Digital Specialists

Super 8mm Film Description:

Super 8 is a motion picture film format that was developed in the 1960s and released on the market in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older 8mm home movie format.

The film is 8 mm wide, exactly the same as the older standard 8 mm film and also has perforations on only one side, but the dimensions of the perforations are reduced, allowing the exposed area to be increased in size. The Super-8 standard also specifically allocates the rebate opposite the perforations for an oxide stripe upon which sound can be magnetically recorded. There are several different varieties of the film system used for shooting, but the final film in each case has the same dimensions. By far the most popular system was the Kodak system.

Launched in 1965, the film comes in plastic light-proof cartridges containing coaxial supply and take-up spools loaded with 50 feet of film. This was enough film for 2.5 minutes at the U.S. motion picture professional standard of 24 frames per second, and for 3 minutes and 20 seconds of continuous filming at 18 frames per second for amateur use, for a total of 3600 frames. A 200-foot reel later became available which could be used in specifically-designed cameras, but that Kodak cartridge is no longer produced. The most significant difference between 8mm and Super 8 is audio. The Super-8 standard also specifically allocates the opposite of the perforations for an oxide stripe upon which sound can be magnetically recorded. Convert your Super8 to DVD today!

8mm to DVD and Super 8 to DVD conversions:
The most common transfer that we do is from 8mm to DVD and Super 8 film to DVD. Using our unique broadcast digital film transfer method we ensure that the quality of your 8mm film, Super 8 film Super 8 with sound and 16mm film, is completely captured – digitally. You will never have to worry about your films fading as the digital process will actually improve the quality of your footage. We even archive your memories forever upon request on professional grade MiniDV tape, or your personal hard drive. Portable hard drive purchases are for sale at very resonable rates.

The basic film transfer includes our broadcast digital film transfer using our proprietary direct to digital transfer system to our digital editing suites. We only use Adobe® Premiere® CS5 and Adobe® Encore® CS5 software, the absolute best in the world. In otherwords, you footage is captured into the computer at high resolution, edited and then either put onto a DVD or the uncompressed footage is copied onto a digital tape (MiniDV, DVCAM or Digital 8), or onto a personal hard drive.

8mm and Super8 film for the most part is silent. The original Super-8 film release was a silent system only, but in 1973 a sound on film version was released. The sound film had a magnetic soundtrack and came in larger cartridges than the original so as to accommodate a longer film path (required for smoothing the film movement before it reached the recording head), and a second aperture for the recording head. Sound cameras were compatible with silent cartridges, but not vice versa. Sound film was typically filmed at a speed of 18 or 24 frames per second.

We record the sound directly from the projector and digitize it to CD quality. Adjustments are made to improve hiss, pops and volume to the best of our abilities.

Why get your 8mm & Super 8 film converted to DVD or to DV and .avi?
For many people having your 8mm or Super 8 footage converted to DVD or to an uncompressed .avi format is a way to ensure that their memories to do not fade forever.

At TorontoHomeMovies.com, www.MontrealHomeMovies.com, www.FloridaHomeMovies.com we specialize in producing the absolutely highest quality conversions available in North America. Whether you live in Toronto Ontario, or Montreal Quebec, Calgary Alberta, Vancouver BC, Edmonton Alberta, Halifax Nova Scotia, or St John, New Brunswick you can ship your order to us with confidence. If you are from the USA and would like to have your footage transferred, save yourself the custom fees and ship to our US locations in Miami Florida (www.FloridaHomeMovies.com) or Montreal QC (www.MontrealHomeMovies.com). Using FedEx, Canada Post and UPS we have had years of trouble free orders come to our factory in the centre of Toronto, Montreal or Miami.

The process:
Your 8mm, Super 8 or 16mm film is recorded directly into one of our custom designed computers. Once your footage is completely uploaded one of our professional editors will manually go through your footage frame by frame where they would remove any splicing errors, black spots, and create individual reel markers to identify each reel. Every frame of your footage is analyzed for sharpness, colour and clarity. Corrections are made if needed. If you plan to edit the footage and have asked for an uncompressed version of your footage on MiniDV, Digital8, DVCAM or to your Hard Drive we will output the footage accordingly. To produce your DVD we manually adjust settings to optimize your DVD compression. Where our competition is using low quality standalone DVD recorders, every DVD is converted to AVI and QuickTime source files then to MPEG-2 video and Dolby® Digital audio, we manually adjust settings to optimize your DVD compression. Because we take the extra step of uploading all your footage directly into our computers, we can easily create custom authored DVDs. Authoring DVDs give you the additional flexibility to create detailed menus within your DVD project.

Note: many of our customers plan to edit their footage in the future. PLEASE do not believe anyone who tells you that editing from a VHS tape, or from a DVD is a good idea. Would you edit a photograph from a photocopy? If you are not sure, call us at 866-559-1163.

For example:
Say you provided us with 10 films from 1970 to 1980. For an additional cost we can create an index page with each year linking to the proper reel. A thumbnail photo from each film plus the year would identify each reel. Using your remote you could choose which film your wish to view from the menu.

How to get started?

Step one: Determine exactly what you have. If its film, then it is likely to be 8mm, Super 8, Super 8 with sound or 16mm. Click here to see a chart.
Step two: Download our Order Form and give us a call ( 866-559-1163) to confirm any questions you may have. We have staff working 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm. They are excited about answering your questions. You can also email us ANYTIME at info@digitalspecialists.ca there are no less than 4 people available nearly 24 hours a day to return your questions quickly and concisely.