Film to Video, Film to DVD

Many years ago, I made the decision that I would rather apologize for higher prices -- and produce the highest quality product in my industry; than to apologize many times for cheap quality -- to stay competitive with the cheapest prices in my industry. I also made the decision to treat every client as if they were my own Grandparent or Grandchild -- like I would want someone to treat me.

Because I have a Computer Science degree, we were the very first small gauge movie film transfer company to "go digital". I literally trashed all my old telecine equipment and started from scratch -- to re-invent our modern transfer procedures. As you can see, we went a different direction -- focusing on Digital-Film Master Files™ and Digital Master Taoes -- which has now been applauded, and adopted, by the digital archive industry.

The rest of the industry went directly to DVDs as archives -- which has turned out to be an industry wide mistake.

Over the years we have refined and retooled our technical assets. My competitors would simply love to know "how we do it" -- due to the simple fact that we have redone work initially done by virtually every one of my major competitors. In many cases, my work has resulted in my clients getting their money back from my competitors! If you "just have to know" what I use and how I do it, I do not need your business and you can go to the "transfer mills".

Ultimately, "what" I do for you is more important than "how" I do it for you.

Preserving Nostalgia:

We have developed a style for presenting your old movie films that preserves some of the annoying frustrations of "home movies". Most young children have never heard the clicking and grinding sounds of a projector -- sometimes "eating your movie film"-- or seen the flutter of the processing holes as the final inch of the tape suddenly blasts the room with a flood of white light. Most processing houses just "cut that stuff out". We purposely leave "some of it" in your video as a reminder of both a time and technology that will never come again. Kids need to see and understand the imperfections of both their families and the technology that shapes their lives. If they are encouraged to ask questions about "holes in movie film" and "flutters in movie film" and how old projectors worked, maybe they will one day ask questions about how families -- with imperfections -- "used to work", too.

Movie Film Cleaning:

We use a double wet-gate method of cleaning your movie film that does not damage it. Roughly 80 to 90 percent of the "dirt and lint" are removed from the movie film. This cleaning process also masks "many" small cracks and scratches in the emulsion -- but no guarantees. "Small" is relative. Please note that this process does not cover up large scratches, mold damage, adhesive dirt or chemical crystalline "snow flake" formations that become embedded in the emulsion after years of storage. Aggressive physical or chemical cleaning in these cases can harm your movie film. We do not clean movie film that has extensive mold or water damage or that has obvious physical damage -- like damaged holes that could grab the cleaning medium and rip your movie film.

Movie Film Breakage:

We have a full time splicing department. We do prep and repair broken movie film at no charge -- within reason. We will "finish" partially edited projects that were never "completed" -- for a small hourly fee.

Movie Film Repair:

If we can't repair it, we "fake it!". Many times movie film has damaged "pin-feed holes". The result is that the movie film "flutters"-- without remedy. Using a bit of digital and technical "cheating" we are "usually" able to re-create a smooth, steady picture worthy of comparison to the original "prime condition" of the movie film. If you have damaged movie film, ask about this service -- and our hourly fees. If your movie film "stinks" like vinegar but is still "flat" -- get it to us ASAP. If your movie film "stinks" and looks like "macaroni" on your spool, forget it. You have "dead movie film". You waited too long and it's now too late for our services. There are, however, some specialty "movie film processors" with chemical baths who may be able to help you.

We do work with light "vinegar syndrome" movie film -- at your own risk. We do NOT guarantee 1) constant focus or 2) flickerles transfers when working with vinegar syndrome (VS) movie film. Just double the price per reel for each reel that has VS. If we can not do anything with your movie film, we can refer you to chemical labs that can work with your movie film.

Family History ID Numbers (TM):

We take extra time to custom insert numeric graphics between each "video reel". This is a "reel pain" and takes extra time and expense. These numbers are large enough and stay on the screen long enough for you to see them in Fast Forward or Fast Reverse searches for footage. These numbers can also be used as "in points" and "out points" for editing; and, as references when you are making an "audio track" with loved ones who are watching the video -- or a stand-alone video, called a Video Interview Bed. I can tell you how to do this.

Family History ID Numbers are invaluable in telling family stories, asking questions, and for younger members of the family -- who are learning the "family history". The are most handy when talking about the movie films -- by telephone, across the country. These ID numbers enable family members -- especially younger ones (less than 70 years old) -- to ask questions about the video using the "reel numbers" as references.

IDs also are useful Digital Video (DV) "photo transfer" services to find frames that you want to be converted to photographs. IDs also help you catalogue your Family Film Legacy. Last but not least, ID's assist in the editing your digital footage -- in points and out points -- in non-linear editors on computers. We assign ID Numbers when we consolidate your small reels onto larger reels using a mix of Reel ID numbers and "leader spacers". The spacers, "white or colored movie film strips", serve a "spacer" or "segue way" by showing where the original smaller reels started and ended.

Color Correction / Enhancement:

If your movies are "washed-out", "too dark" or in some cases "discolored" due to improper daylight movie film shot inside or indoor movie film shot outside, we have advanced technology to "improve" if not "correct" these problems. Using 3-chip digital color cameras and our experience with movie film and color, we can render a one-to-one color reproduction, and in some cases, make the finished product "more real-to-life" than the original movie film. We can do very little with absolutely "clear movie film" or "black movie film" except "cut it" out of your video.

Music:

Optional and at no extra cost: Great background music should "frame" your images; not "color them". No musical background is better than the wrong musical background. I understand the musical need for your movies. I have a formal education in music and use to commercially "lay" music onto images for a living. As a result, my tastes in background music are polished, professional, and conservative. What I have learned from years of doing this kind of work, is that you do not want music which is more powerful than, or is badly matched to, the visual and authentically emotional content of your home movies. Music should echo and enhance -- not mask -- all true levels of love and life. Great background music should more times be felt than heard. Great background music should attempt to connect and then echo the wide range of authentic and quickly changing emotions of your life and times -- not Hollywood's nor Nashville's. Although we love old songs of eras past, they do "mask", rather and "echo and enhance" true levels of love and life. For that reason, most "Pop" music -- which is very thematic with powerful lyrics, an experience in itself -- tends to "mask" the authentic, usually subtle, and always fleeing moments of true love and life in home movies. That's why most popular music "of the day" -- old emotional favorites sung by "artists of the day" -- just don't work -- for long, anyway. When the scene changes, and it will, rapidly in most cases, the music becomes disjunctive and intrusive to your visual experience. Much of your authentic emotional experience of your life and times is lost. After all, there are many authentic emotions which even words, say nothing of "pop" music, can not express.

We pride ourselves in having selected music that is as beautiful, as it is subtle -- to "enhance" almost every scene of your video. We use classically styled music -- usually for solo piano. Emotional undertones range from "light and free" to "pensive" -- with no heavy orchestration or singing. Last, but not least, our music is legal, royalty free to you, because the royalties were paid by us, and does not put you or us into violation of copyright laws. As individuals are now being sued for accepting copyrighted music, this is very important to you.

MiniDV vs. Hard Disk

We work with hard drives for both Mac and PC computers. DV Stream files (on MiniDV tape) -- take just under 14.0 gigabytes of storage -- for each hour of video. Compare this to the 4.7 gig on a DVD-R -- for 2 hours of "compressed video", and you see MiniDV files are big.
Some clients with medium or large projects -- over 4 hours -- prefer a hard drive -- in addition to a set of MiniDV tapes -- to save time loading their computers -- to edit their video and add audio.
MiniDV tape and a hard drive - both have their strengths and drawbacks.
To use a MiniDV tape requires a MiniDV or HDV camcorder. If you don't already have one or access to one, a MiniDV camcorder cost about $150. A MiniDV tape cassette cost about $4. A MiniDV tape is a true archive. Longevity of a MiniDV tape is measured in decades. A MiniDV camcorder -- a stand-alone, self-contained system -- in storage, should last as long. MiniDV tapes can take up to a 10 "G" drop. Finally, a MiniDV or HDV camcorder is necessary to off-load your videos -- after you edit -- to create "true archives" for your family.
To use a hard drive requires a host computer system. A hard drive -- of any kind, even with backups -- is NOT a true archive system. Longevity of a hard drive and backup system is measured in months (less than 5 years). Both the host system and drives are subject to "technology shifts". Storing hard drives in your attic for 10 years is a sure guarantee for losing your archive -- even if the drives are in perfect condition. If you don't believe me, try to find a "floppy disk drive", "USB-1 port, parallel port, etc. -- say nothing of asking your kids or parents to find one. New "high impact" hard drives -- for shipping data -- costs about $150. Even now, Blu-Ray is replacing ALL DVD technology and Flash Drives are replacing ALL hard disk technology. Get my drift -- about technology shift? A "regular" hard drives is delicate and not well suited to being shipped, typically only rated to survive a three to four "G" (gravity) drop -- about a "one inch drop". New "high impact" drives will take about a "3 foot drop" -- or so -- or so " they say.
Bottom Line: Hard drives "go fast". MiniDV tapes "go the distance".
What "they" don't tell you -- before you rush out to buy "their" high impact hard drive:
For the same price -- you may want to consider a low cost MiniDV or HDV camcorder with quadruple purposes as follows:
1) a "real time" input/output video subsystem -- like an external hard drive -- to your computer; 2) a modern Digital Video (HDV) camera -- to acquire new video footage of your family and watch them on your new HDTV;
3) a video capture system -- instead of tying up your expensive computer -- for digitizing analogue video from VHS tapes, Video 8 tapes, HI8 tapes, D8 tapes and Beta tapes, and, finally,
4) a device that can be stored for decades -- with your MiniDV tapes -- which is NOT subject to "technology shifts" of the computer industry over those same decades.

Why Digital Tapes?

I hate to say this, but, "Shhh-tuff Happens"! You need a Digital Backup of you movie film so you and your movie film can "rest in peace". You don't want EVERYTHING -- related to your Home Movies Master Archve™ data set -- to be tied to your computer!

Assume that ALL your optical discs - Blu-ray and DVD -- will one day "self-destruct"; and, assume that all your hard drives are in a race against time to be "thumped" or "bumped" or "crashed" or "out-dated" by some new "technology shift" or "port design" or "operating system update". Also, assume that any SSD (solid state drive) or Flash or Memory Card technology is only good until the first "static discharge" -- caused by wearing the wrong ratio of synthetic fiber in your underwear.

Would it not be "nice" to know that you can stll pull out the OLD camcorder and MiniDV tape, and reconstruct a hard drive and re-author your DVDs and Blu-rays?

A digital MiniDV tape is an Archive Master™ data structure that is independent of your computer system. Your MiniDV or HDV camcorder becomes the digital platform -- that is small enough to be stored with your MiniDV tapes. Stored together, these items become a "time capsule" -- independent of all other technology. Stored with a USB-2 cable -- with the mini-jack on one end -- these items will assure connectivity to many computer systems, now and into the future.

Digital tapes are identical in every way to your Digital-Film™ Archive Master™ on your hard drive. Should you loose your hard drive, you would use your MiniDV tape to re-create "master files".

Having a NON-COMPUTER based backup system is very smart and provides a "fail-safe" level of integrity that just "mirrored hard drives does not provide. Bottom line, the concept of Digital Tape, is an "ace" up your sleeve -- when betting against the unexpected pearls of time and random accidents.

Bottom line: MiniDV tape is still the "long term" archive medium of choice -- by IT and Computer professionals -- so says the Library of Congress and IBM.

If you want a "sexy Blu-ray sales pitch" instead of an "secure archive", you are in the wrong place.

Digital-Film™and Digital Video (DV) Master Archive™ data sets.

Your DV Master Set and Digital-Film™ Archive Master™ data sets will give you absolutely the best "reproduction" of your movie film possible AND archive strategy..

The resolution and color quality on your Masters rivals the original movie film -- and in most cases --surpasses it!

If you have a good DV Master Tape and Digital-Film™ Archive Master™ data set, then you can feel safe to "let time take its toll" on your old, original dying movie film.

DV (MiniDV tape) is accepted in both "pro-sumer" or "semiprofessional" and "consumer" grades that will provide your family with alternatives to preserving their memories as technology changes. Yes, DV tape has faded from the consumer sales, but DV tape -- because of it extreme compact form, and ability to both "up-scale" to HDTV and "down-scale" to Webcasting -- is stll in wide use in commercial markets and broadcast. Virtually no studio is without some kind of DV or MiniDV equipment.

MiniDV tape is still the "long term" archive medium of choice. You can upload your DV tape to "re-load" your hard drive -- using either a USB-2, USB-3, or IEEE 1394 port (Also known as a "FireWire", "iLink", or "DV port").

MiniDV is superbly suited to editing, and is in fact the preferred format for small productions because it is compact and full-frame. To edit the DV files, you can chose from Pinnacle's Studio line, Ulead's MediaStudio, Sony's Vegas, and a variety of others on the Windows platform, and Apple's iLife is fabulous for editing and DVD creation on the Macintosh platform.

Yes, we take a lot of "jabs" because we hang onto MiniDV tape -- that is until people look at the media longevety studies, and alternative archive strategues -- that actually work. I would still put a MiniDV tape and camcorder up against most hard drive "backup schemes" -- and human error! Fianlly, given what MiniDV camcorders are selling for, MiniDV is very cost effective -- when considering the alternative of loosing an entire Home Movie archive.

Multiple DVD Copies:

Just about everyone has a DVD player now. Your "viewing" media will be on DVD. Because your DVD's are not copy protected, you and your family can make more copies from the DVD's that we give you. We can make up to 10 DVD's per volume for our "at cost" so that you have as many DVDs as you want -- not just need.

Secure Shipping.

My father recently found our old family movie film in the bottom of an old filing cabinet. Like many folks, he "just forgot" he had them -- for 30 years!

We have never lost a shipment, so I had him ship our "family jewels" according to the "special shipping instructions" for our clients. We now have those reels on MiniDV and have passed around the results on DVD -- safe and sound.

We have complete shipping instructions in each of our price quotes! We do not recommend using the US Post Office for shipping, because they do not have a true "tracking" system "online" for consumers -- but I hear they are working on one. Beware that a USPS "insurance claim number" is not a "tracking ID number" -- the latter of which can make the difference between something being "misplaced" or "lost"! We use UPS 3rd Day Select. They do offer a "traceable" tracking number "online" AND they offer a Forwarding Service. Their website is easy to use and you can watch your package travel -- state by state.

Return Shipping.

As for the trip back to your home, we have a tried & proven method of three and four phase shipping that insures that at no time will all family memories be at risk after we receive them. After you have reviewed your "confirmation" DVD and we receive your final payment, we ship the remaining Digital Backup MiniDVs and DVD copies of your video sets and we ship your movie film back. Finally, after you confirm you have that shipment, we ship your DV Master tapes. We do not ship anything until you confirm that you have received the prior shipments. That's "secure shipping" -- and a premium service! Our prices reflect the additional care we take for your "movie film memories".

We guarantee our work:

We guarantee that we will correct any problem that is "our fault" at no extra cost to you -- even if it means re-doing your project.

Our clients are the best in the world. We have never had anyone ask us for their money back for our work. On some occasions, we even get "tips"! I often get e-mails months after I finish projects -- telling me how much they enjoy their videos.

When we ship your "confirmation video", you will have the opportunity to review your video and give us feedback -- before you make your final payment. We will be happy to answer any questions that you may have and work with you to your satisfaction!

If for any reason you are unhappy with our work, so are we. For the most part, I catch problems before they catch me -- but things go wrong sometimes. For example, we recently had a "duplication deck" go bad without realizing it. We called our clients and asked them to check their copies. We then replaced every bad copy at no charge and at our expense.

For example, I put a client's married name on labels instead of her maiden name. I immediately reprinted labels and sent them to her. I then started asking for that info on my price quotes -- so please provide that info, too.

For another example, I had a cable go bad on my graphics generator and the graphics started breaking up at random. The display was OK, but the copies were flawed. When I corrected the problem, I re-copied all the copies and sent the client a new proof.

NOTICE: We will not re-do a project due to a reel being "out of order". From experience we find that -- over long periods of time -- that reels tend to mysteriously get in the wrong canisters, wrong boxes, etcetera -- by gremlins! Even our clients sometimes get reels "out of order" when they are trying to put them "in order"! With "reel ID numbers", you "reel-ly" don't need to worry about confusion of "run-together reels", or reels being out of order. The problem simply does not exist. If / when you find a maverick reel, you simply document where the reel belongs and then sit back and enjoy it!

Payment.

If you have a hardship case, please tell us. We will work with you anyway we can. We only ask for a partial advanced payment by check or by VISA / MasterCard -- which we typically "just hold" until we start work on your project. Only after you approve your "confirmation DVD", do we invoice you for the next stage of your project.

We do discount payments by check since we do not have to pay "service fees" for the use of bankcards. If you have a "huge project", then we typically handle both "confirmation DVDs and payments" in stages. All "shipping charges" are included in the price of our quote to you, so you know the "worst case" price.

Meanwhile, if we can save you money in any way, we do. It is common for us to re-quote a project "down" in price -- after we have finished it, knowing what you actually sent and what we actually produced. Tell me how many reels -- by sizes (i.e., 50ft, 150ft, 200ft, 300ft, 400ft). Small (3-inch) reels are 50 feet and run about 3.5 minutes. The number of feet is usually printed on the spokes of the larger reels -- which are usually in 6- and 7-inch canisters. (Note: A dollar bill is exactly 6 inches long.)

For more information:

Thank you so very much! To get an idea of cost, time, and to read about our shipping strategy -- or just to ask a question or state a concern -- please contact us!

If you're wondering if there's more that can be done about preserving family memories, here's a few ideas.

Transferring 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm film to digital video

The services we provide