Film Transfer Service – Service Details

We Digitize Movie Film – convert film to DVD. We convert 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm film using high fidelity digital transfer technology. Our aerial-capture process produces uniform lighting, unmatched clarity, and stunning color depth. Your film is converted to digital video in the form of full quality digital video files and/or a playable DVD disc that is compatible with almost all DVD players.

Film projection in a dark room on a screen has unique visual characteristics and our film to DVD transfer process is aimed at achieving that effect as much as possible. Get your home movies to DVD with Digital Pickle

We perform HD film transfer of 8mm and 16mm film reels. We transfer 8mm to DVD, we perform full Super-8 conversion (super 8 movie to DVD) including sound, and we also convert 16mm to DVD. There is actually 8mm video tape too – which we convert to DVD. In this section we are describing 8mm film to DVD conversion. See movie samples in the Film Transfer Methods Camparison page.

Digital Pickle transfers film formats to DVD
8mm	16mm	Super 8mm

Standard Reel Sizes

Film Preparation

Prior to digitizing your film we perform minor repairs, add leader, and splice the film as necessary. We then carefully clean your film with anti-static solvent and visually inspect it for dust and lint. Multiple small reels are consolidated into larger reels for ease of transferring and storage.

Film Transfer

Our process uses an aerial capture method and a 3CCD camera. This combination produces extremely high quality, flicker-free video with uniform light distribution and perfect focus. It has the following distinct advantages: Frame-by-frame process (instead of real-time): film frames are digitized one by one, then reassembled into a digital video file that operates at the correct frame rate without any frame blending or interference.

8mm film transfer in 'real-time' usually produces low quality results.

New! We offer HD film transfer services, producing high definition movies (1080p) at low prices.

See movie samples in the Film Transfer Methods Camparison page.

Standard Definition or High Definition?

Things to consider when transferring film to video.

Standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) both have advantages. HD offers increased contrast range and higher resolution, which leads to better detail and a more natural appearance. But while smaller, interlaced SD televisions are quickly being phased out in favor of larger, progressive HD flat screens, SD television sets are still what you will find in most of your parents' homes to watch TV on. They are cheap, still easy to find new or used, and can have a great picture under the right circumstances. HD sets are more expensive and, generally, do only a poor-to-marginal job of upconverting Standard Definition material.

So which do I choose for my home movies?
Well, the easiest answer would be "whatever you currently have." But that answer might not be the correct answer in the next few years or, in some places, even the next few months. If you look in the electronics sections of most stores, the tell-tale signs of a digital future are hard to ignore. The wider selection of HD flat screens generally outnumbers tube-type SD sets by a factor of 20:1 and digital is now mandated by the FCC for all broadcast stations in the United States. If you have your footage scanned to SD, it will be lower resolution and interlaced and will only look correct on an interlaced display, such as an older, SD television set typically found in your parent's den or living room. But if your footage is scanned to High Definition, then you have a choice of progressive HD or interlaced SD because HD footage can always be down-coverted to SD in the computer much better than SD can be up-converted to HD during playback on an HD monitor.

The shape of things to come.....
But whether you transfer to either High Definition or Standard Definition, there are some other things to consider. The aspect ratio, that is the "shape", of HD and SD is totally different. SD is 4:3, while HD is 16:9 in proportion. But home movies have a totally different "shape" and it fits neither SD nor HD ideally. And here's the bigger surprise: Even if you project the original film in your living room using Grandpa's old Brownie projector, you STILL don't have a perfect "match" for the original film frame and there is considerable cut-off due to the undersized gate on the movie projector. This made production of the projector easier but at the sacrifice of much detail that exists on the outer edges but never seen.

If you are going to watch your movies on an older, Standard Definition television, then you certainly want to employ a transfer with an enlarged gate. But guess what? Even that doesn't tell the whole story! An HD transfer reveals even more of the image that is lost because of the limited 4:3 aspect ratio inherent in all SD transfers!

Of course, if you do transfer to HD, then you end up with black bars on the left and right sides of the image but the advantage is that you see 100% of the film frame with no information loss. When you consider the added bonus of greater detail and a smoother, more natural image, the advantages of an HD transfer becomes obvious. If the black bars on the left and right bother you, then you can have the 16:9 frame filled by zooming in during transfer. If so, then remember it is better to cut off people's feet rather than their heads! But the black bars are really the better option due to zero information loss.

Color Correction

We use a digital process to remove color casts (typically red, yellow, or blue). We also try to compensate for under- or over-exposed film.

Sound Film

The sound track is captured real-time and married (synchronized) to the video file. Audio quality on 8mm film is fairly limited. On 16mm film audio quality is better and has more enhancement potential using our video editing service. Since original sound track on film is mono, we split the signal and create simulated stereo so that the sound will come from both channels.

When we transfer 8mm movies to DVD they are silent. Super-8 film may have sound. You may want to consider adding a sound track to the home movie. This optional service is available at Digital Pickle.

Final Product

After your film is digitized we edit out leaders and blank spots and perform a detailed quality check. We then burn to high quality DVD-R discs that are compatible with almost all DVD players.

By default we set up your DVD for auto-play and we install a chapter point at the beginning of each reel so you can quickly advance or retreat to any point in the movie. A single DVD disc holds up to 2 hours of video, which equals about 1600' of 8mm film transfer or 3200' of 16mm film.

We do not install any copyright protection, so you are free to make copies of your DVD.

If you plan to do any serious editing it is best to use full quality digital video files ("uncompressed" AVI or QuickTime). We can provide these files on mini-DV, DVD-ROM, or better yet an external hard drive. Note that uncompressed files occupy about 15GB per hour of video at the default bit rate of 4Mb/s and resolution of 720x480.

Even if you don't have immediate plans to edit your video we recommend that you preserve an uncompressed master copy of your film. It will be invaluable in the future.

We can prepare your clips in the proper format and upload them to Phanfare, YouTube, and MyspaceTV. Please provide your user information and note that clips may be up to 10 minutes long and up to 100MB in size.

8mm or 16mm Film Transfer Prices

item		details	Price	Options and Comments
Per foot transfer ORDER		Frame by frame transfer with corrections	$0.30	Add $0.25 for film with sound. High-Def transfers @ $0.40 per foot
3" reel (50 ft) ORDER		Most common reel	$15	Transfer price does not include output media
Playable DVD ORDER		Up to 2 hours (~1600 ft of 8mm film)	$10	We also transfer to miniDV
AVI or QT to hard drive ORDER		Full quality digital video to external hard drive	$20/hour	Useful for editing. You may provide the drive, or we'll sell you one. 1 hour of AVI or QT requires up to 15GB
Hand crafted navigation menu ORDER		For playable DVD	$25	Great for navigating reels and movie segments. Custom designed graphic and animated menus available at additional price
Title slide ORDER		At start of movie or between reels and segments	$3
Editing service ORDER		per hour	$75	Enhancements, pro color correction, custom menu design, etc.

We offer many more service options. Please click on the ORDER NOW button at the upper right of this page to use our secure shopping cart. You may also refer to the detailed information available at our Film Transfer web pages.