Frequently Asked Questions FILM TRANSFER F.A.Q. Q. What do your film transfer prices include? • Inspection of your film • Repair and splicing as needed • Consolidation onto larger reels for long-term storage • Cleaning • Professionally monitored transfer When your film arrives at Quality Film Transfers, we hand inspect it for bad splices or damaged film and repair as needed. Next, we clean your film and prep it to be transferred by splicing all smaller reels onto 400 foot reels. After completion of your job, your film on the larger reels and all empty cans and boxes are returned to you. Q. How is my film transferred? We use a newly developed, high resolution transfer machine made specifically for transferring 8mm movie film. Your film is transferred directly to digital for the best picture quality. Our machine operators supervise your transfer from start to finish and make needed adjustments to ensure the best possible picture quality of your films. Q: Why transfer to DVD? The simple answer is that VHS and other analog videotape formats do not last. They break down with time and start having poor picture quality. The VHS format has only 240 lines or resolution. DVD and Mini DV have twice the resolution of VHS, are newer digital formats and last far longer. You and future generations will be able to watch them with the same great quality for many years to come. Q. How much footage of film does each DVD hold? For the best quality, we produce our DVDs at the maximum resolution and are able to put up to one hour of transferred footage per DVD. Each Mini DV tape can also hold up to 1 hour Q. How many feet of film will fit into an hour? 700 Feet of 8mm movie film is approximately one hour, which will fit on 1 DVD or 1 Mini DV tape. Q. Can you make a copy on VHS? Yes we are happy to make copies on VHS. However due to the poor quality and short shelf live of VHS we do not transfer directly to this format. For this service, film will first be transferred directly to a digital Mini DV Master tape. From that we can make you as many VHS copies as you wish. Also, you will now have a Mini DV master from which to make additional copies on DVD or VHS in the future. Q. Why do you recommend purchasing Mini DV Masters if I'm already getting DVDs? For preservation, archiving and any video editing you may wish to do in the future, Mini DV is highly recommended. The reasons for this are… Because it is far easier to make extra DVD copies in the future from Mini DV. Making a copy from a DVD to a DVD results in poorer quality. You may want to edit your footage on a computer. Mini DV when used with a camcorder that has Firewire and a suitable computer allows you to edit, add music, titles and rearrange your home movies. Because of its superior quality from less compression and ease of use, Mini DV tape is a better choice for editing than DVD. You create a back up copy or "safety" of the transferred footage. Mini DV tapes are small and easy to store in a safe deposit box or at another location other than your home. Should anything happen to your DVDs, you have a way to make more high quality copies onto DVD. Q. Why should I use a Mini DV tape for editing on my computer? Can't I just use a DVD for that? DVDs are not recommended for editing. While DVDs look great on your TV. they are a highly compressed format. The use of Mini DV tape is the better choice for editing as it uses less compression and therefore has better quality and of course looks better. Q. Do you offer any editing services? Yes, we offer professional editing services for your transfer at an additional cost. Perhaps you'd like to overlay titles during certain sequences of your films, delete certain scenes, slow-mo or freeze frame someone special or add music for just the right touch. The rate for professional editing is $35.00 per hour. An estimate can be prepared in advance and you can always view your transfer before editing begins to decide what you'd like done. We'd be happy to speak to you about your project, please call us to inquire about these services. Q. Do you have a subject material policy? Not as such, but we will not transfer any pornographic images. If you wish this type of material transferred, please pass us by. Q. How long will my transfer take? It depends on the size of your order. Usual completion time is 7 to 10 days from the day we receive your films. If you need it sooner we can finish it within 3-5 days for a rush charge of $50.00 per order. Contact us in advance of sending your order to check availability of this service. Q. Do I send payment now? We don't require payment in advance. We will complete your job and contact you via e-mail or phone with a total and payment instructions. We accept credit cards, checks or money orders. Q. How do I get my film to you? Gather your films to be sent and number them in the order you'd like them transferred. Use a marker or tape numbers on the film boxes or cans. Please do not use "Post-It Notes" as these tend to fall off in shipping. Print out and fill in our order form requesting the services you'd like. Pack and cushion your films well and place in a strong shipping box. If using shipping "peanuts", make sure to wrap your films in plastic bags to prevent particles from getting into your films. Send your films to us via UPS, FedEx, DHL or other trackable carrier. You can use the U.S. Postal service too. Our address is Quality Film Transfers P.O. Box 3035 Pocatello, ID 83206 Please contact us by e-mail or phone with any other questions you may have. 9-6 Monday thru Friday 10-5 Saturday VIDEOTAPE TRANSFER F.A.Q. Q. Why would I want to transfer my old videotapes to DVD? The obvious answer is to save them from deteriorating. Analog formats like VHS, VHS-C, 8mm and Hi-8 break down with time and result in poor picture quality. Each year that goes by results in further damage and image degradation of your videotapes. Transferring them to a digital format like DVD saves them from that type of damage and preserves your precious moments for many years to come. Q. How are my videotapes transferred? To ensure the best possible quality, your videotapes are digitally transferred directly to DVD. Our videotape players employ image correction technology for superior results. Q. What type of DVD media do you use? For the best possible quality and compatibility, we use only name brand DVD-R discs like Fuji, Memorex and Maxell. Q. Do you offer editing services? Yes, we offer professional editing services. Perhaps you had "Uncle Bob" shoot your wedding video and during your vows, all you saw in the video were his brown loafers. Or maybe the video runs much too long, when all you want is a well put together 45 minutes of your special day. Well, our editor has over 10 years creating special event videos like weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, tributes and memorials. We can take your video, cut out all the "not so good" shots, add music, titles and condense your video into a wonderful film that you, your friends and family will actually want to watch. The rate for this professional editing service is $35.00 per hour. An estimate can be prepared in advance for you of course. We'd be happy to speak to you about your project, please call us to inquire about these services. Q. Do you offer Foreign Video Conversion services? Yes! If you have family or friends overseas you'd like to exchange videos with, we can convert most any video format to and from any country. © Quality Film Transfers All Rights Reserved