Price is not the only consideration!

Too many times, the only question that is asked of us is “how much?” How much does it cost to transfer my videotape to DVD? How much does it cost to transfer my family film to DVD? How much does it cost to videotape our wedding? How much does it cost too….well, you fill in the blank.

We here at McKenna Video Services are very conscience and sensitive to price-we make some of our decisions based on price too. Decisions like where do we go to get the best price on a particular box of cereal. Or maybe what particular store is that coupon redeemable at. Or even where we get our next tank of gas (with some exception since cheap gas can actually damage a car engine). But we certainly do not shop price when it comes to unique or important items.

Such is the case with transferring video tape or 8mm film to DVD. While McKenna Video is certainly not the most expensive video services company, we admit that we are not the least expensive (there are lots of fly-by-night, discount, and online companies). Having said that, there are questions to ask when trusting your treasured memories to the hands of others.

Here is a list of considerations to factor in when determining where to send your media:

• Quality, both in terms of the DVD media and in terms of the process (be sure to ask what the process is and if there is an intelligible answer);
• Timeliness: how long will the transfer take;
• Location: where is the transfer being completed (FYI-McKenna Video does not send your tapes and films to Mexico like our competitors do);
• Loss Rate: what is the loss and error rates with the companies that you are considering;
• Do I get my original media back;
• Can we edit, move reels around, place custom titles, add a soundtrack, voiceover or other audio content, can I custom author a DVD?

Of course, there are many other factors that you personally might consider important, but in terms of actually completing the transfer these should be highest on your list. Be sure to look beyond the lowest price when determining who to trust your precious memories to. Remember the old adage “you get what you pay for?” The same is very true with video services.

God’s blessings.

Chris.

Disc labels - leave paper for documents

Have you ever taken a disc (CD or DVD) out of its player and noticed how warm, even hot, the disc might be? This is due to the speed at which the disc is spinning inside the player and the fact that there are lasers being beamed that the disc trying to read the contents.

Because of the heat that can be generated, it is advisable to not use paper labels to identify the contents of a disc. The heat generated by a spinning disc can cause the glue on a paper label to become less adhesive and come off the disc while in the player. Yes, there are some great programs to help you design some very cool labels, but consider how cool those labels will be if the adhesive on the label breaks down while the disc is being played and gums up your player.

If those labels come off while playing, not only will you lose the disc but you will also lose the player that is being used. If the player is a $30 DVD player, maybe that is not so much of a loss, but what if that player is a $1000 computer? Is it worth the risk? No.

Our recommendation is to use a felt marker to label your discs, or use direct-print discs in conjunction with an ink-jet printer designed for printing discs. The felt marker may not be as pretty as creating a label, but the risk to disc and player is zero. Direct-print discs and a dedicated ink-jet printer, while a more expensive method initially, can still provide those great looking discs also with no risk.

Both Epson (http://www.epson.com/) and Hewlett-Packard (http://www.hp.com/) make some affordable consumer level printers to help you achieve some very good results.

All of God’s blessing on you this week.

Chris

Tips for videotaping sports

We have compiled a list of tips that we offer to anyone who is serious about videotaping sports. These tips are very helpful to parents who want good quality footage of their children playing or to someone who just likes sports. It takes practice but is well worth the effort.

• Use a tripod! This is the one thing, above all else, that helps create good footage. If a tripod is not available, try using something else to steady the camera. As an alternative, hold the camera close to your body and lean against a wall, fence, etc. Shaky footage is very distracting and hard to watch. If your athlete is college bound, shaky footage could eliminate your athlete from consideration or mean the difference between a full-ride scholarship to a Division 1 school or walking on at the community college.
• Turn off digital zoom. Digital zoom magnifies an image electronically, rather than using the lenses to bring an image closer. Digital zoom creates “pixilation” and degrades the quality of the video.
• Make sure your battery is charged and you have a backup battery fully charged and ready to use should the primary battery fail.
• Use a new, unused videotape. Label the tape prior to inserting it into the camera and don’t use it for other purposes. And don't rewind the tape in-between plays to see what you captured-wait until you get home. You could miss the next play or in a rush to get taping again accidentally erase something that is meaningful.
• Establish a medium shot before moving to close-ups. A medium shot is one that encompasses the playing area and relevant players. Close-ups are great but when used too much or at the wrong time important details of the play-details that highlight your athletes performance-can be missed. In videotaping college-bound athletes, note that college coaches like to be able to make out the number on a jersey so don’t completely zoom out.
• Set camera high enough to be able to capture the playing surface but in an area where obstructions will not occur (i.e., people seated 3 rows down not staying seated, light poles, team mascot, etc.).

We hope that these tips are useful and helpful in creating the best footage possible.

Happy shooting and God's blessings!

Chris.

Time to upgrade your DVD player?

DVD’s are unlike videotape. Not just in appearance, but also in how the information is written to them. Videotape is made up of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a magnetic layer (containing all the oxides), and a back layer consisting of lubricants to ensure durability and such. The magnetic layer contains or will contain all the information written on that tape, which is mechanically pulled through the heads. Information (content) is written and read by heads contained within that recorder/player. Pretty straight forward-I think. The upside to a mechanical device like this is universality-what is written/recorded on 1 device can easily be played on just about any other device (not withstanding the PAL/NTSC/Secam compatibility issues). The obvious downside to tape is quality and deterioration.

Not to get too technical, a DVD, on the other hand, is a digital storage device that contains “pits” of information stamped or burned into the disc. The information is read by a laser in the player which interprets the information and sends the signal to your television. The disc is not worn out by playing it since there is nothing mechanical about it (except the motor used to spin the disc). Deterioration comes from fingerprints and scratches (see a recent blog on that topic).

Since a DVD player is a digital device it is controlled by “software”. Not the kind of software that you’d buy in the store or download from the internet, but software built into the circuitry of the device. This software cannot be updated in your current player. Only through the purchase of a new player can software be updated.

Why is this worth noting? A couple of reasons. First, like just about every other consumer device, there are standards issued for DVD players. Like an automobile meeting standards for fuel efficiency and environmental regulations, DVD players should be compliant with current standards if they are to play the most current formats of DVD and digital media.

One such standard was that of a players ability to read and play replicated DVD’s (these DVD’s are usually the Hollywood movie type that you buy in the store). Have you every purchased a movie that didn’t play right? I have and guess what? My player at the time was not compliant with the standard that the DVD was encoded under.

Another standard is that of general media DVD’s (i.e. DVD-R’s, DVD+R’s). DVD-R’s are the type of DVD that just about every home user and video studio, such as McKenna Video Services, is using to transfer your home movies and burn produced video’s. Information written on DVD-R’s are burned in using lasers, rather than replicated in a manufacturing process (more on this later). The benefit is that studios like McKenna Video can easily and affordably burn a disc for you, but the downside is if your player is not compliant, you may run into issues playing that disc. (Having a disc replicated rather than “burned” or duplicated disc is very expensive and disc replication houses won’t even look at you unless you need a minimum of 1000 discs).

The second reason worth noting is that you will have to update your DVD player every once in a while to keep up with standards. DVD players are not a 1-time purchase. Sorry to say. But the good news is players have come down significantly in price since the early days (I think that I paid $500 for my first DVD player, my latest one cost me just $50) and they usually come with more features.

When you purchase a player, make sure that they are compliant with latest DVD Forum standards http://www.dvdforum.com/. Ask the sales clerk for a compliance reports on that unit. Or check the box to make sure that they have logos for DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW, VCD, CD, and MP3 just to name a few. Usually, name brand DVD players do not have an issue, but be wary of cheap knockoffs from companies you’ve never heard of or those that are being “cleared out.”

For more information on DVD’s, you can find answers to most questions at http://www.dvdforum.com/ or DVD Demystified website http://www.dvddemystified.com/ .

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Footnoot: McKenna Video uses brand name DVD-R’s which has been shown to be the most compatible general use media. Our discs have been found to be compatible with over 95% of home DVD players made in the past three years. We also print your title directly on to the disc rather than using stickers (a big no-no).

Gods blessings,

Chris

Thank you to Macy’s-Puyallup

MVS Wedding Productions – McKenna Video Services was asked to participate in a wedding show at the Macy’s store in Puyallup’s South Hill Mall (www.macys.com) today. Thank you to Macy’s for asking us to be part of this great event.

And a great big thank you to Ann and Sarah in the bridal registry department for their unwavering commitment to great customer service. We definitely recommend you talk Ann and Sarah-even if you are not from Puyallup it is worth the trip to Puyallup to let one of these professional ladies take care of your registry needs.

It was wonderful to talk with all of you interested in our wedding and film transfer services. We look forward to serving you!

Blessings,

Chris.

Always get a backup copy of your film transfer

I'm reminded today of a customer that spent several hundred dollars to have thousands of feet of his 8mm film transfered to DVD but refused to get a copy for backup. About a year after his transfer was complete, he discovered that he either lost the DVD or it was in his car when the car was stolen. Either way, the DVD was gone!

The morale of this story is to always get two copies of your film transfer-one to view and the other to put away for safekeeping. Most companies, including McKenna Video Services, offer extra copies at significant discounts to normal retail pricing when the order is placed at the same time as the film to dropped off for transfer. And from time-to-time, McKenna Video will offer a free backup copy of your film transfer. Just remember to ask!

Gods blessings,

Chris.

Don’t let them loose your stuff!

During the Association of Video Professionals (www.aovpros.com) conference call today, the topic of wholesale warehouse, discount chains and drug stores offering video transfer services came up. Specifically, our discussion revolved around the fact that they are now offering these services (as well as selling prescription drugs, dogfood, pizza, and toilet paper) and the fact that they actually don’t do this work themselves (they outsource this work to a company that has “factories” in California and Mexico).

Each of the members of AVP has a story of a customer who has had a bad experience using services provided by America’s largest warehouse store’s new provider/partner. One of the stories that surfaced was of an elderly woman who had her 8mm film transferred to DVD, only to have another customer’s film returned to her. Another story was of a gentleman who also had film transferred but had the wrong DVD returned. And, as you can imagine, there were numerous stories of customers who had entire orders lost. One of our members told of a discount store clerk who was discouraging their customers from using the services that they were selling because the loss and error rates were too high.

In fact, the track record of some of these companies is quite scary. We heard today that their “LIF” (loss in factory) rate is somewhere just above 4% and their percent of orders with errors was much higher. While this doesn’t sound like a significant number, imagine being one of the 4% that experiences a complete loss of their precious memories and then tell me that this number is not meaningless.

Needless to say, each of the members of the Association of Video Professionals is very proud to say that our track record is much better. While I can’t speak for anyone else, McKenna Video Services has a ZERO loss rate. We have a 100% return rate of all materials (some in even better condition than when we received them)! We have never lost an order, nor have we ever completed a job with errors. That is something we are proud of and that is something that warehouse and discount stores cannot claim.

I, personally, take the time to talk with each of our customers and to work on their project, whether it is an 8mm or 16mm film transfer, a single videotape to DVD transfer, a photo montage, or something else entirely. Can a minimum wage employee working in an obscure factory in California say that they personally talk with each customer? Can a minimum wage employee working in obscure factory in California say that they value the project they receive as if it were their own?

As always, we appreciate your trust in handling your precious memories and we value those tapes, film and photographs as if they were my own!

Thank you for your trust!

God's blessings,

Chris.