Video digitisation services

[overlandermatt]

Hi,

There seem to be a few video digitisation services that pop up on my Facebook feed. I have a box full of old videos and film of different formats and just wondered how good these services are. Has anyone given it a go and have recommendations.

I have held the view for many years that technology is going to make this process easier and now really could be the time.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[familydar]

I used a local* specialist a good few years back to digitise cine film, but I did my parents' old camcorder tapes myself using the tapes in a vhs caddy to play them in a vhs player which I connected to a dvd recorder and a tv.  Time consuming but it wasn't difficult once I'd worked out what I was doing and meant I had full control.  And helped by the fact that I'm a bit if a hoarder - "I won't chuck out this old piece of tech, it might come in useful one day".

* local - it was important to me that I knew exactly where the reels were, I didn't want to risk them getting lost in the post, local meant I could deliver and collect and meet the specialist in person.

Jane :-)

[familydar]

Something else I should have said in my previous post regarding "film of different formats".  I've made the assumption it's cine film.  I ran into problems with the first company I went to, they said they could do the job but it was actually beyond their capabilities because my cine file was 9.5mm and they were geared up to the more common 8mm (super 8 ).  Apart from the film being a different size, the sprocket holes are positioned differently, they're also a different pitch and the number of frames per second is different too.  I didn't know this before I entrusted my films to them and they ended up snapping some, which I only discovered after I got the reels back.  The firm refused to refund me let alone compensate me for the damage (which they denied) so I went the Section 75 route (moral PAY BY CREDIT CARD) and was successful.

Jane :-)

[Biggles50]

On the contrary, it is now more difficult to transfer tapes and cine as there are simply far less companies providing the service.

Twenty years ago I could and did transfer all my various video tapes to digital media but today I no longer have the analogue capture systems necessary.

Cine is a different proposition, the best way is via a company who scan each individual frame rather that use a digital camera to capture the cine as it is projected.

Good luck.

[overlandermatt]

Thanks for the comments Family Dar and Biggles. I have a few formats but lots of camcorder 8mm stuff. The camcorder got pinched during a burglary 20 years ago. Strangely enough we were experimenting with a analogue to digital conversion but the files were massive. Storage has moved on since those days so hopefully the files will be more manageable. I'm hoping there will be AI tools to help clean up the video too.

The first issue is trusting this work to someone - I was hoping for a recommendation. Perhaps it is just worth trying one tape to see how it goes.

Should be interesting to see what there is...

[familydar]

If you don't know what's on the camcorder tapes it may be worth obtaining a caddy so you can play them in a vcr.  I presume you no longer have a machine to play them on but you might find one in a charity shop, on freecycle/freegle/gumtree or fb marketplace.  Whereabouts in the country are you?

Jane

[Biggles50]

I had a Video8 camcorder, then a Hi8 camcorder and then a MiniDV camcorder until 2009 when HD editing first became a practical method for the home video hobbyist.

I started Computer Editing Video in the early 90’s and even had some articles published.  My video capture card was a Miro DC30+ then with the advent of MiniDV a Firewire card was added.

I also had a Canopus AVDC 100 capture device which had a variety of analogue inputs and this was very useful for capturing VHS tapes and all Camcorder formats.  What I am leading up to is that they may still be available second hand and might work on an older PC.

All my Video8 and Hi8 tapes were digitised by my system and yes the video files are massive and in MPG format which is the same as DVD.  The MiniDV tapes I captured in MP4 format which is BluRay standards.

The beauty today is that massive storage does not cost the earth and that all my old digitised files fit on a 2Tb hard drive which is backed up to another 2Tb hard drive.

Good luck in your quest and do please let us know the results.

[overlandermatt]

Thank you for your thoughts on the video transfer. I've sadly no longer got any of the equipment.

I'm not too sure I really want to buy more kit for doing this although I won't rule it out. I did some high definition negative scanning a few years ago which was particularly tiresome but good to have completed.

I'm now in the East Midlands should anyone know of anyone that offers this service.

Many thanks again.

Matt

[WelshGen]

Machines are still available https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/bn_447374
Try asking on this forum https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=9;t=000111
And as someone suggested try Gumtree https://www.gumtree.com/for-sale/uk/srpsearch+8mm+cine
Don't know who or where this firm is but they have a chat room https://www.cinereeltransfer.co.uk/