Digiteckmedia offers frame by frame silent 8mm & Super 8 film to DVD transfers. Your films are not in any way damaged during the transfer process and can be colour corrected upon request for those films having blue, yellow, green or red colour casts. Any film stock be it 8mm, super 8, 16mm or 35mm will slowly deteriorate over time and the best policy for preserving your films is to ensure a cool and relatively dry environment for them. Further information on preserving and storing your films may be found at film forever.
An important point to consider when having your films converted is to be sure the process is digital as VHS being an older analogue format has less than half the resolution capabilities of MiniDV, Digital 8 or DVD and would not look as visually sharp in comparison to digital. With your film to DVD transfer you may request music be added to your sequence along with special editing for a final DVD that suits your personal preference and have your memories preserved to DVD for years to come! View our 8mm & Super 8 stills and video samples.
The Process (Frame by Frame)
Upon receiving your film it is inspected for any damage and any broken sections are spliced including adding a section of leader to those films which have none. After the inspection and splicing the film is cleaned and lubricated which cleans off any dust and mold and places a thin coat of lubricant on the film to ensure smooth operation during the film to DVD transfer process and provides the best possible colour reproduction while processing your 8mm or Super 8 films.
After the film has been spliced, cleaned and lubricated it is loaded onto a modified projection unit which operates at 6 fps and is synched to the camera and computer system allowing for timed frame by frame accuracy. With an enlarged gate we can capture the full frame of film with no edge loss and the final result is flicker free, evenly focused and without distortion. To gain the sharpest possible image we use a professional digital 3 chip camera which offers superior colour representation and retention and capture uncompressed minimizing common compression artifacts. Sections which are generally too bright are eliminated using a low wattage light source hence there are no hot spots.
Upon completion of the film to DVD conversion process the digital footage is checked for any leader section and removed accordingly after which the proper speed of your 8mm or Super 8 film is applied to ensure accurate playback speed and each film is checked for balanced exposure and adjustments made as necessary. The final stage is dependant on the output required such as DVD or Mini DV. For DVD your video is compressed into MPEG2 format with a bitrate of 7500 - 8000 Kbps. Editable ISO MPEG2 DVD's or set top DVD's can be output as the final format used for TV viewing. Each authored DVD for tv viewing will have a thumbnail for each film reel viewable on the main menu. Optionally you may opt for a Mini DV master of your film to edit or ISO DVD with your footage left in DV AVI format. Film footage going to Mini DV is not edited though is accurately speed corrected.
Pricing is $0.18 per foot (8mm & Super 8 frame by frame) to have your films spliced, cleaned, lubricated then transferred to DVD for TV or editing. All film is transferred including spliced sections except leader and overexposed or underexposed sections. Additional editing cost is $25.00 per hour of film footage. An additional $0.08 per foot is applied to have your films colour corrected (Optional) and $0.06 cents per foot to have audio tracks added to the film sequence (Customer supplied). Audio tracks will play from the start of your sequence to the end, there is no editing due to track and sequence lengths thus a track may end in the middle of sequence and another start. DV avi files may require several DVD's though is included in the price of the transfer. Volume discounts apply to 3000 feet of film. There is a minimum $28.00 charge on all film transfer orders. If your goal is to have archival masters on Mini DV pricing per tape is $28.00. Contact us for an estimate on our film to DVD conversion service.
