Transfer your old home movies to DVD

What's Included | Pricing | Order Preparation | FAQs

Allen's Camera Shop, Inc. uses all broadcast quality cameras, tele-cine projectors and professional editing equipment to produce the finest picture quality. With a full-time staff of experienced technicians dedicated to film transfers using the latest technology available, Allen's Camera Shop, Inc. can actually improve the quality of your fading films when you transfer them to DVD.

Over time, movie film deteriorates. Not only will the projected picture fade, but the film itself can become brittle and snap. Digitizing and transferring your home movies to DVD will ensure that your memories will last a lifetime.

Allen's Camera Shop, Inc. uses a proprietary system for editing, removal of blank spots and correcting color, contrast and brightness. In addition, our production value is second to none. Your DVD will include chapter points, menus and background music. It is this attention to detail that sets Allen's Camera Shop, Inc. apart from the others.

What's Included with Your Home Movie Transfer

Cleaning

The tiniest speck of dust or dirt will look enormous on your TV screen. We clean all 8mm and Super 8mm movie film to assure you get the clearest picture possible.

Splicing

As your film gets older, the splices you may have applied years ago may not hold as well as they used to. Should those splices break, we will repair them (within reason) at no extra charge.

If you have three or more 50-foot reels, they will be spliced onto 200 or 400-foot reels. Each reel will be labeled, indicating which 50-foot reels have been spliced into it. Empty reels, with writing on them, will be returned.

Transfer & Monitoring

Your film is digitally transferred directly to computer using HD quality cameras. Trained technicians monitor your entire transfer for picture framing and focus

Editing & Enhancement

Our editors view your entire transfer scene by scene, eliminating blank footage, and enhancing brightness, contrast and color on our exclusive transfer system.

Opening Title

We begin your home movie production with your own personalized title (Example: "The Smith Family Memories"). This same title will be imprinted on the face of your DVD.

Background Music

We will add background hi-fi Dolby digital music to the entire length of the transfer. This can be from our library of family-oriented, easy listening music or you can provide your own CD to bring your movies to life. See our additional services for supplying your own audio or custom audio to your transfer.

Your DVD

DVD–R

When transferring to a DVD, we use the highest quality DVD-R media that has been tested to get the maximum quality results with our equipment.

Conversion Process

Your film will be converted to DVD utilizing VBR (Variable Bitrate) encoding technology which produces an overall higher and more consistent quality level than Constant Bit Rate encoding.

Custom DVD Imprint

The same Opening Title that you choose will be custom printed on the face of your DVD.

Thumbnail Menu & Chapter Points

A visual "thumbnail" menu at the beginning, showing a picture of the first frame of each three-minute chapter point.

Movie Film Transfer Pricing

For the highest quality transfer, film is transferred directly to our computer editing system, where it is review and enhanced scene by scene for color and contrast. Titles and music are then added before burning to DVD.

Additional Services

To further enhance your film transfer, Allen's Camera Shop, Inc. offers the following services at an additional charge:

Preparing Your Home Movies for Transfer

If you have any questions regarding your movie film transfer, please call us at 215-547-2841.

 FAQs About Your Movie Film Transfer

• What will I get back?

When your transfer is completed, all of your movie film will be returned along with any boxes in which the reels were stored. The film will be cleaned, spliced onto larger reels where necessary, and renumbered. Your transfer will be on a Hi-Grade DVD-R with a Deluxe plastic storage case.

• Can I have my film returned on the original 50-foot reels unspliced?

Yes. Add $.03 per foot to the transfer price.

• How much film can fit on a DVD?

Reg 8mm = Approximately 1600 feet

Super 8mm = Approximately 2000 feet

16mm (24 fps) = Approximately 4000 feet

16mm (18 fps) = Approximately 2500 feet

• How can I estimate how much footage of film I have?

3-inch reel = 50 feet

4-inch reel = 100 feet

5-inch reel = 200 feet

6-inch reel = 300 feet

7-inch reel = 400 feet

• My projector only accepts 200-foot reels. Can I have all my 50-foot film reels spliced onto 200-foot reels?

Yes. Add $.01 per foot to the transfer price.

• Can I have specific scenes edited out of the film transfer?

During our film transfer process we do not provide scene editing. You may, however, do your own editing before submitting your order to us. See our editing services for post transfer editing.

• My film contains scenes that are very light and/or very dark. Can you fix that?

If you are transfering your film to DVD, we can enhance the picture and have a better chance of improving the picture on our editing system.

• I have Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, slides, and photos I want transferred onto the same DVD. Can this be done?

Yes. Different media formats can be transferred onto the same DVD. See Repeating Video/Media in film transfer additional services for details.

• Can video recorded on my camcorder be added into film transfers?

Yes. See our section on videotape editing for details.

• Our film reel box's say that the enclosed reels contain only 25 feet of film. Is this so?

The original film was purchased it actually contained 25 feet of 16mm film (although it had the proper amount of sprocket holes for R8mm film). After the first 25 feet of film was shot, the camera was opened and the film spool was flipped to the other side, and the other 25 feet of film was shot. During processing, the film is split down the middle, resulting in two lengths of 8mm film, each with a single row of perforations along one edge, and glued together on the reel which you now have containing 50 feet of film.

• Can I have extra copies made for my family?

Yes. See additional services for details.

• Will my DVD play on my DVD player?

DVD-R disks are used for transferring your images to DVD. In order to take advantage of this technology, your DVD player MUST be compatible with DVD-R. 99% of DVD players manufactured in the past two years will play your DVD transfer. Please check your DVD player manual for compatibility or contact the manufacturer.

• What is DVD-R?

DVD-R is a disk onto which information (your video) can be written. Think of it as the same type of CD-R you may use to copy music files on your computer, however, the DVD-R can hold much more data.

• I have an editing program on my PC, can I edit the files on the DVD?

The files on your completed DVD are not editable. If you want editable files you may want to consider having us transfer your film and/or videotape to .avi (most popular) or another type of video file. We can accomidate whatever editing needs you may have.

• I had my film transferred to VHS many years ago. Should I transfer that VHS videotape to DVD or should I have my film transferred again directly to DVD?

We can transfer your VHS videotape to DVD but you should consider having you films converted to DVD. The picture quality from our "Tailor-Made system" is astonishingly better.

• I have old 16mm movie film. It was shot at 18 (fps)frames per second. I understand that most projectors run at 24 fps and make the film run in fast motion, looking like an old Charlie Chaplin movie. Is this true?

We can deliver your film at the correct speed so that you can enjoy you movies at the speed that it was filmed at.