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Converting Celluloid Movies to Dvds Has Limitations

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 03:03 CST

You recently answered a question about how to use a digital camcorder to record the screen where 8 mm films are being projected. I would love some suggestion instead of where to send such film to have it transferred to DVDs. I no longer even have the equipment to view the 8 mm reels that I possess. - Bobbi Schindler

A: Among the most frequently asked questions this column receives are ones about how to digitize our old analog movies, videotapes and photographs. The item you refer to dealt with making copies of one's old celluloid movies just like pirates with camcorders who photograph Hollywood movies in theaters. That answer brought me a lot of commentary about flicker problems encountered when recording projected films as well as lots of notes, like yours, Ms S., asking how to get this work done by pros. So I'd like to answer you and then deal with the issue of flickering frames when trying to do it yourself.

My literary license doesn't go far enough to let me tell folks where to buy stuff but there are several things to be said about shopping for a transfer service. First, the most visible outfit by far transferring 8 mm and 16 mm reels as well as old video tape to DVDs is Santa Clara, Calif.-based YesVideo Inc. They ask $50 for the first 250 feet of film and then 10 cents per additional foot.

This company has deals with many photo stores and drugstores where one can drop film off and pick up DVDs afterwards. Locations of available retailers can be found at www.yesvideo.com where you can enter your ZIP code for information.

Not everybody has been blissfully satisfied with this mass- market service but the complaints seem to focus on issues like color quality and where individual clips are trimmed rather than any failure to deliver DVDs with digital files for the celluloid film.

One way to seek a more hands-on service is to do a Web search on Yahoo, Google, MSN or AOL using a search term like "transfer 8 mm to DVD." A number of the many companies doing this all over the country offer hand-holding like letting customers send in just a small amount of footage for a test transfer.

Do-it-yourself transfers aren't for everybody partly because the process requires still owning a projector and a whole lot of folks' projectors broke long ago. Also making the copies introduces the issue of flickering because modern camcorders pretty much record at 30 frames per second while the old projectors flash images at 24 feet per second or slower.

Not all camcorders have settings that directly permit reducing speeds to these slower rates so the process can require some tweaking of the camcorder's effects settings. Usually it is the brightness effect that slows down frame rates so some fiddling is needed. But slowing down the shutter can overexpose the images so one also needs to experiment with lens aperture settings, reducing them from perhaps F4 to F8, etc.

To carry this off, connect the camcorder to a video monitor, then move the projector close to the screen to make the image small and bright as possible. Flicker can be spotted in the monitor and it is easier to make certain that the screen is filled completely and not distorted because of the angle of the camcorder to the screen versus the angle of the projector to the screen.

Q: When I go into America Online and then try to read my e-mail, I get the following message: "An AOL error has occurred. Please try again." I am unable to read my e-mail messages. Is there an answer to this for someone who is not technically inclined? - Sally McLeod

A: For my dime, Ms. M., the existence of America Online's backup Web site at www.aol.com is unknown by far too many among the millions still using AOL. Knowing about this site will tide you over until you can get the basic AOL software fixed. It is the ideal solution for "someone who is not technically inclined," as you write.

The next time you run the AOL software, do not click on the icon to read your e-mail, which is triggering those error messages. Instead, click on Start and look for the icon for the Microsoft Internet Explorer, the Web browser built into the operating system.

When the browser opens, go to the address bar at the top of the display and type www.aol.com in the box. This brings up the AOL Web page, a site that looks a lot like the America Online software and includes a prominent icon for AOL and AIM e-mail. Click that and you'll get a box asking for your AOL screen name and password.

Fill that in and click OK, and you'll get a somewhat less powerful e-mail display using the browser instead of the AOL software proper.

This display lets you read notes, answer them, forward them, file them and do the other things that one normally uses the company's proprietary software to accomplish.

Also available at the site is a download of the latest version of the software. You should download this and install it over your damaged software.

Q: I've read your article on Google Desktop during which you explained that one can force Google to redo the index of all of the files on one's computer by removing the Google Desktop program and then reinstalling it.

There is another way to do this. It's here: http:// desktop.google.com/plugins/tweakgds.html. -Marat Sharipov

A: I thank you for the suggestion, M.S. I had played it safe and suggested the least dangerous solution to the annoying glitch in the Google Desktop Search software, which indexes the contents of one's hard drive and then lets users find stuff on their own machines using the same search tool Google uses for the whole Web.

The problem is that Google Desktop Search doesn't keep track of changes. So if users move files to other folders or delete them after Google first indexes the hard drive's contents, the search will come up with the old locations. This severely limits the usefulness of the tool.

My suggestion, which was simply to remove Google Desktop Search from the computer and then reinstall it, forces the software to repeat the index of the hard drive.

There is, however, that nice little program you cited in your note to simplify things if one is willing to take a slight chance on unforeseen consequences. TweakGDS comes from PodSync, a shareware developer that seems to specialize in programs to let users tweak the Google search engine and to fine tune the Apple iPod digital music player.

TweakGDS is a standalone program that lets a user order Google Desktop Search to reindex selected folders or drives after they have been indexed the first time during installation. The program also can force a total reindexing without the need to uninstall and then reinstall the Google software.

TweakGDS users are warned that the creator does not assume responsibility for problems; those who agree get the download along with a modest, nonbinding request to send PodSync a small amount of money as thanks.

CONTACT JIM COATES VIA E-MAIL AT JCOATES@TRIBUNE.COM OR VIA mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/askjim.

Source: Augusta Chronicle, The

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