Frequently Asked Questions

Yes indeed they are. We clean, re-splice broken and bad sections of film and fix short regions of stripped sprockets and add fresh leader where needed. Film with sections of badly over- or under-exposed film or severe focus probelems will also be removed. You will only be charged for the 'good' film we process. We attempt to recover as much watchable film as possible. All loose film or the those on the smaller 3 inch reels (4 or more) will be collected and wound up onto larger reels where practical (5 inch and 7 inch film reels) and be stored in their own cases which we will supply at no extra cost.

We can offer to digitize your 8mm, Super 8 or 16mm films in a number of video formats: in DVD compliant ISO MPEG-2, in Windows DV AVI Type-2 or for Mac users, RAW DV or Quicktime MOV. Using native DVD compliant MPEG-2 video files for purposes of editing in general is not a good idea, unless you plan to just cut, rearrange clips and join them back together again (we can recommend a software tool that does a wonderful job at this). Using this simple edit approach will maintain the high original video quality we gave you without re-rendering. On the other hand, any editing activity on MPEG files which includes transitions, adding alpha channels, fades and/or any compositing processes, may more than likely yield a poor quality result. This is because you may force the compile phase in the NLE to re-render the MPEG movie usually to the detriment of the final result.

We highly recommend using a flavor of DV whether you work in a Windows or Mac editing environment. DV a standard, is already high resolution, is frame accurate when cutting and joining video frames and is very friendly to most software editing tools and the typical editing activities you plan to use. When your edit is complete, transcoding to MPEG-2 video would then be very clean and seamless.

As a delivery medium we can provide Mini-DV tape (in PAL or NTSC) for your DV files or record on high quality 'Tier One' DVD disc media (Gold or premium discs for DV or MPEG2) or if you have lots of video, we recommend a hard drive (DV files will yield about 13GB of data per hour or in film terms about a 1000ft of film, give or take). There is no charge for the transfer of your DV or MPEG2 files to hard drive. Whether the drive is sourced by yourself or HomeDVD, it should have enough space to store your files and then some. Another caveat: an external USB-2 type drive is preferable (newer eSATA external drives are even better), though we can take bare drives with SATA or IDE interfaces. Our drives are generally offered in 250GB or 500GB sizes, in either SATA or IDE and would be formatted either in NTFS, FAT32 or HFS for Mac use. Just let us know what you would prefer.

The frame-by-frame method on its own will not ensure high quality but it does represent the foundation to making great film transfers. The method simply incorporates a modified projector (no spinning shutter) that indexes the film frames through its gate at timed intervals (less than real-time). The capture 'loop' if you will, is made up of the special projector, its optical path, a camera and a computer. The projector feeds a film frame into its gate (the small aperture between the projector light source and the projector lens) to begin the process. When a film frame has been 'frozen' long enough in the projector gate, the video camera is instructed to 'grab' the still film frame illuminated at its lens, digitize it and port the converted frame out over its Firewire connection, to the computer where the digitized film frame will be stored on its hard drive. The process will repeat itself for each frame to be captured.

Upon completion of the film transfer, the accumulated film frames (now as non-interlaced video frames) in the computer have to be modified to meet the usual 29.97fps video frame rate via a process called a pulldown -converting 16fps or 18fps film rates to 29.97fps video rates. Overall transfer quality depends on the performance of the projector in terms of calibrated timed responses, consistent light source color temperature and intensity (for proper white and black balance), degree of light distribution over the film frame (for proper and luminance density), the cleanliness and aberration free quality of the optical path, the horizontal resolution and sensor technology of the camera and the performance of the computer itself. If any one of these elements in the processing path is diminished or compromised, the final output quality of the video will suffer.

The frame by frame method of film to video transfer or telecine offers the greatest degree of film to video translation when compared to other telecine methods for the money.

The color correction option you mention applies to our film transfer service. Consumer-based film like, 8mm, Super 8 and even 16mm film may exhibit color loss or casts just due to age or more commonly, by using the film under the wrong conditions when it was first shot. Older formats like 8mm and earlier 16mm film came in either "Outdoor (Daylight)" or "Indoor (Photoflood)" forms. This was a simple way to describe the color temperature differences of the film. The film emulsion layers were specially treated to accommodate the differences in recording in either sunlight or under incandescent light.

Being expensive in its day and of short length (50ft 8mm and 100ft 16mm, both about 3 minutes in play length), the camera person was tempted and did use the same film in the camera for both indoor and outside shooting. Of course, part of the film used correctly will usually look very good (whites are white, reds are reds etc), where the other part of the same film reel would exhibit a color cast in either blue or red (the underlying colors are still there but the film frames are awash in a red or blue overlay). Shooting indoor film outdoors will yield a blue cast and shooting outdoor film indoors would show a red cast. Film sitting on a heat radiator or being exposed to warm and humid conditions for prolonged periods will result in a sickly green color, due to various degrees of the red and blue component having bled off the emulsion.

Recovery of the original colors in cast offset conditions can be highly successful when proper color correction filters are used in conjunction with the necessary video test equipment like a Vector Scope and a Waveform Monitor. Colors lost due to prolonged exposure to warm and humid conditions may never be correctable. Sometimes making those sections of film just plain old black and white is a very good compromise. Prior to color correction, the video must be adjusted to meet proper IRE luminance levels. A nicely adjusted video picture where the black levels (pedestal) are not crushed and where the whites don't clip (hot spots > 100IRE) and the mid ranges are made linear (Gamma), will result in very nice rich looking video. Iterating between color adjust and luminance adjust may be necessary as they tend to influence each other.

To answer that I'll have to go into a little history.

Depending on the transfer or telecine method used, costs for doing 8mm film (yes, there is such a thing), Super 8 film or 16mm film with sound can indeed be low, because the film and sound are captured at the same time, with great degree of varying results.

In a very dynamic competitive landscape it's difficult to ascertain the pricing and marketing strategies out there that have ultimately determined the costs to the consumer. Wide price variations are not uncommon as a result. But on the whole, low costs are usually associated with low quality. The cheaper and maybe inexperienced competitor would typically transfer your film using some form of a 'Real-time' method, -that is a standard audio supported film projector and the use of a low cost CMOS or single chip CCD camera (that will have limited manual controls and offer average optics) making up the main optical imaging components of their system. The film images would be captured off the wall or from some type of transfer box. The projector would have the standard cropped gate, have a spinning shutter and illuminate the film by a hot 50 or 100 watt light source. The final video frames would be smaller than what is possible by about 20 to 25%. The video sequences may have some or a lot of annoying flicker, would definitely have hot spots, have trouble staying sharp and the colors will not be properly white balanced.

Low quality results originate from low quality equipment and antiquated setup procedures. At HomeDVD we capture your films one frame at a time using a special projector and high end video processing system. The main features of the projector are an enlarged gate, no shutter and a low power light source. The enlarged gate will expose up to 25% more film frame to capture (right out to the sprockets). No shutter essentially means no annoying flicker. The low power white light source guarantees that no film is burned or damaged, that no hotspots happen and that even light distribution over the entire film frame each and every time occurs. Premium optics in the film path and a high resolution 3CCD digital camera with complete manual control of the captured images, rounds out our method for film transfer to DVD.

Since our film transfer system is non-real time, the audio track cannot be captured at the same time as the film frames. The audio portion of the film is extracted using a standard sound projector. The extracted audio track and the frame-by-frame video are then re-synchronized for lip sync in our NLE system. The fact that we capture twice is why the cost is marginally higher. The final result is high quality video and perfectly produced audio - just the way it should be. We transfer Super 8mm, Regular 8mm and 16mm silent or sound film to DVD or as DV files for your film masters.

At 13GB per hr in DV format, we highly recommend to put the digitized video on a hard drive. You can supply the hard drive or we can purchase one for you.

Yes we can. We will certainly clean the mold and mildew off of the cassette body but most importantly the magnetic tape ribbon itself will be cleaned and polished. Putting a very dirty tape into a tape deck will clog and perhaps destroy the video heads in your tape deck. A refurbished tape cassette using our video tape cleaning service will revive your video tape and make the video recovery process more successful.

Yes we do. We offer PAL conversion to NTSC for all VHS types, Betamax, all 8mm video types and Mini-DV. We will also convert PAL DVD to NTSC DVD or convert NTSC video tapes to PAL DVD. However, we do not convert PAL video tapes or DVD's to PAL video tapes.

We offer to scan your slides at resolutions that will give you great looking prints. If you plan to have your slides printed, we recommend scan resolutions of 2400dpi or more (yielding very nice 6x9 prints for example). Equally if you just want your slides for viewing on a TV as a slideshow or on your computer but still want high quality, we recommend 1500 to 2000 dpi (still gives nice 3x5 prints) and save you money as well.

We can print your slides in low quantities on either high quality hi-gloss or matte 'cut-to-size' print paper.

If your slides are already organized by date or by subject, ship them the way they are along with a short note letting us know what you want done. Mark your slide carriers and baggies with information that will tell us the order and sequence you would like to see. Make notes on particular slides to watch out for or to pay special attention. To make your life even easier take advantage of our free Shipping Kit service.

We certainly can. As professionals in multimedia and video production we are often asked to produce very custom DVD's that have combined old 8mm family movies, photos, slides and music of the day to tell a story of that special event of the past. In most cases the production will run in the 10 to 20 minute range and be nicely assembled using the various media pieces you have on hand. The DVD production will include custom artwork for the DVD disc surface, the DVD menu and the DVD cases. The cost to produce these 'titles' are surprisingly modest. Please call us directly so we can go over the details of what you have in mind and to provide you with a quote.

There are those who pooh pooh the whole technology and think its a big scam but we have have a much different experience. They are indeed pretty robust if burned properly. So to answer your question, yes there is a very good chance they will last longer than than regular DVD's based on our research beyond the claims of the manufacturer. Gold is a metal that does not oxidize and has very good reflectivity numbers (a positive property when you consider many DVD players have varying degrees of reading laser performance and health). The long life property on its own means data retention can be counted on during the life of the disc. We have found that the secret to the health and reliability of these particular type of disks is to burn them at slower speeds. Just because they may be rated at 8x, burn them at 4x. The burn is more complete given the material composition of the disk.

Of course newer technologies not yet available may trump this technology, but for now it will guarantee the data on the disc will be readable in the future for reliable transfer to the next storage panacea.

No. While there are many name brands of DVD media out there, there are also name brand look-alikes. The industry is rife with bad DVD media who may bear high profile brand names—so beware. Buy only top tier brands like Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim, Pioneer, Sony, TDK, Maxell and Hitachi at reputable stores. Stay away from corner type stores and bulk wholesalers, web-based or otherwise. If the disks you plan to buy are much cheaper than that from a reputable dealer, then expect the likelyhood of poor results. That's step one. Step two, the DVD burner also has a lot to do with the final quality of the disc. Use either Plextor, Pioneer, SONY, Lite-On or LG burners for very good results. There are other factors as well like the DVD authoring tool you are using that can contribute to unreliable playback. Other than those tools encoding your video poorly, it may not offer full DVD compatibility in its authoring engine to ensure the final resulting DVD disc will play on the many DVD players out there. Invest in known authoring tools that have been out there awhile. Products from Ulead, Ahead, Sonic, and Adobe come to mind. We use a custom DVD authoring system that has been specially developed at HomeDVD which encompasses the best in DVD publishing processes.

We have tested the technology and have concluded it is now very close to being feasible as an option for our customers. There are still compatibility issues with the installed base of home DVD players that still concerns us, though this is becoming less and less as time moves on. We will be offering Dual Layer DVD option shortly, probably in early 2009.

In short, yes we can. Western European, Russian, former Easterm Bloc countries and the middle east for example, have adopted PAL (in its many flavours) and SECAM as their broadcast standard. However, when it comes to DVD's there is no such thing as a SECAM DVD. All countries who use SECAM for broadcast television use the PAL scanning system for DVD's. Why is this so, you say? Because DVD's operate at the baseband level, that is to say, there is no RF system on a DVD player. There is no TV channels in which to choose. It operates soley at the lower frequency video signal level or baseband level. Having said this then, PAL and SECAM share the same baseband scan properties, ie: scan rate of 25fps, number of lines 625 and the same (for argument sake) picture frame resolution of 720 pixels by 576 scan lines. So what we perform really is scan rate conversion.

The differences between NTSC, PAL and SECAM from a broadcast (RF channel) point of view is they use different a channel bandwidth and different color and modulation schemes to achieve their unique outputs. Remove the RF and modulation component (producing the baseband), you are left with the colour generation scheme and the picture scanning properties of the video signal.

In the analog videotape world the colour and picture scanning properties must be maintained, so yes, there will be NTSC,PAL and SECAM tapes as a result. However in the digital domain of DVDs, the analog colour generation scheme of the various broadcast standards at the baseband level are converted to a new digital colour space, thus effectively removing any vestiges of the originating analog colour scheme. The remaining property of scan rate, picture frame resolution and number of scan lines is what makes an NTSC and PAL/SECAM video different. Only when connecting an analog TV to a DVD player (composite), will the colour information needed for a PAL or NTSC TV set be re-rendered for proper viewing.

We can put the digital equivalent of your films on either archival quality Gold DVD's, on Mini-DV digital tape or on a portable USB-2 type hard drive. High density storage media is desired as the file size for DV is quite large - 13GBytes per hour of video - about 1000ft of 8mm film.

If stored on DVD, the disk will be burned as an ISO image (thus making it O/S independent) and the file format will be either an AVI DV Type2 file for Windows or a Quicktime MOV for the Mac -(though if you are using IMovie on the Mac, the AVI file will can be converted on the timeline to a compatible Mac format ready for frame accurate editing). Otherwise use Apples QuicktimePro software for conversion of AVI to Quicktime.

On digital tape, the video files will be ported over Firewire (IEEE-1394) and written as raw DV video on tape, stripped of any O/S baggage. If using a hard drive, the drive must be formatted as NTFS in the Windows world and as FAT32 or HFS (+) in the Mac world (we use Windows). Fat32 has a 4GB file, where NTFS and HFS is unlimited. Either an IDE or an eSata hard drive rated at 7200RPM (16MB RAM) or better would be ideal.

Lots to talk about.  Questions on DRM, BD-R, authoring tools, compatibility, media, burners.  Do you have more?

Yes.  We first capture the film as individual frames in uncompressed graphics file format in a sequential fashion.  This is followed by creating an an AVI video file in 4:2:2 YUV 8bit per pixel format.  It is kept in square pixel form at this point but the video files are not color corrected or pulled down, which is the next step.  After color correction, and pulldown the video file is considered a film master.  This file is what your can get as an editable file.  Keep in mind high definition YUV files are large and require considerable compute power to manipulate.  See our Resource section on how this is done.