therwol Loc: USA

I was going to do it myself with a movie film scanner for my silent film. My problem is that most of my Super 8 has a magnetic sound stripe on it, and I couldn't think of any easy way to transfer the movies with the sound other than projecting them and recording the sound in real time with the camcorder I would use to capture the movies. This company claims that they will scan the film, record the sound track, and synchronize them into a final video file. I know that this is theoretically possible to do, but I don't think it would be easy. Even a tiny difference in speed between the video and audio would result in a large discrepancy by the end of a 400 foot reel of film. So has anyone used this company, and if so, what did you think?

https://just8mm.com/

BebuLamar

400 ft I think is only about half an hour. Digital audio recorders (all types including using your computer sound card and recording software) speed are very accurate and you can adjust the speed slightly also.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Possibly this? Link https://www.costco.com/home-video-%2526-photo-transfer-service.product.100351455.html

therwol Loc: USA

The old way of doing this was to project the film and record it with something like a camcorder. Since the projector provides the sound in synch with the picture, there is no problem in doing it that way except for video quality. The new way of copying old movies involves scanning every frame and putting it together into a video file. The frames may not play exactly at the same rate that the film was shot. For example, most consumer movies were shot at 16-18 frames per second. The film scanner I have been considering creates video that plays back at 20 frames per second. If I run my film through a projector at 18 frames per second and just record the sound, there is going to be a problem putting the video and sound together. (The two Super 8 sound projectors I have do not have a speed adjustment.). I do realize that audio speed can be adjusted in something like Audacity without changing pitch, and one could put the sound over the video in a good video editor, but the work involved would be more than I have time for. I have hours and hours of Super 8 sound film, basically everything I took when my kids were little. (I eventually gave in and bought a VHS camcorder, but if you want my opinion, the image quality of the film was better. It just got too expensive.) What I really want to know is if the business in question does quality work and if I'm going to get back what I'm looking for.

By the way, Admin moved my post to another section, which I find annoying. I should have known not to put a link into the original post.

therwol Loc: USA

There are many services that can convert movie film to digital video. The one I mention is the first I've found that offers converting Super 8 with sound. If you don't know, this was introduced in the late 70s and was available for about 10 years. There is a magnetic sound stripe on the film that is recorded with a recording head as the film is shot. The projector has a playback head for the sound. You can scan the frames of the film, but you can't "scan" the audio. Unless you record both in real time, you have the job of synchronizing the sound to the video after the fact, not something I have time to screw around with. I doubt if Costo has the time to screw around with it either. The only way to avoid screwing around with it is to project the film and record both the pictures and sound simultaneously with something like a camcorder. I've considered that, but I'm quite sure that scanning would give better images without any flicker.

twowindsbear

Have you tried asking the company how they resolve this issue???

therwol Loc: USA

I had a preliminary discussion with them but didn't get into specifics. I'm going to call them to see if they really know what they're doing. There is more than one way to handle this, project and record in my home, for instance. I'm going to have to be really sure before sending my only copies of these movies to anyone. I won't even go into the risk, though small, of these things getting lost or not returned because the company goes out of business.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

If your location is close to a Costco You can physically take it to them.
I appreciate your apprehension, so take one roll in and determine if you like the results.
I severely doubt that Costco will go out of business anytime soon.
https://www.costcodvd.com/services-and-pricing/movie-film-transfer
They contract with YesVideo for this service.
I have used them numerous times and been pleased with the results.

therwol Loc: USA

[quote=BBurns]If your location is close to a Costco You can physically take it to them.
I appreciate your apprehension, so take one roll in and determine if you like the results.
I severely doubt that Costco will go out of business anytime soon.
https://www.costcodvd.com/services-and-pricing/movie-film-transfer
They contract with YesVideo for this service.
I have used them numerous times and been pleased with the results.[/quote

I just had a long chat with them. They will transfer sound film in real time, just like projecting and capturing with a camcorder. I suspect they use a dedicated machine. I would have preferred some scanning method, but I think that is too complicated with the audio for a place that does mass transfer. Thanks for the link.