We're still here!

So every couple of months I pop on this blog and say, "We're still here!" Well, guess what? We're still here.

It looks like the last post on this blog I was having problems with the contact form. That was back in December. 8 month ago. While the contact form is working I am not certain that everything gets through, so please be sure to follow-up with an email to info@mckennavideo.com .

So what has been going on? Well, still working on transferring 8mm film to DVD, 16mm film to DVD,  and videotape (including VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, and mini-dv) to DVD and digital media. We have pretty much not been involved in any video production work, but we still have the capability should the need arise. On the downside, we have decided we are not going to burn to blu-ray disc any more. Today, I am digitizing a group of 35mm slides for a well known customer of ours. So much fun!

If you haven't seen the photo website in a while be sure to visit us at www.chrismckennaphotography.com and see some of our latest work.

Anyway, be sure to give us a ring or better yet drop us an email.

Blessings to you.

Chris.

Contact Form Back Up

Just a quick note to let you know that the contact form on our website it back up and running. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Blessings and Merry Christmas!

Chris.

Christmas 2013 Deadlines 8mm Film Tranfser to DVD

Greetings,

Just a quick post to let you know that our guaranteed Christmas delivery deadline for film-to-dvd or any film work has passed. We are now at capacity for the remainder of the year.

Having said that, we can provide you with a case and preview DVD that can be given as the gift with the promise of film on DVD enclosed.

If you are interested, please drop us a line at info@mckennavideo.com or call the studio at (253) 539-3438. And as always, we NEVER, EVER send your film or tapes to Mexico to transfer, like the "cheap" guys do.

Blessings and happy Thanksgiving.

Chris.

Sony PMW-EX1R for Sale

I don’t normally do this, but since is this my blog I can do anything I want, right? Ok, we have to sell one our professional video cameras: a Sony PMW-EX1R. Only 106 hours on it. Includes extra battery and memory card. And I'll throw in the training videos and user reference guide I purchased too! 

Email me at info@mckennavideo.com for more information. Serious inquiries only please. And please do your research before contacting me so you know about how much these cameras go for.

Thanks and blessings,

Chris.

Have You Visited Our Website?

Good day!

Way, way back, I started a little company. It was called McKenna Video Services. We joined an association of other video service companies, followed their advice to get the business started much faster than what would otherwise be possible (paying them a small fortune for that advice), and part of what we were to get for the small fortune was a professional and customized website. It wasn't! It was crap to put it mildly. So we did our research and hired a local company to build us a completely custom and professional website (also paying them a small fortune) and scrapped the original website we had.

This new website was nice, but it was completely flash driven. If you know anything about flash, you know that it cannot be easily changed and SEO-forget about it. So while it looked and functioned as well as it could, and while our customers liked it, it was useless in driving new traffic to us.

So after about a year of this version I decided to scrap it all and just do it myself. And by "it" I mean design and build a website all myself.

It took me about a month of non-stop work, but I did it. I built a website that gave me everything I wanted: information for my customers, ability to redesign and change pages and content at any moment, and ability for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). That was seven years ago.

What I achieved is exactly the same website I use today. You can see it at www.mckennavideo.com . And while a few things in our business have changed over the couple of years, it is exactly the same shell, with the content and functionality that is relevant today.

Why is this important? Couple of reasons.

First and foremost, we are still in business and still here to serve you. That has not changed-we are not going anywhere. Second, we do not change because of the latest fad or trend. There are a lot of things going on in cyberspace these days but we run the risk of losing the ability for you to find us and that outweighs the benefits (we'd love to have a wordpress site with an integrated blog, but say goodbye to finding McKenna Video through Google if we moved in that direction). Lastly, we want you to have as much of our information at your fingertips as is possible. If we move to another shell, we probably couldn't get you as much of the information as is currently available.

Anyway, just wanted to pass all this along. If you haven't visited our video services website, please visit www.mckennavideo.com and if you are interested in our photography services please visit www.chrismckennaphotography.com .

Thanks so much, and blessings to you.

Chris.

Film Transfer Facts

Fact #1: you can't take garbage and turn it into gold (and this goes for life too). I'm sorry to say, but if your film is in poor condition, you will NOT get a good image. Likewise, film is a very low-resolution source of media, and you CANNOT make it high-definition no matter what you do. Sure, you can burn it to a blu-ray disc, but that doesn't mean it's a high-def image. It just means you can store more of it on that particular disc (and now you can't play it on a standard DVD player or a computer).Out-of-focus, overexposed, underexposed, pop/scratches, etc. are all part of your film and cannot be "corrected in post."

Fact #2: there is a quality difference in all transfer methods. Frame-by-frame is NOT the same as projection methods. Sure, projection is faster and cheaper. But there IS a noticeable difference between the two. First, ring around the edge that is inherent in projection is usually noticeable and second is flicker. You get both in projection. Not so with frame-by-frame. See the link here to the video at the end of the this blog post for a real comparison between the two methods. Keep in mind that the cheap discount and warehouse/wholesale operations (names withheld) use a service provider that employs projection methods (and as a sidenote your film usually ends up in Mexico for the actual transfer). And for the record, I believe that high-def transfer that I see some others offering is a marketing ploy and not worth the extra cost. I have run an in-studio comparison and I notice absolutely NO difference-if I did, we would be offering it.

Fact #3: McKenna Video is the only company in Puyallup that has been continually transferring for the last 8 years. The ONLY company! Everyone else has either folded, discontinued this business segment, or is late to the game. Do you want to trust someone you just started doing this, or someone who has transferred almost 2 million feet of film? Do you want to have your film sent to Mexico to be transferred or do you want to keep it in the U.S.? Do you want lower quality or higher quality?

See our website for more information www.mckennavideo.com .

I hope this helps as your consider your options on who to have transfer your precious memories to DVD.

Blessings,

Chris. 

http://vimeo.com/9953255

Costco Still in Film Transfer Business?

Greetings friends,

Recently, we had someone working in the Costco photo booth tell us that Costco was getting out the film to DVD transfer business. "Getting tired of making excuses for yesVideo," I thought. Or perhaps it was Costco spending too much money taking orders for not much in return? Either way, it was good news for us.

However, every time I look at their website or walk through their store I see that they are still offering the service. Not getting out? Whatever. (and I'll save my commentary on the quality of their transfer for another post).

So this note just serves as a reminder that McKenna Video is here and is still offering to transfer your 8mm film to DVD. 16mm to DVD too. In fact, all of your home movie film to DVD. In fact, we can now transfer your old Polarvision film cassettes to DVD.

Visit our website, send us an email at info@mckennavideo.com and quit wasting time with Costco.

Blessings,

Chris.