If your film is in a tape with shiny magnetic tape inside, you have a video tape. We transfer VHS, VHS-C, 8mm (8mm, Hi8 and Digital 8 formats), Betamax, and MiniDV tapes.

• Discussion of various formats of film media (16mm, Regular 8, Super 8, Sound Super 8)

Movie film is a physical film format where video is stored as individual photographs stored on a strip of film. A projector advances and displays each individual frame. 16mm film is a wide (nearly an inch) film format which has large sprocket holes on both sides of the film. This film produces high-quality images. Some 16mm film has only one set of sprocket holes and audio encoded in either a magnetic or optical strip on the other side. The most popular format, Standard 8mm, has large sprocket holes on the right side of the film and plays at approximately 16-18 frames per second. The later Super 8mm format uses a large frame size and much smaller sprocket size. This gives Super 8mm film higher resolution than Standard 8mm at the expense of some durability. Super 8mm film can have sound in the form of an embedded magnetic strip (see picture). Damage to this strip (e.g. rubbing off, tears, mold, or creases) can damage the sound recording. Not all sound Super 8mm film has sound recorded on it. Additionally, the magnetic strip on the sound Super 8mm film can become demagnetized over the years. For this reason, sound recordings are not guaranteed as part of the film transfer process.

Movie Film Transfer Services

• Discussion of various formats of video (Hi8, VHS, VHS-C, MiniDV, BetaMax, etc.)

Analog video tapes store information as electrical impules on magnetic tape inside cartridges. Unlike video film, which was rarely found in cartridge format, analog video does not store actual images on the film, but the information required to reconstruct the image on a television screen. The most popular and widely recognized video format is VHS. Several other formats were used in personal handheld camcorders including 8mm video tapes (not to be confused with 8mm movie film) and VHS-Compact (VHS-C), which was a compact version of the standard VHS tape which fit into an adapter so it could be played in a standard VCR. 8mm video tapes were available in 3 formats: 8mm, Hi8, and Digital 8, all of which can be transfered to DVD. BetaMax, which competed with VHS when it was first introduced, is a rarer format, but can be transfered to a digital format in the same manner as VHS tapes.

Additionally, MiniDV tapes (the de facto standard for digital camcorders for many years) can be transferred to DVD as well.

Video Tape Transfer Services

• Discussion of DVD formats (DVD recording process, DVD-R, DVD+R, ± recorders, HD DVDs)

DVDs were introduced in 1997 to combine the interactivity of laser discs and the durability and compactness of CDs for video playback. DVDs have almost completely replaced all tape-based video applications and have become the standard method for video distribution. Modern computers are rarely sold without a DVD player, standalone players are available at prices comparable to the price of DVD movies, and many other devices such as video game consoles are bundled with the ability to read DVDs. However, there are different types of DVDs that can affect playback in DVD players.

Commercial DVDs, which are mass produced, are physically pressed with the data they contain, in the same way old vinyl records were stamped. Home recordable DVDs (often written as DVD-R) actually contain a dye which is etched with a laser when it is written. However, unlike commercial video DVDs, there is no standard file format for recordable DVDs. The two primary competing formats are DVD-R and DVD+R. DVD-R is the original format, while DVD+R is slightly more modern. Additionally, both of these DVDs are available in a rewritable format (denoted DVD-RW and DVD+RW). Most DVD players manufactured today are capable of playing both DVD-R and DVD+R discs (usually this is shown as "DVD±RW"), however some less expensive DVD players as well as many older DVD players (e.g. >5-6 years old) may only be capable of playing DVD-R discs. Some older DVD players are also only able to play DVD+R discs. Although this is not as prevalent an issue as it once was, we still record in the DVD-R format to ensure compatibility. Due to the variability in DVD players, we cannot guarantee that a particular format will play on your DVD player, although the vast majority (>99%) have no issue playing DVD-R discs. If you find that the discs are unreadable in your DVD player, we will replace the DVD-R discs with DVD+R discs at no charge.

Some digital camcorders used mini DVDs as their storage format. Although convenient in its ability to play directly in DVD players, many people fail to finalize their DVDs, as this was a time-consuming process. Unfinalized DVDs cannot be played in a DVD player. We can extract the video file from an unfinalized DVD and burn it to a standard DVD or create a video file as necessary.

• Discussion of DVD versus digital video file

Burned DVDs for video playback are a digital video medium (hence the name "Digital Video Disc"). The file format used by DVD players is called VOB (for "Video OBject"). Because of this, while DVDs can often be played on modern computers, the DVD's video files cannot be directly copied to your computer's hard drive. While most computers are bundled with software that allows one to duplicate the entire DVD, additional software (which is often not free) is required to extract the video file for additional editing. Additionally, since the DVD-R is a permanent format (we do not use DVD-RW discs to ensure precious memories are never accidentally overwritten), it is impossible to edit the DVD directly. We do not provide software for copying video files and, while we can offer recommendations, we cannot guarantees the capabilities of 3rd party software. An editable video file can be included with your job, but is not standard with movie or video tape transfers.

• Discussion of video file formats and advantages/disadvantages of video file formats

Modern digital video files exist in a number of different file formats. Depending on whether you use a Mac or a PC, you may have had varying levels of interaction with files such as AVI (Audio Video Interleave), WMV (Windows Media Video), MOV (a QuickTime format), MPG (Moving Picture Experts Group [MPEG] file format), MP4 (MPEG-4, MPEG's latest file format), etc. These acronyms aren't important and, generally, the file type isn't important. However, note that WMV files typically do not play on Mac OS computers without additional software and MOV files typically don't play on Windows computers without additional software (e.g. QuickTime, an Apple-developed video playback program). Typically, for PC users, we will offer WMV files as standard. For Mac users, we typically offer either standard QuickTime MOV files or MP4 files. AVI files, which are uncompressed, can be requested, but require a large external storage device, such as a large flash drive or external hard drive.

Note that the primary draw of the DVD—interactivity—is not provided by video files, which behave similar to a video tape on your computer. While, for example, movie film will be divded by individual reel with a title card, there is no interactive way to skip directly from reel to reel as is provided by chapters in a DVD. However, the ease of editing, duplication, and distribution of a video file may outweigh the convenience and interactivity of a DVD for some users.

Other Services

• Discussion of hybrid systems (video file on data DVD, video file over internet, video file on flash drive, video file on HDD)

Video files can be provided in many different ways. A video file can be included on a data DVD. This DVD is only guaranteed to work on a computer and will mount in a similar manner as a software installation DVD or CD (or a hard drive). The video file can be copied to the hard drive and edited using a number of various 3rd party software programs.

Video files can also be included on a rewritable hard drive, such as an external hard drive, a USB flash drive, or an SD card. These devices can be provided to us, if they are of sufficient size to hold the job, or can be purchased through Multimedia Solutions as part of your job.

Video files may also be streamed over the internet. Video files streamed will display at a lower quality, but can be downloaded at full quality. However, it is important to note that the download of a typical video file (1-3 GB in size) can take a substantial amount of time depending on the speed of your internet connection (which can be determined using a number of free speed-testing websites such as www.speedtest.net, www.bandwidthplace, etc.). Often, the best download speeds and most convenience are achieved by letting a download run overnight, provided that the internet connection is stable. If it is not, it is recommended that one use a download manager (which can be found via a google search). Unless one has a very fast internet connection, it is likely much more convenient to obtain a physical copy of the video file on a flash drive or data DVd instead.

Downloading a 1 GB video file will take ~3 hours over a 750 kbps download speed (average for DSL), ~45 minutes over a 3 Mbps connection, or ~27 minutes over a 5 Mbps connection (highest speed range commonly available for residential addresses). Please note that internet download speeds fluctuate with network usage. After testing your internet speed, you can estimate your download time by typing "X GB / Y Mbps" or "X GB / Y kbps" into Google, where X is the size of your job (you can use 1 GB for estimating purposes) and Y is the speed of your internet connection. It is important to use proper capitalization when discussing computer acronyms, as "b" refers to a "bit" while "B" refers to a "Byte", equal to 8 bits. Additionally, while "M" refers to "Mega" (i.e. "million"), "m" refers to "milli" (i.e. one one-thousandth). Proper capitalization of prefixes, as given by the example, is required for an accurate estimate of download time.

• HD Video

Video files distributed over the internet are one of the most modern video distribution formats. However, HD video, in the form of Blu-Ray discs, has become popular recently. However, for many consumers, expensive Blu-Ray discs, which require both an expensive Blu-Ray player and an adequate HDTV, are not cost effective. Blu-Ray discs use an advanced laser capable of storing more information on a disc (a typical DVD can store about 4.7 GB, while a typical Blu-Ray can hold 30-50 GB). While HD video is very impressive, video recorded on older media such as movie film or VHS tapes will never obtain HD quality. Only modern camcorders recording onto large SD cards or internal hard drives are capable of recording HD-quality video. Because of this, outside of the ability to compress multiple DVDs worth of information onto a single Blu-Ray, there is no need for Blu-Ray discs for conversion of video tape of movie film to DVD. Thus, this service is currently not offered by Multimedia Solutions.

*Please note: Some of this information has been compiled from various sources on the internet.