8mm super 8 mm movie film transfer to DVD preview video

HOLIDAY SPECIAL MAKES A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT Simply collect your 8mm films, box them up and ship them to us. We will transfer your films, frame by frame, with color correction, and put them up as movies online for you to preview.  Once you have previewed your movies, choose which ones you want to use for the show, give us a title and we will produce a Hollywood style DVD of your films with menus and music. When your DVD arrives, gather with family and friends, sit back and enjoy the Holiday gift that lasts a life time.

Digital Express recently started selling on eBay, but has been transferring 8mm film to DVD for the past 5 years. We have expanded our services through eBay auctions, to improve our exposure in the film transfer business, and to gain new customers with hopes of earning your trust, referrals and future business. Many people have said, I found boxes of these films in the attic and have no idea what's on them. I purchased a movie projector in hopes of watching my films to choose which reels I wanted transferred to DVD only to discover the projector didn't work. It would be great if I had a way to preview the films before transferring to DVD or a way to determine what to title them.  So why spend all that extra money on old movie technology that no longer works properly and could damage your films beyond repair or transfer. Have your 8mm films transferred to an express video available to you as an online preview and download for $2.95 per 50 feet of film. Already know what's on your 8mm films, just want them transferred to DVD without any preview. Get our special price at $8.95 per 50 ft. reel. That's only $0.179 per foot. Email us for an estimate. Express Video eBay Auction Promotion! 3 inch film reel (50 ft.) transferred to an online Express Video $2.95 This Auction Price is for a service to transfer one 3 inch reel (50 feet) of silent regular 8mm or super 8 movie film to a (.wmv windows media video) called an "Express Video".  Play time is around 3 to 4.5 minutes. If you have more than 50 feet of film to transfer, do not bid on this auction; please email us at sales@digitalexpresspro.com or contact us with the "contact seller" link on this page with your total footage and we will provide you with a estimate. This Service also Includes at no additional fee: Pre-Production   > Your films are cleaned and lubricated with a special film conditioner to remove any dirt or ground-in particles and to improve the picture scan. Film splices are repaired if required allowing for less stress to the film during transfer. Scanning in your 8mm films > True frame by frame image scanning of your 8mm film using a broadcast quality camera at 525 lines, 60 fields NTSC at the highest standard definition resolution of 720 x 486 pixels. Each (picture) frame of film is now an individual digital frame of video sequentially lined up one after another and stored as an uncompressed digital video (AVI) file ready for export into our computer-based editing system. Production   > Video editing Because home movies from the past were shot at a variety of speeds, we must set the speed of the video to 29.97 fps for use in todays NTSC television standard. With the total frame discretion that comes from TRUE, frame-by-frame scanning, accurate playback rates are determined and applied to the video thus eliminating any flicker effect. Removal of any clear or black film footage from the video file. Video is then computer enhanced for; correct white balance (color correction),  and any over or under-exposed areas of the film. At this point your digital video file is of better quality than the original film you sent in for transfer.     Video is then compressed using the WM Video V9 codec and saved as a (.wmv windows media video) digital video file called an express video. The express video will be available to you as an online preview and download. The resolution of the video is set to 240x180, one third the resolution of fullscreen video. It has a streaming bit rate of 180kbps, and is viewable with Windows Media Player 9 and above. Best played with a High Speed Internet Connection. Note: These movies have been optimized for web viewing with increased compression, and lowered bit rates that are used for streaming video over the internet. Actual DVD quality is much higher. After previewing your films and have decided which films to transfer to DVD and what you would like to title each film the process would continue below if you are purchasing the film transfer to DVD. Titles with cross fade transitions are created and placed at the beginning of each film reel. Background Music We then match the mood of your video and insert a background music track provided to you with music from The O'Neill Brothers with a selection of OVER 300 beautiful, instrumental, royalty-free songs. The music gives you the full experience when watching your films and will be playing throughout the entire video. Final-Production (creation of the DVD)   > Encode your video to a Superior-Quality (MPEG-2) video file. Up to approx. one  (1) hour of film is available for authoring to the DVD disc. If you have more than 1 hour of film to be transferred to DVD, a second and third and so on disc will be produced for the total discs required to transfer your films to DVD. There is an additional authoring fee of $12.95 for each additional disc & case required per each hour of film footage. Main Title Screen and Main Menu Screen created. Chapter placement and Chapter Submenus created. Authoring of the Movie, Menus, and Music to a Superior-Quality 4:3 fullscreen  NTSC DVD disc playable on the vast majority of set-top DVD players in use today. Custom designed Photo Quality High Resolution DVD disc label is created and printed directly on the DVD disc. The finished disc is put in a Amaray DVD Case - The case is made of a soft, dark gray, plastic with a transparent outer jacket, behind the jacket is your custom designed and printed Photo Quality High Resolution DVD case insert. Return Shipping & Handling Fee Chart Your DVD and case is packaged with your original materials and shipped to you using the United States Postal Service Priority Mail with Delivery confirmation tracking number. If only purchasing the express video, your original materials are shipped back to you using the prices shown below.   Number of (3 inch) 50 ft. reels Total film footage in feet   Price 1 to 12 50 to 600   $5.95 13 to 23 650 to 1,150   $9.95 24 and above 1,200 and above   $13.95 Shipping your 8mm films to us: We recommend using a shipping service such as the U.S. Postal Service, Priority Mail with Delivery Confirmation. Wrap your film boxes, reels and/or canisters with bubble paper and put them in a priority mail flat rate small or large shipping box. These boxes are available at your local Post Office. If transferring to DVD please choose a Title for your movie - example would be "A Journey of Memories", this will be displayed on the TV screen when the DVD starts, and also be printed on the DVD disc and case. If your not previewing your films and want your films to be played in a certain order, number each film box or reel with the correct order and titles and mail your films along with any special instructions to: Digital Express 28 North Sixth Street Shamokin PA 17872-5210 If you have any questions please email us at sales@digitalexpresspro.com or contact us with the "contact seller" link on this page. Payment Methods: Once we receive your film/s we will review your order and verify all materials have arrived. You will receive an email from us confirming your order was received. Allow 5 - 10 business working days for completion. May take a little longer during a Holiday Season. You can pay us using all four major credit cards, your bank account, or your PayPal account. Orders do not ship until funds are received. What about your Guarantee or Return Policy? We guarantee our product to be free of any defects and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If for any reason you are not satisfied with your 8mm film or super 8 film transfer, you may return the original DVD and have any problems corrected. We will send you a new DVD replacement with the corrections. Not one of our 8mm film or Super 8 film transfers have ever been returned for replacement. The condition of your 8mm or super 8 film relies on the quality of the transfer. If your materials are severely damaged beyond restoration or transfer, we will notify you prior to returning your materials. We do not cover the cost of returning films that cannot be transferred.   We DO NOT transfer any pornographic materials.   Understanding an Express Video Regular 8mm or Super 8 Movie Film to 'Express Video' - Once we have scanned your silent 8mm film or super 8 film to a digital video (.avi) file, it is then compressed to a (.wmv) windows media video digital movie file called an "Express Video". The express video is produced only for previewing your films with Windows Media Player 9 and above. You can download the express video file to your computer and/or view them online. To see if you can view an express video click here.  The express video is limited to a frame size resolution of 240x180 due to it's large file size for internet delivery, that's about one third the resolution of a fullscreen video and has a streaming bit rate of 180kbps. These movies have been optimized for web viewing with increased compression and lowered bit rates that are used for streaming video over the internet. Actual DVD quality would be much greater. The picture size can be adjusted by enlarging your media player window, but the larger you make the window the lower the quality of the video. We do not add any music to an express video, it is the captured film footage of your 8mm film with frame rate correction (plays at the right speed). The express videos are designed specifically for previewing your films. The average file size of the express video is approx. 5 to 6MB for each 50 ft. reel of film. High speed internet connection is highly recommended. We upload these express videos to our video server and send you an private internet link to a custom web page for your eyes only, for viewing and/or downloading. If you are going to have a DVD video produced of these selected express videos, let us know which reels you want transferred, the order you want them to be presented and tell us how you want them titled. Example; Reel #1 "Christmas at Moms House 1965", Reel #2 "Family Fun at Atlantic City"...and so on. A 50 ft. film reel will have a runtime of anywhere between 3 to 4.5 minutes in length, depending on the frame rate at which the movie camera was originally set to; 12 to 18 fps (fps = frames per second) when filmed. Our method of scanning 8mm or super 8 movie film At Digital Express we provide TRUE frame-by-frame, advanced 3CCD scan imaging of both regular 8mm and super 8 film to DVD NTSC video delivering stunning picture quality, highly accurate color reproduction, and a 100 % flicker free transfer. Transferring frame-by-frame ensures 100% frame accuracy for correct playback speed and the sharpest picture quality. We capture the film image off the emulsion side of the film through an enlarged film gate by way of a condenser lens which allows us access to 100% of the film frame in 4:3 standard format. We can also capture your films in widescreen 16:9 format, but some of the picture will be cropped above and below the film frame due to the physical size difference between 8mm film and the widescreen aspect ratio. The film is scanned at a moderate speed of 6 to 8 frames per second using a sprocketless drive system that protects your films from the potential damage typically found on other sprocket driven projectors and transfer devices. The light source used to scan the film is a low wattage diffused bulb; no hot spots or chance of ever burning the film. The film is then digitized using a NTSC broadcast quality camera system with a separate progressive 1/3" scan CCD for each primary color (red, green and blue).

This is a photo of a super 8 film cartridge that has not been photo processed. We do not photo develop 8mm movie film.

8mm Film - is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: the original standard 8mm film, also known as regular 8mm or double 8mm, and Super 8. This is a photo of a 3 inch reel of 8mm film that contains 50 feet of processed film. The actual playback time of this film on a 8mm film projector would be around 3 min. & 20 seconds if it was shot at 18 fps.

 

Standard 8mm - The film spools actually contained 25 feet of 16 mm film with twice as many perforations along each edge. When the film reached its end in the take-up spool, the camera was opened and the spool in the camera was flipped over and the film was exposed along the other side of the film. After processing, the film was split down the middle, and spliced together to give one 50 foot roll of 8mm wide film. Because the spool was reversed after filming on one side to allow filming on the other side the format was sometimes called Double 8. Normally Double8 was filmed at 16 frames per second. Common length film spools allowed filming of 3 to 4.5 minutes at 12, 15, 16, and 18 frames per second. The standard 8mm format was quickly displaced by the Super 8mm film format which offered cartridge loading, and a 50% larger frame size.   Super 8mm - simply called Super 8, is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older 8mm home movie format. The film is 8mm wide, exactly the same as the older standard 8mm film and also has perforations on only one side, but the dimensions of the perforations are reduced, allowing the exposed area to be increased in size. It featured a better quality image, and was easier to use mainly due to a cartridge-loading system which did not require re-loading halfway through. Super-8 film came in plastic light-proof cartridges containing coaxial supply and take-up spools loaded with 50 feet of film. This was enough film for 2.5 minutes at the U.S. motion picture professional standard of 24 frames per second, and for 3 minutes and 20 seconds of continuous filming at 18 frames per second for home filmmakers use, for a total of approximately 3,600 frames (pictures) per film cartridge.

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Regular 8mm or Super 8 Movie Film to DVD

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Custom designed just for you! DVD Amaray Case printed in color using high resolution text and photo quality graphics.   Disc printing directly on the disc surface in color using high-resolution text and photo quality graphics. See a few of our sample transfers

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