What's your film transfer process?
We use a special frame-by-frame scanning technique that is absolutely central to the process. By scanning each frame of film individually, film flicker and jitter are greatly reduced. Our film captures are set to capture film at SD, standard definition, 480p, which is enough resolution to see every last detail in the original frame.
For good quality film, it creates a high quality video file to watch with your family. For film that is damaged, but still able to run through our process, we have found that the frame-by-frame technique is by far the best process to recover as much of the original video as possible.
What's the quality?
All film reels are converted at 480p resolution with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
Anything worth noting on what I'll get back?
Since most film reels are generally short in length, your films will be combined onto as few DVDs as possible. With the thumb drive or Digital Access options, you will receive a separate file for each film.
We are currently not able to process Regular 9.5mm or Super 9.5mm film. We are unable to digitize the sound line on film reels.
What is optical sound?
That's an excellent question!
Sound on film is rare. Optical sound on film is the rarest of them all — a relic of a bygone era that was niche in its own time. Unfortunately, it is not something we are currently able to process.
Optical sound for 8mm and 16mm film was a method of sound for commercial releases of films. It was more popular in Europe than in the USA, and primarily saw usage on airlines up until the 1990s. If you flew on a transatlantic flight in the 1980s, the chances that the inflight movie was Super8 film with optical sound are pretty high.
Film with optical sound was much easier to duplicate than film with magnetic sound, which is was why distributors of commercial films used it. However, the sound quality was generally worse than magnetic sound. It also required specialized equipment to use in the home, which most people were not willing to invest in, especially due to the advent of more popular, easier to use formats like Beta and VHS.
Since optical sound is so rare — optical film in good condition is even more of an anomaly — and to ensure we’re providing the highest quality transfers, it is not our standard process to digitize film with optical sound.
Can you capture optical sound from my 8mm or 16mm film reels?
The majority of film is inherently silent. Anyone remember The Artist starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo? In rare instances, 8mm and Super 8 film may contain magnetic audio lines and 16mm film may contain magnetic, but more commonly optical, sound lines. Of this small percentage of film reels that do have a sound line, an even smaller percentage used the proper recording equipment required to capture both the sound and picture.
Because these instances are so rare, and to ensure we’re providing the highest quality transfers, it is not our process to digitize film with sound. We are unable to process sound on film. However, if you’d like to speak with someone about this, feel free to contact our customer support team.