Video Transfer Service – Technical Details

Professional film transfer services. Transfer video tapes to DVD or hard drive. VHS, S-VHS, VHS-C, Beta, Laserdisc, Video-8, Hi-8, Digital-8, Mini-DV, Betamax, Betacam SP, U-Matic, DVcam, DigiBetacam, DVC-Pro.

We use dedicated commercial equipment complete with noise reduction and image stabilization when 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.

Video Tape Formats

New! We convert HD video shot on HD video cameras and recorded on mini-DV tapes to SD video files or DVDs.

Digital Pickle transfers any type of video tapes to DVD and as full quality digital video files onto external hard drives for editing. Please mouse over the different formats in the table below in order to see a visual image of each tape type.

Digital Pickle transfers almost all types of video tapes to DVD
consumer formats	professional formats
VHS	DVcam
S-VHS	Betacam SP
VHS-C	U-Matic (3/4")
Beta (Betamax)	1" tape
Laser Disc	DVC-Pro
Video-8	Digital Betacam
Digital-8
Mini-DV

Our Process and Equipment

Video tape cassettes of all types are transferred on commercial tape decks. We always transfer the content first to a computer at maximum quality where we can edit out blank stretches and clean the signal (if possible) to produce better results.
We do not use machines that transfer your tape directly to a DVD. These systems do not allow for editing of content or for dealing with tape issues.

From the content on our computers we can create DVDs and full quality digital video files transferred to external hard drive so you can edit the video content later.

After your videos are digitized we edit out blank spots and perform quality checks to make sure that the video and audio operate in perfect sync and at the correct gain. We then burn to high quality DVD-R discs that are compatible with almost all DVD players.

Open reel tapes are transferred using services of adjacent commercial video labs call for quote).

We keep a copy of your compressed content for 3 months as backup. We are unable to keep a copy of your full quality (uncompressed) content due to the high disk space requirement.

Output Formats

By default we set up your DVD for auto-play. Chapter points at 5-minute intervals may be requested so you can quickly advance or retreat to any point in the movie. Please note the DVDs can hold up to 2 hours of content. Therefore, VHS tapes recorded at slow speeds may require more than one DVD.

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

You can edit your video by copying the *.VOB files to your hard drive and renaming them to *.MPG. However, 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 (20 minutes only), or on an external hard drive. Uncompressed files occupy 12GB per hour of video at the default bit rate of 4Mb/s and resolution of 720x480.
Note: You are welcome to send us your own hard drive. However, if it is formatted as FAT32, we must re-format the drive (AVI & QT files are too large) with resulting loss of previous data.

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

- 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.