Home Movie (reel) to videotape or DV cam

[newbie2112]

Hi, I am looking for any equipment that will let me transfer my old home movies to my DV cam so i can get them on cd or video tape. I am posting here because I have searched the net but cant find any info about this. Any info would be greatly appreciated :)

[vhelp]

newbie2112,

just so long as you don't jgo thinking that DV (or your DV can) is
going to MAKE your so called "home movies" (analog) better or
improved quality. Cause it just ain't so. Too much of this belief
going on around here. Just here to clear this up before you get too
envolved w/ your DV endeaver and only later pulling your hair out cause
you didn't get DVD quality. Remember, GIGO.

I know, i've done quite a few small sample withs mine. I have the
Canon ZR-10 DV cam. Its a great little TIVO, I mean unit. he, he...
I capture from DVD and Satalitte (some vhs test stuff) and quality is
very good. But, I do not claim it to give me dvd quality, or claim that
it will so call, improve it. It wont!!

From time, to time, I post samples of my work in progress at my wesite.
It's not updated (again, I've had problems w/ this time, dialup, and I
had to delete/uninstall my MS Frontpage, which I use to maintain my
website) But, I do post via my FTP to my website. I'm planning on putting
up some sample this evening or weekend.
Am DV cam recording to a miniDV tape of "Pat Benetar, a freeview event"
from satalite. I'm curious to see how the quality comes out in various
encoding processes that I use (ie, vcd/svcd)

Also, you don't want to put something that was done on tape, onto tape
again. You'd be contradicting yourself if you do this, hence the quality
fading away due to tape, bla, bla, bla.
You're best bet is vcd or svcd, though if doing from a vhs source, than
vcd IS your best bet for this embarkment.

Also note your DV cam's A/V specs. You did specifiy any of it.
you may or should be able to utilize your A/V analog connections on your
DV cam to connect to your vhs (or cable, etc) and record to a miniDV tape.
This is what I recommend, vs. the passthrough for this process's source,
which is vhs. why, cause the more you have to feed the vhs source back
into your DV cam the more you'll ware the vhs tape (8mm??) and start to
see line and other artifacts. You're obviously a newbie to this, so you'll
def.atly make mistakes, and the recoding to miniDV tapes once is THE way
to go for YOU vs. the passthrough (if you have one to begin with)
Those so called experts that do this a lot and have a lot of expernece
in this field will prob. opbt for the passthrough. That's ok for them.
But for you, your best bet is the miniDV tape route. You'll be happy in
the long run.

Ok, you didn't say what. . .you are using:
* OS system
* your system specs (motherboard/cpu, etc)
* DV equipment (DV bridge or DV cam or something else
* software (editors/encoders/burners, etc)
* anthing else you guys can add to this list. (my fingers R tired)

I do a lot of this DV capping and stuff, and I never get those nasty
macro blocks in any of my encodes, and my videos are alwyas smooth.
I don't know why other's here do, even those that have ben here for the last
year and (assuming) they built up a lot of encoidng experinece or tech.'s
that they should have figured out how to eliminate macro blocks in their
encodes. oh, wellp.!
Heck, i'm evening creating a 2nd PC setup just for encoding video so I can
surf and do my other chores on my main pc. I'm calculating that I can do
about 4 or more video encoding (or 4+ cd's a day) give or take a few odds
and ends, etc.

here's at least one tip for capping via firewire. . .
* keep everything else (apps) closed when you start an firewire capping

Well, you'll learn (slowly) as you go.

-vhelp

[invisibler]

hey newbie2112-
I'm kind of fascinated that vhelp posted such a long message and yet he didn't say anything related to answering your question...to transfer your film movies to DV on the most basic level you must simply project your films and then record the projection with your DV camera...because, to prevent distortion, you would ideally want both the camera and the projector to both be in exactly the same spot, but this is physically impossible, you can project on to a surface from an angle and have your camera on a tripod pointed at the projection surface from exactly the opposite angle...

you can also get an item that helps you in this process...its is essentially a box with a mirror in it...you point the projector into one end of the box and you point your camera into the other end...
here's a link to one such device on eBay but you should probably do a little research of your own: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1346111946

these techniques could yield perfectly satisfactory results and you may as well try and experiment, but there are two more expensive approaches you could take to getting your film movies on DV...one option would be to send your film reels to a professional film-transfer service...they usually charge about $.09 or $.10 per foot and can output to DV tape or DVD...here is a link to one place that i found by typing in google:

home movies transfer film to video

http://www.film-to-video.com/#The%20right%20way%20to%20make%20a%20DVD

...now the most expensive way to to transfer film to video which would be overkill for your purposeses is the way that hollywood transfers their 35mm films to DVD... they use a film scanner which digitally photographs the film 1 frame at a time...then the frames are compiled into digital video...this sghould get you started..have fun

[vhelp]

hmmmm, invisibler, or should I say, stevemei,

Did I mistake your post?
I usually ASSume that old home movies are 8mm or tapes from those
older models video cams, such as my brothers from 7 years ago.
When I hear him talk about his cam movies, he'll usually go on...
how can I transfer my "old home movies" to DVD. So, i just
ASSume, BOME that THIS poster was taling about the same thing,
but maybe I was wrong in ASSuming, he, he....
steve, were you talking about the home movies that invisibler
was correcting on?? he, he...

No effense.

-vhelp

[Innershield]

Look at the subject. It says "reel".

[invisibler]

vhelp-
nope, I'm not stevemei...I don't know who that is...anyway, I didn't mean any disrespect...and I now understand that you interpereted what newbie2112 said as referring to old video home movies and you were just trying to help...I thought he was referring to film...later

[vhelp]

invisibler,

sorry about that, stee... was from another post I had just
made about that time, and i guess it got cought in the
cut / paste. oh, and no affense taken, he, he...

Innershield,
yes, i must be blind or stupid!! he, he... (reel)
I was such an azz last night. Had lots of things going on
over here and i was forcing myself to stay up late (4am)

-vhelp

[Rich927]

Go to a good Camera store and ask about a service that will record your reels onto a VCR tape. It's costly. Or, you can look for a light box that projects the reel image onto a screen that you can then record using your camcorder. It does it by using a mirror that reverses the image on to an opaque screen. I used such a system to record both still and reel images. Box cost about $50.00.