Converting an 8mm to DVD - Do it Yourself or Hire a Professional

We all have a great yearning to watch our old home movies and recap the events of times gone by with all of our family members and relatives. Is it getting harder to find the right equipment required to play back all those memories? A family film is wonderful for pleasant remembrances; but it can degrade slowly over time. The right solution is transferring your aging 8mm movies to a new format. It will help you preserve all of your memories for future generations. But, how to do this?

8mm to DVD. It’s a great way to convert your 8mm films into high quality DVD, but the most important thing is to digitize the video. Many people have purchased new generation camcorders who have bought 8mm cameras in the past. The new generation cameras are helping them to record the playback footage of a projected image onto a wall or screen.

There are two aspects of getting an 8mm film transferred into a DVD. The first one is do-it-yourself and the second one is, hiring a professional conversion service.

Let’s have a look at both the aspects.

Do-it-yourself:

If you want to get the best results, set up an 8mm projector along with a screen, and switch off any other type of lighting in the room you want to record your old film. Make sure that the projector is correctly focused by using calibration film slides. You can find out the best possible viewing distance from the projector screen and make sure that the projected image is properly illuminated.

Whether, you have a DV camera, a Smartphone, or a digital camcorder, you can capture the footage shown on the screen. Now, you can manually digitize all the films you have. It’s better to use a sturdy surface to rest the camcorder. The best thing you can do is, use a tripod for a perfect placement of your camera. It will take a few attempts to set up your camera for lighting, contrast, etc. Now ensure that, the autofocus is turned off. It is better to manually focus the camera onto the screen.

Advantages:

You don’t have to search for a professional

You can record, according to your convenience

It’s a great experience to try this kind of activity at home

Disadvantages:

You are not a professional cameraman. Trying to record or digitize the old movies may take too much time

You have to buy an expensive camcorder

You don’t have the technical knowledge to convert the film

You may end up with recording nothing

You don’t have the right set up for recording a film

You will record the flickering that the projector causes.

Hiring a professional service provider:

A specialist in the 8mm format can convert and customize the DVD according to your need

They don’t charge a large amount

You will have a very high quality conversion, because most of the companies use high quality and professional grade 8mm film to DVD devices

Certain companies have equipment to capture the 8mm film frame by frame.

They can also transfer Betamax to DVD, VHS to DVD, Hi8mm to DVD, MiniDV to DVD, etc.

No matter which method you choose, the best thing is to transfer the physical film into digital video before the film deteriorates too much. By hiring a professional, you can save your time and effort that will pay dividends on your family movie nights!

Harish Douglas is associated with Kuligs-kreations.com that specializes in transferring Betamax to Dvd and 8mm to Dvd and files. They also create a backup copy of your video in case you lose your copy.