Film Transfer Service – Technical Details

reels of different sizes three inches five inches and seven inches 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

Click here to see the difference between transfer methods

Our Process and Equipment

High quality film transfer - offering HD transfers

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.

Please see the Film Length table to calculate how much content you have.

We use HD and frame-by-frame telecine equipment with integrated optics and video cameras for maximum image quality.

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.

The sound track is captured real-time and synchronized with 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.

New! HD transfer:
We transfer the film using our 1080p (1920x1080) frame-by-frame telecine equipment using the Blackmagic Motion JPEG codec.
Transfers can be output in HD or downconverted to SD rendering higher quality standard definition video.

Output Formats

High quality movies - offering HD format

After your film is digitized we edit out leaders and large 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 an external hard drive. Uncompressed files occupy about 15GB per hour of video (interlaced) at the default bit rate of 4Mb/s and resolution of 720x480.

New! HD formats:
A. Blu-ray discs
B. Downconverted to SD progressive scan full quality digital video files (AVI or QT, 4/Mb/s 480p (720x480))
C. For Mac users only, using Apple Pro-Res 422 compression we can deliver HD files at SD file sizes
D. Full uncompressed (up to 10 bit) HD files produced to your exact specifications.
Service D is designed for professional video editors.
Note: File size can be up to 500GB per 1 hour of content!.

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 video clips in the proper format and upload them to the online gallery of your choice. Please provide your user information and note that clips may be up to 10 minutes long and up to 100MB in size.

Commercial Services

Visit our commercial services site

Sample transfer and restoration of 8mm film

- Digital Pickle
- (415) 861-4565
- 1256 Folsom St.
- San Francisco, CA 94103

Video Transfer
Film Transfer
Audio Transfer
Photo Scanning
Restoration
DVD Slideshows
Photo Books
Slideshows
GSA Certified

We use dedicated commercial equipment complete with noise reduction and image stabilizationwhen we transfer home movies to DVD. Our process produces exceptional video quality. Digital Pickle can perform professional video editing and DVD authoring to your requirements. We are able to handle high volume video archiving projects and transfer video tapes to DVDs as well as uncompressed video to external hard drives or mini-DVs in AVI, Quicktime, MPEG4 (H.264), and any required proprietary format for editing and archiving.

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.

We digitize and convert records and transfer to CD any audio cassettes, reel-to-reel audio tapes and DAT and output the digital audio noisefiles to high quality audio CDs. Level optimization and track separation are part of our standard service. We also offer audio cleanup services to reduce noise, hiss, and to normalize audio levels for audio cassette to CD transfer. When we convert records the same service is available plus the optional noise reduction service may become very handy.

We scan and digitize photos, slides, and negatives of any format using high-end commercial scanners that produce unmatched image quality. Our expert digital imaging technicians spend time with each individual frame to ensure ideal exposure, focus, color fidelity, cropping, and orientation. We create files suitable for online photo sharing as well as CDs or DVDs with image files and folders.

We can perform digital retouching on any photo or digital image. Image retouching is performed by our expert technicians manually using Adobe Photoshop. Since photo touch up requirements vary greatly, we quote our work on an hourly basis and most projects take much less than an hour. Photo Editing is often requested to remove or add objects or people to an original image resulting in a very different final image. This work is also quoted on an hourly basis for the same reasons as photo touch up.

Digital Pickle specializes in producing spectacular, flicker-free DVD slide shows with interactive features and your selection of music. The final product is a DVD disc that is compatible with almost all DVD players and can be controlled just like a movie (i.e. pause, fast-forward, etc.). DVD photo slide show, or Slideshow DVD, are also known as: DVD photo album, video slide show, DVD photo slideshow, family slide show, photomontage, wedding photo montage, or digital photo montage. Essentially, a slide to video conversion is what it is about. These all refer to the same great movie that we create out of the compilation of your memories as captured in photos, slides, negatives and even clips of video and film.

Sharing all your digital images on the Internet or on your computer is nice. How about leafing through a glossy full color custom designed digital photo album with pictures that will never fade or discolor? How about sending these albums to family and friends at special occasions to preserve and share the memories? Well, this is what a photo book is all about. Digital Pickle offers you the full capability to unleash your creativity in creating custom designed long lasting beautiful photobooks with complete control over the layout, backgrounds, themes, and cover types.

We scan and restore photos, slides and negatives in any format and size. We convert (and enhance) any video and audio content to digital media in any required format, we transfer and restore 8mm and 16mm to digital media in full high definition, we produce DVD slide shows, photo books, and many custom photo gifts. We produce professional digital video productions and we duplicate CDs and DVDs. We perform commercial digital imaging services including video production and post-production services, document scanning - both standard and delicate handling, CD/DVD duplication, and conversion to digital records of large archives. We provide services to government agencies under GSA schedule 67 (Cameras, Photographic Printers and Related Supplies & Services, Digital and Film-Based) SINs 19 100 - contract # GS-02F-0066W.