8mm Forum: Converting 8mm film to DVD format ?

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Topic: Converting 8mm film to DVD format ?

Richard Ebner
Junior
Posts: 6
From: Mesa, AZ 85207
Registered: Mar 2012

posted March 05, 2012 02:57 PM

I have a bunch of old 8mmm and super 8 mm film that I want to digitize and share copies with my family.

What are the best methods for making the conversion and what is the cost to make the conversion? I think my preference is to have a service do the digitizing rather than buy the equipment to do it myself( It would probably never get it done). Does anyone out there have a suggested service that they can recommend or suggest?
I have tried Costco' service on about 150 ft( 3 rolls) for a cost of about 18$. However , the DVD I got back from Costco was locked and I could not edit the DVD nor make copies. So, I am looking for something more user friendly.
I am using an iMAC running Snow Leopard .

Thx for what ever suggestions you might have to offer.
Regards, Richard Ebner

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Janice Glesser
Film Goddess

Posts: 3468
From: Sunnyvale, CA USA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted March 05, 2012 04:30 PM

Richard...I don't have any specific transfer service to recommend since I do my own transfers...however for the best quality choose a vendor that does it with a frame-by-frame system opposed to a realtime time projection system. In addition to having DVDs made, have the original files transferred to a hard drive for archiving or future editing. You will be preserving the images at a higher quality since standard DVDs are a compressed format....not the highest quality.

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Janice

"I'm having a very good day!"
Richard Dreyfuss - Let It Ride (1989).

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Bryan Chernick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 654
From: Bothell, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2010

posted March 05, 2012 04:31 PM

I looked into Costco to transfer 8mm film and found that they are inexpensive ($0.11 per foot) but you get what you pay for. I heard bad things about the quality of their transfers on another forum. A good HD transfer can cost around $0.35 per foot.

You may want to contact Roger at Movie Stuff, they build high quality transfer equipment and do transfers. If they can't do it for you they should be able to recommend someone.

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Joe Taffis
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1592
From: United States
Registered: Jun 2003

posted March 05, 2012 04:57 PM

I can recommend INTEGRATED IMAGING in Wyoming. They have all the info on their website. They did some transfer work for me and I was very pleased with the quality.

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Joe Taffis

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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006

posted March 05, 2012 05:39 PM

I have had wonderful (and affordable) results with this gentleman from Northern Virginia. His name is Tom Houston and he uses the Workprinter XP setup (frame by frame digital scanning):

http://www.filmmaker8.com/

You can have a choice of either Regular Def or HD (or both) to download from his server when he has done the transfers.

He made some transfers for me off Kodachrome Reg-8 films from about 1962 and they looked great. I can recommend him without reservation.

Claus.

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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)

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