Possible New DVD Dubbing Business---How much demand is out there?

[Squashky]

Hey i was thinking of starting a video dubbing business but i was wondering how much of a demand is there for such a business?

are they profitable

thanks for your replies and advice?

[pijetro]

A lot would have to depend on location, demographics and advertisement...
Chances are, somebody's already set a hot dog cart in front of the fitness club...
You'll have to go across the street, make a bigger sign and offer free chili and soda...

Seriously though, it's not as easy as one would expect..Many people in my area are giving a cheap transfer at cut throat rates with shoddy equipment..How can you compete agains $10/hr??
Unfortunately, many people go for the cheaper route.
How do you convince people to spend considerably more for better quality. For the most part, they don't care about your $1000-$10000 investment in video equipment...

[bg63s]

so what are the required tools for a decent conversion business???

[pijetro]

You'll need to first learn the art of restoring...
For the most part, this entails the necessary equipment for decent transfers...

Off the top of my head, Prosumer to professional VCR's, TBC's (time base correctors), Proc amps (processing amplifiers), Multisystem VCR's, settop burners, NTSC monitors...
What about multiple VHS recordings?? Perhaps 5+ or so VCR's for copying simultaneously...I can only guess some sort of amplifier required to run those babys...
Top it off with potential analogue/digital transfers for computer video editing..Of course, you couldn't give your customers cheap brand DVD's in empty covers...Hopefully you have some computer graphics knowledgbase to tag along...

Of course, my knowledge is limited, and for the most part, heresay..But you've got a basic idea of how things might go..

[choirislife923]

i'm also interested in doing this (but web-based), but do you know how the returns are for online? i've seen a bunch of these advertised on eBay auctions, but almost no one buys the service.

[edDV]

Marketing 101

Who is the customer?
What will he pay?
Will he pay? Expectations reasonable?

Will he pay top rates for restoration? Is there a restoration niche?

Sounds like sucking on a lemon to me unless you are looking for a loss business to offset other income.

[choirislife923]

ok, what about i do ûber cheap business...
1) run tape from consumer-grade hifi stereo VCR through camcorder passthrough onto PC
2) capture in final cut pro and make generic 5 minute chapter marks, then send to iDVD to make pretty menus
3) burn onto decent grade DVD and throw a case in.

$10/hr?

like what pijetro said, most people dont care about quality, they just want their memories transferred onto another format that will last them a decade or so. i'm only giving what the customer wants

[edDV]

ok, what about i do ûber cheap business...
1) run tape from consumer-grade hifi stereo VCR through camcorder passthrough onto PC
2) capture in final cut pro and make generic 5 minute chapter marks, then send to iDVD to make pretty menus
3) burn onto decent grade DVD and throw a case in.

$10/hr?

like what pijetro said, most people dont care about quality, they just want their memories transferred onto another format that will last them a decade or so. i'm only giving what the customer wants

That would take 8 hours for one VHS EP tape. $80? are you kidding? $5/tape maybe but the quality better be good or I'm not paying.

[choirislife923]

That would take 8 hours for one VHS EP tape. $80? are you kidding? $5/tape maybe but the quality better be good or I'm not paying.

sounds like a plan, but i dont know many people who store precious memories on EP mode on a T-160...all the people I know use SP at T-60 or T-120.

[edDV]

That would take 8 hours for one VHS EP tape. $80? are you kidding? $5/tape maybe but the quality better be good or I'm not paying.

sounds like a plan, but i dont know many people who store precious memories on EP mode on a T-160...all the people I know use SP at T-60 or T-120.

Camcorder tapes? Then I'm going to be super fussy.

Don't forget the VCR maintenance. You'll have to do it yourself. You won't be able to afford a tech.

[choirislife923]

Camcorder tapes?

yeah...old school full-sized VHS shoulder camcorders 8)

[pijetro]

@choirislife923
At first, it might seem simple enough to do all of this through your computer...In fact, I've done it for a while myself.
Unfortunately, your tying up a valuable resource. In fact, it's lot of money that could have gone to dedicated hardware equipment. On top of that, the computer has an uncanny way of steering you away from other productive things...
Hardware is the way to go...

Your trying to drive a Fiero on the Auto-bonn highway...You won't get too far...

[ZAPPER]

As an "on the side" business at an existing business like a printshop or video rental shop or some other mom and pop shop, you might be able to get a foothold offering old family tapes to DVD as a straight copy for a per unit or per movie footage price. Somehow I think that there may be some issues offering to to make copies of comercial DVDs.


I always kind of thought that a nice veiwing room with an editing/copy bay at the rear would be a nice gig. Provide seating for like 10 or so folks and let them watch the family movies while you capture them the first time. Take notes about who is who in the films/tapes when and where and what event it was and so on. Then provide them with a raw "archival" of the originals and sell them on an edited version that could include text, music, special effects, gags or whatever.

You would have to be a people person for sure to want to get that involved though. I have seen a couple of aniversery gifts from the younger generation to the grandparents that were compliations of old home movies and photos put together real well. But these are long projects I bet.

Of the two that I know the most about, the original tapes and films went to 2.25(?) pro video tape first. I don't know why for sure but I think it is still analog at this point. VHS tapes where made and then the DVDs. I don't know if there was an advantage to the big tape or if it was just old equipment? But that is how I saw it done at a fairly new church. (two years ago)

[choirislife923]

In fact, it's lot of money that could have gone to dedicated hardware equipment.

well the thing is, i just recently thought about opening a conversion operation.

being an amateur filmmaker, it was natural for me to get a DV camcorder and Final Cut. Unfortunately, after doing some stupid stuff (*tip* never try to change miniDV tapes using one hand only while you're standing upright), my camcorder dropped and I broke the tape deck and the CCD inside it. So now, its only good for using as a passthrough for digitizing video.

it's not that it could've gone to dedicated hardware, but that it wasn't going there in the first place.

if i really wanted to be cheap and fast, I could load up Magic DVD mode inside iDVD and let it capture/encode/burn onto a DVD-R in realtime.

[ZAPPER]

choirislife923
Put out an add saying that you have just enough time each week to convert one family tape to DVD and it is first come first serve. Test the waters slowly. Myself? I am dying just trying to get a few minutes of my kids footage out to the inlaws and outlaws. What a pain, and the pressure of trying to meet a deadline and collect payment? Forgettaboud dit.

[Squashky]

I guess i might have said that wrongly in the beginning but thanks for the informative posts. But is there demand for DVD/CD duplications in a New York suburb area.
I would get a DVD dub tower and an auto printer for about 3000

and at $1 a DVD i would need to make about 4000 DVDs to make a profit. is that due able? do people actually need this done.