time with those film masters and not utilize the higher resolution of HD right now seems like a waste. My thought would be that within a couple of years, the whole HD thing will have settled down to some degree but it's unlikely that a, say, Sony standard HDV tape will not be easily transferable to whatever form of storage we will be using then--but an SD DV tape will always be half the resolution. As for the compression, I would be curious if HDV would have a hard time with the grain, although these folks seem to have a pretty serious grain reduction process. I wasn't a fan of what I read about HDV until I shot it, and didn't see any compression issues in my footage. I'm not denying that they can occur, however.

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Yeah, I agree with your coments.

 

I'v also shot quite a bit of HDV.. and never had any trouble with it *nocks on wood* I'v heard the dropouts can be prety narly - be sure ot dub onto 2 tapes (at least the tapes are cheap).

 

Just pointing out the risks <_<

 

- Mikko

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