OT Old movies video conversion

IanC · Oct 17, 2017

I have the old family 8mm movies, some dating back to the '40s (Grandpa plowing snow with the team,etc) and want to get them converted to video file on DVD. I sent one out as a test to a place that projects them on a screen, and records with a digital camcorder, and wasn't thrilled with the quality. Who out there has had theirs converted by that, or another method, or has had good luck with a supplier of that style?

Crazy Horse · Oct 17, 2017

Is that the usual way of transferring old videos and photos into digital format? Never heard of that system. Did you know in advance that they did it that way or did you find out afterwards?

kcm.MN · Oct 17, 2017

My Dad had some films from his high school football days, as he was an all-star athlete. He had tried a couple of different times to upgrade the films, but as with many (if not "most") home movies from long ago, they were stored improperly. His spent YEARS in a very hot attic in Texas. I have the films now, but really don't know how to go about trying to digitize them, IF it's even possible, so I hope someone else has some good info for us.

IanC · Oct 17, 2017

They told me up front. After some more digging on the net, the "frames per minute" of the movie and the digital are different, but it also seemed like it took some off edges.

steve19438 · Oct 17, 2017

we have a local camera shop/store that does that sort of thing. not cheap but good work. I bought a gizmo a few years ago to transfer old slides to dvd. It worked fine but as previously stated the slides were not in so good condition.

Dan in North Houston · Oct 17, 2017

My wife had some 8mm home movies from the mid 70's converted here in Houston, don't know how they did it, but the results came out pretty good.

JF in MI · Oct 17, 2017

I had done the same thing about a year ago and wasn't too happy with the quality either. The problem turned out to be me. I'm so used to HDTV and now UHDTV that I had forgotten just how awful 8MM film was. It transferred just as bad as the day it was filmed.

Bob · Oct 17, 2017

To do it correctly and sync frame rate between the mediums to eliminate flicker, a "Telecine frame-by-frame scanner" is needed.

NOT cheap.

37chief · Oct 17, 2017

I had some reproduced on a DVD. They came out fairly good, but you have to remember the quality back then wasn't the best even when the film was just made. I don't think the screen method is the best way to go about reproducing film. I listen to Rush L. a little he advertises for a company called Legacybox. I looked it up for you now you, now don't have to listen to rush to find the name. Stan

rusty6 · Oct 17, 2017

I can't comment on 8 mm film but I've had success converting my vhs tapes to disk using a DVD player/recorder. Just hook up the camcorder to the dvd machine and sit back. It takes a while. It gives an opportunity to edit out the boring parts.

RusselAZ · Oct 17, 2017

I've done some using a projector onto a screen and recording them with my digital video camera. You need an adjustable speed projector so you can sync the two to take the lines and flutter out. 8MM were not all that great to begin with but at least they get saved.

OT Old movies video conversion

IanC

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Crazy Horse

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kcm.MN

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IanC

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steve19438

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Dan in North Houston

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JF in MI

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Bob

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37chief

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rusty6

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RusselAZ

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