My father is trying to get a bunch of 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm film rolls digitized and transferred to DVD. He’s been using Costco‘s service, but so far they’re not doing very well. He’s sent in several rolls, waited a while to get them back, and then when they come back they’re out of focus and have other problems. He sent them back, and they redid them, but only one of the rolls came back decent, so now he’s sending them back for a third go at it.
What’s interesting here is that Costco’s service appears to be hit and miss. That is, they don’t have a systemic problem that causes all the films to be transferred in poor form, and sometimes they can get it perfect. But if they’re capable of getting it perfect sometimes, why haven’t they got the process to the point where they get it perfect all the time? And it’s not just certain films, because they got one wrong and then got the same one right, so we know that whatever caused the problem is something that can be fixed.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Costco’s service, and have you found any way to either get Costco to get it right without having to send the film in several times, or have you found an alternative service that is better than Costco?
By the way, the film to DVD service Costco offers (and their video to DVD service as well) is outsourced to a company called YesVideo, which appears to also do it for Walgreens, CVC, and Rite-Aid. You would think with those kinds of partnerships that they would have this service down to an exact science. This is one of those situations where it’s not about bad-mouthing the service provider, but rather helping them out. Both my dad and I want these guys to succeed and have an awesome service because we want to use the service. My dad is practically ready to jump in his car and drive to their headquarters to see if he can help them fix whatever problem it is that is causing the unpredictable results.
I don’t know where you or your father are located but I know a great place in Orem, UT that does a good job. It’s called Allen’s Camera. I used to work there and I was in charge of transferring the 8mm and super 8 reels to DVD. I don’t know if it is any help but for the year that I worked there no one ever complained. The owner of the store does the 16mm reels personally.
Hello, I didn’t see this post until now. I work for YesVideo, and I’d like to help or answer any questions if it’s not too late. Just curious, did your father ever get his situation resolved?
We do believe that we have the production refined to a “science,” but the media we receive is all different and in the end, each order must be handled differently. But this certainly does not excuse the inconsistent product. Please don’t hesitate to contact me offline if you have any questions or need any explanations. Thanks.
-Sharleen
SHARLEEN REYES, PLEASE EMAIL ME. I’M JOSHUA’S DAD! lsteimle@altrionet.com
I had similar problems with Costco when I had my film transfered and then a friend of mine recommended me to a company called LEGACY DIGITAL PRODUCTIONS based out of Southern California, so I tried it out myself. They actually came out to my office and picked up my film free of charge and then delivered it back to me when it was done. Compared to Costco’s transfer, the footage came out WAY better. They had even color corrected all the faded film, which was kind of a surprise since I didn’t even ask for that. They were alittle more expensive but in this field I have found that you essentially get what you pay for. Either way I was extremely happy with the results.
Call me, Aaron, at 1-866-559-1163 or 416-479-0537 x621
I’m sales manager. We’ll get it done right for you for a very reasonable price and at a VERY good quality.
Best regards,
Aaron Mortson
http://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmortson
TorontoHomeMovies.com
3893 Chesswood Dr.
Toronto, ON M3J 2R8
Tel: 416-479-0537 x621
T/F: 866-559-1163
Hours of operation:
Mon-Fri: 9AM-6PM
Sat: 10AM-5PM
http://www.TorontoHomeMovies.com — 416-479-0537
http://www.FloridaHomeMovies.com — 866-559-1163
http://www.MontrealHomeMovies.com — 514-868-2120
http://www.ExcellencePhoto.com — 905-326-9622
Hi,
I offer transfer service that can do the 8mm & 16mm footage to digital & DVD. I have over 26 years experience in a motion picture film archive on the west coast. I use Elmo equipment. I’m a small business and every reel of film goes thru my hands alone.
My charge for 8mm is .10/foot
for 16 mm is .145/foot
If anyone out there is interested about my services
503-309-1825
Michele Kribs
I used Allen’s in Orem last year. It was total crap. They only did half of my 75 3″ reels of super 8. I realized that when I watched the DVDs. And since it was so crappy, I got my money back. I’m only now getting around to finding someone competent to do it, which is how I ended up here (quite a coincidence, considering the number of hits in Google).
Miami DVD Solutions
305-935-2111 (Jean)
1-866-559-1163 (Aaron)
Located in North Miami Beach, Florida
Give us a call!
I tried costco 8mm to DVD and results were mixed off 17 rolls
So of the DVD was fine others it looked as if the top of the fram was on the bottom of the screen and the entire image was flickering and this goes on in some parts for several minutes.
In some parts you can see wheren the film stopped in the projector or the device they used and actullay burnt up, this was followed bad a few minutes of white on the dvd then it started up again. What typ of equipement does YesVideo use? it seems like a projected and video camera
Aaron Mortson
TorontoHomeMovies.com
The cause for this flicker is the difference in frame rate between the camera that is recording the footage and the frame rate of the film itself.
Film will either be 16, 18 or 24 frames per second. NTSC (North American Video format) is 29.97 frames per second. When the film gets projected onto a screen or through a telecine box, the camera cannot adjust to the low frame rates, so it produces that horrid flicker. MANY companies use this method of capturing film, and then compensate with digital filters in their editing program to reduce the flicker. Those flicker reductions kill the quality of the footage. Or, if they DON’T reduce the flicker, it looks just as bad without the filters.
That could also be the sprockets on your film jumping on the projector. That may be the cause of the top of the frame getting recorded at the bottom of the screen. If the film is not being monitored while being digitized, you may end up with footage like that.
I hate to see when people are having issues like this, because you’re paying for a service that is simply not being done correctly. Don’t let these companies waste your time and efforts!
Call me so you can have your film digitized properly!
Aaron Mortson
TorontoHomeMovies.com
3893 Chesswood Dr.
Toronto, ON M3J 2R8
Tel: 416-479-0537 x621
T/F: 866-559-1163
Hours of operation:
Mon-Fri: 9AM-6PM
Sat: 10AM-5PM
http://www.TorontoHomeMovies.com — 416-479-0537
http://www.FloridaHomeMovies.com — 866-559-1163
http://www.MontrealHomeMovies.com — 514-868-2120
http://www.ExcellencePhoto.com — 905-326-9622
My husband and I used Costco as well…sadly, I was very dissatisfied. We took the film in on Nov 27, it came back before Christmas as promised…my husbands film looked pretty good (we watched his first) and I was very excited to see mine…while I had indicated that mine was audio film, I was asked if the audio did not come through what music would I like. I chose inspirational…well, mine came back like a silent movie…I sent it back on Dec 28 and finally got it last week- Jan 28….no audio, but did have inspirational music with an odd mix of jazz? Anyway…I ordered an extra DVD but it was missing…I am promised that next week, stuck the DVD in the machine and gosh! It is SOOOO OUT OF FOCUS I felt like I had cataracts which I don’t, it was disturbing. I pulled the original film out and guess what…that was IN FOCUS…not only was my film in focus…there were an amazing number of scenes (important scenes of grandson and grandfather) which were COMPELETLY cut out…I swear to you..I went through all my original film and FOUND MANY MANY MANY perfectly in focus and amazing scenes that were blatantly cut out not included on my DVD…I have not taken it back as we just spent this past weekend looking at it all and discovering how HORRIBLE this workmanship…rather lack of it was…we were so shocked at the fact that much of my original film was not included on my DVD that we went back through my husbands original film an goodness gracious…he too is missing many amazing and sentimental scenes…I am very very very disappointed with Costco. I sstill want to change my film into a DVD…any suggestions? Raleigh NC…thanks
THis is the same Mike as posted on Nov. 27, 2009. After much research, I settled on just8mm.com. I did a test batch of 2 reels with them, then after that looked good, I sent in all 75 reels. I also had them transfer the uncompressed AVI files to a hard drive I provided for a little extra money ($30/hour). I haven’t watched all of it yet (over 8 hours of footage), but what I have seen so far is good. A lot of the film I had transferred is faded and grainy, but I looked at some under a 20x loupe, and what I got on DVD is an accurate rendition of what’s on film. I attribute the faded and grainy to 1) the original exposure of the film, 2) its age – some over 30 years old, and 3) probably not being stored properly all this time – cardboard box in my mom’s house. I recommend just8mm.com. They did a good job, fast turnaround, at a decent price. If you want, just try them out on a couple reels – it only costs $27.
Hi there Pris,
I don’t want to leave a huge rant and rave like I did previously.
Give me a shout and we can help you out. We have an office in Miami, Florida, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal Quebec that you could send your order to.
1-866-559-1163
I look forward to hearing from you!
Visit our site and call us toll free at 1-800-463-3222.
We can handle all of your Audio & Video needs.
We have been in the High Desert since 1989 transferring film.
I have over 30 years experience by myself in Telecine work.
Tom
Mike, just8mm.com must have changed their transfer process since I used them to transfer 12 7″ reels of film back in December 2009. Granted, a lot of the film was old (dated back to the mid-60′s) and warped due to aging and heat (I live in Texas), but the last 4 reels were relatively “new,” as in 20 to 30 years, and the films’ condition was good. This company’s website advertised “super quality” and stated that your film would look better than it ever did, so due to the low price, I stupidly sent all 12 reels to them without testing just 1 or 2 reels. They ALL turned out a far cry from “super quality.” In a nutshell, MAJOR color problems on all 12 reels (even the newer ones), blurriness at the edges where the film was warped (other transfer companies processed these same films and did a MUCH better job at correcting that), and sometimes the picture would just stop right in the middle of a scene, sometimes for 15 to 20 seconds, obviously because the technician was not paying attention to what he was doing. I immediately (the next day) wrote just8mm.com and asked for a refund–the owner flatly refused and offered to re-do the films. I said no, (why would the transfer turn out any better on the same equipment?), and again asked for a refund. Again, the owner said no. Unbelievably, he then offered me to get another company to transfer a film and send it to him, and if HE thought it turned out more crisp, clear, and in focus (he didn’t even mention the color issue, which was the worst problem) than his, then he would refund my money! I said no, I just want a refund so I could take my films somewhere else (they were gifts for my family–at this point I was horrified that a business owner could treat a customer so rudely, and I did not want to deal with him anymore). Bottom line: just8mm.com (or aka DVD Memories) might have different equipment and a better transfer method now, but Buyer beware: if you aren’t happy with the results, don’t expect to get a refund! His motto is: the customer is always wrong!
Two suggestions: I haven’t had all of the 12 reels re-done yet, but the ones that I have I used two online transfer companies. One is mymovietransfer.com. They did an excellent job for the money–I got the result that I was expecting when I sent my films to just8mm.com. The color was super! There was still some blurriness on the edges from the warped film, but because of their process, it wasn’t nearly as bad. I HIGHLY recommend them. If you can afford to spend more, another suggestion is mastercomputerandvideo.com. This guy adds period music and sound effects, which really brings the film to life! It is awesome! And the color is great, too. I didn’t need the music, but I wanted to try it out on a few reels.
In response to “Linda”, I own Just8mm.com and would like to offer my point of view. All of Linda’s film was warped and damaged due to vinegar syndrome caused by improper storage. She knew in advance that there were major problems with her film as indicated in correspondence from her. Some of the damage was so severe that the film could not be transferred at all, and the film frequently stopped in our equipment, causing the pauses and skips. Another result of curled film is that when it runs past a film gate, the film image on each frame is not on the same focal plane, so the edges are out of focus.
In addition, our company does not offer color digital color correction, which can produce a whole range of unintended consequences and an artificial look, not to mention a higher price. We do not state anywhere on our website that we perform color correction.
We are full accredited members of the BBB with an A+ rating. Linda’s complaint is the only one we have ever received in nearly 10 years of doing business. She was never treated rudely by anyone at my company. I offered to personally look at her film to see if there was anything that could be done, but she refused to send it back. I offered to let the BBB arbitrate her complaint, but she refused. She finally had her credit card charge reversed by her card company.