I thought I would put this in front of the Bowsite brain trust:
I have a box loaded with old Super-8 (reel-to-reel) movies from the early 1960s. Some of it has bowhunting and archery footage from Arizona at that time...along with camping, fishing and other family pursuits. I'm looking for the right company to convert that old film into a digital copy (dvd no doubt), plus a thumb drive editable copy for future use.
I'm not sure how to sort out the ages and content of the movies, short of examining them by hand with a light and magnifier, but it's obvious I need them to be in order according to age and possibly activity.
Does anyone have a company they've worked with and recommend? As an aside, what about the possibility of adding background music to these old silent films?
Had a buddy who used Legacy Box. His were VHS and Super 8 mostly but turned out good. Not sure if they edit/ add music, he just had them converted to digital.
You can often find local places as well. Production houses often have the gear and need to fill time between projects.
if you have many. be prepared for sticker shock as its costly. I used to do lots of Video work a few years back & had some 8mm. I put it on the projector & used my video camera to record it off the screen. Then when I transferred to DVD I added music.. yes, it was Mickey mouse but saved the moments and decent viewing.
FWIW......I had to get some real old reel to reel tapes converted years back for work related stuff. I do remember it was spendy. The company did mention the old tapes could have degraded, lose their flexibility and might possible break during the transfer process. I seem to recall this company had the setup to record it digitally with a fancy machine. The finished product did turn out well. Oh ya...no sound either.
Another thought might be to check out Craigslist or Facebook Market Place and see if anyone offers that service.
^....if you're talking the 8mm cassettes....get a 8mm camera that has the digital and audio connections on it. Connect that to a portable DVD player/burner that has the same connections. Then connect the DVD player/burner to the TV and you can do it that way. As the 8mm camera is playing and you're watching it on the TV....the DVD player/burner is copying the image and audio. I think that is how the wife did our 8mm and our VHS's. For the VHS's she connected a VHS player to the DVD player/burner
can't help on the reels, but VHS is easy. You buy a little deal that you plug into a VHS player and into your USB port and play the video in your player. It will automatically convert to a digital file. I have done many for people. Cost me $60 for the dealio and the software combination.
I did a bunch of super 8 family movies with legacy box they did a good job .I would suggest that if you use them you can save a lot of money if you look for a special when they have one .They are just as they were on the super 8 no sound .
