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.

Thank You

Just a real quick post this evening to say thank you for your patience with us during the transition to our new schedule. We are still here and ready to serve you!

Blessings,

Chris.

Videotape to DVD Transfer

Good morning everyone,

I'm fielding a lot of questions this week about transferring videotape to DVD. More so than usual. I don't know if that's because of what's going on in the economy or perhaps something like their players just gave out. Whatever the reason, a lot of people are wanting to get it done.

Many people tell me that they find software in their favorite store that gives them the capability to transfer their tapes by themselves. Ok. I will tell you that that software is buggy and unreliable (audio often gets out of sync with the video). Our video transfer service, that is transfer by a company that specializes in transfers, is the best way to enjoy your VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, hi-8 and mini-dv videotape over and over again!

Even if you have no motivation to transfer your tapes, keep in mind that videotape degrades over time. Every time you play them a little piece of that video is gone And even if you never insert them into a player to watch, they will still degrade-time is not friendly to videotape.Furthermore, video players have a limited life and will break down, and new players are becoming increasingly difficult to find; many stores no longer carry them. Replacement parts for existing VCR's are also becoming hard to come by.

And watching a videotape can also be a chore. Have you ever had to search through hours and hours of footage to find your favorite parts?

Let McKenna Video transfer your videotape to DVD and eliminate the headache:

1) Watch on your TV (with compliant DVD player) or PC with a DVD drive.
2)  Eliminate the need to fast-forward and rewind.
3) Quickly skip to another portion of the video or to the scene you want to watch.
4) Combine several tapes onto 1 DVD (to a limit of 2-hours per DVD).
5) Edit out the parts you want to eliminate with McKenna Video editing service.
6) Customize the look of your DVD with custom DVD authoring (subject to additional charges).
7) Organize your entire home video collection.

Keep in mind that our transfer service completes all work in-house and does not outsource to Mexico like others do (primarily large retail, wholesale and discount stores). Turnaround time will vary depending on the number of tapes, the length of those tapes, any special services that you may require, and what work we already have in queue.

If you have questions, please give us a call in the studio. 253-539-3438.

Blessings,

Chris.