reel to reel conversion to DVD

[crashnburn'd]

Is there something that you can buy to convert reel to reel movies to DVD? Or is it something that you would have to have some kind of film processing place do?

[Snow Dog]

There are machines for doing film transfer to video but it's usually cheaper to use a service. Old colour films bleed and fade so there's software to fix that.

[rehabit]

I suppose it depends on how much, and sometimes more impotantly, what kind of film you have... but these guys http://www.videoproskc.com/ had some compact reel to reel converter's for sale @ $200. They quoted me $0.17 ft for 15 reels for them convert it... and did a good job too! It was a little more than $200 but worth it to have it done and done right.

[SponsoredByDuctTape]

... but these guys http://www.videoproskc.com/ had some compact reel to reel converter's for sale @ $200.

I'm trying to picture how that device would work. I worked with similar machines on a daily basis at a post production facility in Hollywood. What you're looking to do is what is called "telecine" - film transfered to video. It's very similar to the process TV and film productions use to view their dailies. The machines the industry uses to do this are big and in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. I can't really picture what a $200 version would look like or how it would work. But back to the question at hand.....

Assuming you're talking about "positive" film (the stuff you run through a projector), it's easy to have a motion picture film developer transfer it to video. Any decent shop should be able to transfer to DVD or even video files if you want. If it's 16mm, super 16, or 35mm that's pretty standard. However, shops that do 8mm and super 8 are fading away (although there are quite a few around Hollywood).

If you go the shop route, have a place that specializes in doing that type of transfer do it. In other words, don't trust a Ritz camera or some place like that. Take/send it to a pro - it's worth any extra $.

[SponsoredByDuctTape]

I'm trying to picture how that device would work. I worked with similar machines on a daily basis at a post production facility in Hollywood. What you're looking to do is what is called "telecine" - film transfered to video. It's very similar to the process TV and film productions use to view their dailies. The machines the industry uses to do this are big and in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. I can't really picture what a $200 version would look like or how it would work. But back to the question at hand.....

Think I figured out that "machine" thing. Are you guys talking about the machines that involve hooking up your video camera to a projector, or the projector to a box, or something similar? If so, I would recommend against that. You'll never get that system to look like your film on the video. You're essentially video taping your projected film. A transfer house will have a machine that takes in the projected image from the film and converts it to digital information which is then burned to DVD (or other digital format). Waaaaaay cleaner. This is the only way to go, IMHO.