35mm Slide Transfer - Kodachrome: An American Classic in Three Parts

The saga of Kodachrome 35mm Slide Film is a truly American story. Born of necessity in the midst of the Great Depression this film and the slides it produced became as American as well- vacations, ball games and barbecue. It was in 1916 that two scientists at Eastman Kodak, displeased with the quality of color film at that time, spent years perfecting a revolutionary way of processing color. Finally, in 1934 Kodachrome Slide Film was introduced. This film quickly became the standard for professionals, and soon plain old dads and proud grandparents were using it too as Americans began to document their lives with gusto in the 50's, 60's and 70's. For seventy-five years the quality of the images and the vivid colors made it second to none. Paul Simon even wrote a hit song about the nostalgia of its "nice bright colors" making "all the world a sunny day"! Many an evening in Anytown, USA was spent in a darkened living room with a Kodak Carousel projecting memories of good times both long past and recent. 

However, the marketplace is fickle and, despite this film's unsurpassed quality, the American appetite for quicker and less expensive service began to rule the day. More easily processed film (but hardly the same quality) began to take Kodachrome's 35mm Slide's market share. And, as Americans began to favor "one hour" service this classic found it hard to compete due to its complex processing requirements. Then, with the advent of digital camera ease combined with the increasing cost of developing this special film, its long life came to a halt when the last processor of Kodachrome announced it was no longer economically feasible to process it. On December 30, 2010, the last day of accepting processing orders for Kodachrome 35mm Slide Film, Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas witnessed this remarkable film getting its "propers" as they received five hundred FedEx packages and eighteen bags from the Post Office, all full of Kodachrome Slide Film needing to be processed. In fact a woman flew to Kansas from England to personally deliver her film! 

But now, with your help, those 35mm slides can live on in all of their glory! Look around in your closets, basements, attics or garage. If you are lucky enough to have 35mm slides of your precious memories your have a treasure! And we have good news. We love slides and we know the treasured family moments they hold. Your slides will look great when we scan them and put them on DVD! Home Video Studio is the leader in 35mm slide preservation. We have been handling slides since 1991 and have transferred literally millions of them. And we realize there's a lot of your life and memories preserved on them. 

What you need to know right now is that, besides taking up valuable space, there is something happening to these slides if they are stored improperly. Day by day and minute by minute your slides are at risk for scratching, biological damage, and in some cases, fading, rendering your slides a putrid shade of pink or purple. Now is the time to take action. Don't wait - your memories depend on it. 

Call us today for a hands-on approach to scanning and restoring your slides. You'll get: 

•TLC - We touch every slide. You get ongoing quality control.
•Best image available - Each slide is color-corrected and cropped, rotated and/or flipped if needed.
•Best technology - Dirt, dust or scratches? We have the technology that may be able to digitally "mend" many of the ravages of time and the elements.
•Best resolution - We scan natively to TIFF or JEPGS at a very high resolution which allows for enlargements. All corrections to the image (crop, rotation, touch-up, etc.) are made while still in the TIFF format. This resolution allows for enlargements as well. We can deliver as TIFF files or Hi-Res JPEGS.
•Local service - Did you know some places send your slides away? Even out of the country? Your slides never leave our sides! 

Once transferred your slide images: 

• will be stored, in jpeg or tiff format, on a scratch-proof Archival Platinum DVD or Gold Archival CD rated for 100+ years 

• may also be placed on a hard drive for convenience

• may also be made into a DVD slideshow with background music (to enjoy on TV)
Look no further. Home Video Studio has the experience, technology and concern for your precious slides. Give us a call right now! 

For More information on 35mm slide transfers go to www.Homemovietransfer.com or email info@homevideostudio.com or call 1-800-406-7459 or email info@homemovietransfer.com.

And….. if you like video and want to change careers check out http://www.myhomevideostudio.com.

Webinar: Making Money with Video - Starting Your Own Video Production Services Business

Making Money with Video - Starting Your Own Video Production Services Business

Join us for a webinar on Oct 14, 2015 at 7:00 PM EDT.

Register now!

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7570997745084697089

Do you love working with video? Does shooting and editing video take you to a place where time stands still? Would you like to start a video production business? Have you ever thought "If I could make videos for a living… I'd be in heaven?" If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions then attend our webinar: “How to Start & Run Your Own Video Business.”

Robert Hanley, Producer/Director/Editor and CEO/Founder of Home Video Studio presents this informative webinar on Wednesday, October 14th at 7:00 pm.
Discover the three secret strategies you can use to build your video production business. Space is limited. Register today.

In forty-seven minutes Robert cover:

1. The top-five money making video profit centers.
2. The Home Video Studio training schedule
3. How to get started full-time or part-time.
4. Financing if you need it.
5. Ramp-up times.
6. And much more.

Find out how you can accomplish and reach your goals on this webinar. Well discuss:

What is Home Video Studio?
What is the market for our services? 
What is the investment required and what is your ROI?
How do you make money?
What’s it like to own your own video business? 
How do you make a transition from what you do now to running your own studio? 

All About the 8mm Videotape Format

Hi 8mm Videotape

Today, let’s discuss the 8mm videotape format. 8mm video camcorders came about in the mid-80’s and were a more compact answer to the much larger VHS format. Sony actually introduced 8mm with The Sony Handycam in 1985. The tapes were much smaller than VHS (about the size of a deck of playing cards), thus the cameras could fit in your palm. This was a big deal! Plus, the tapes held two hours of recording. Ease of use, compactness, and longer recording times made 8mm video recorders very popular for nearly the next two decades. Plus the video quality was pretty darn good for the consumer market.

We have specialized 8mm decks that handle the vast majority of 8mm tapes brought in for transfer to a modern media. In our years of video transfer here are a two topics we face from time to time that are particular to 8mm video:

1.     Analog, Hi8, Digital 8 and Digital Hi8 formats. Although the cameras look exactly the same the 8mm format went through improvements in the years it was popular. Starting with analog the next generation was called Hi8. Then after that came Digital 8 and then Digital Hi8. Note: Hi8 was Sony’s answer to or equivalent to SVHS (slightly better picture and another reason to purchase new gear!). These cameras are what we call “down compatible” meaning that the previous format can be played on the next generation, but the next generation cannot be viewed on a previous camera format. Are you concerned about which, if not all of these formats you used way back when? We are capable of handling any format of 8mm that exists and transferring it to a modern medium.

I started doing 8mm transfers (to VHS) in 1991. Actually one of my first clients gave me his 8mm VCR! I was very grateful as I was just starting out in the video transfer business. Before 1991, I was (and still am) a film/Video Producer/Director/Editor. I cut my first films on old 8mm rewinds. But I digress. You can actually learn the entire story at http://www.myhomevideostudio.com/audio.cfm.

Sony Handycam

2.     A problem with some 8mm tapes: Tracking, alignment, and “blue screen.” 8mm video was very successful for many reasons, including a good image quality and compactness.  However, there was one issue that has sprung up on many an unsuspecting 8mm camera owner – the dreaded blue screen!   Here is what happens sometimes – but hopefully has not happened to you or your 8mm tapes:

Folks would start taping events with their camcorders, then play their videos back by connecting the camera to their TV. Most of the time everything looked great.

Sometimes, unbeknownst to the consumer (usually the camera person) the actual video image recorded by the camera was out of kilter because the video image had been recorded by video heads that went of alignment (as all video heads did.) The out-of-alignment camcorder would both record the video incorrectly but also play back the video with the same head alignment, so everything looked fine.

Eventually the video heads would get so out of alignment that the camera could no longer compensate and the viewer would see a picture that looked like the “tracking” was off (squiggly lines at the bottom or top or both). You may be familiar with tracking control from your old VHS VCR. However, on VHS if you saw tracking errors (from video heads out of alignment) it was an easy thing to cure – simply adjust your tracking control.  

A big problem with the 8mm Format: Now, with all the great new benefits of 8mm there was a little known disadvantage: there was no tracking control, and this sometimes created a problem. It’s not possible to adjust the picture so you are stuck with what you see on the screen.  The scenario that usually played out (and still plays out) is: the 8mm camera’s heads drift out of alignment, the cameraperson/viewer does not realize this since the camera compensates for the error during playback, eventually the problem does become visible,  and the camera owner would take their camera to the repair shop.
Problem solved? No. Things would get worse. Now the camera is fixed and records video perfectly; however, when the old tapes that were recorded before when the heads went out of alignment are now played back a blue screen appears with perhaps some sound or even no sound.  The viewer might press the fast forward view button and would now see video images on the tape but, tragically, that image only plays in the fast forward view setting. 

The Dreaded Blue-screen!

We see this problem more often than we would like to! Sometimes we can help and sometimes we cannot. We make it our business to have the most professional 8mm decks around, plus back-ups. If you have a difficult tape we more than likely have the equipment to see the image.

PAL and SECAM are also available in the 8mm format.  At www.homemovietransfer.com we take pride in preserving old memories and bringing them back – including all 8mm formats (including PAL & SECAM). 

For More information on 8mm tape transfers go to www.Homemovietransfer.com or email info@homevideostudio.com

Note: 8mm tapes can be transferred to Platinum Archival DVD and also to DVAs (Digital Video Archive) www.DigitalVideoArchive.com

And….. if you like video and want to change careers check out http://www.myhomevideostudio.com.

                                                                                          

Wire Recorders and Wire Recording Transfers to CD and DVA - Digital Video Archive

Did you know that there was audio recording before audio tape? “What did they use to record on?” you might ask. The answer? Wire. Not magic wire. Not wire from another planet. Just basic wire.

The trick came in the wire capable of being magnetized in a special recorder.  If you held a microphone toward a sound source (someone talking or singing, an orchestra, a dog barking, etc.) it would detect different pressures in the sound, convert that into an electric current, and represent that sound by magnetizing areas of the wire. To play back the recording you just needed a machine capable of decoding the special magnetic representation of the original sound.

What did these machines look like?

Wire Recorder Circa 1946

As you can see, it’s not that much different than a magnetic tape recorder/player. Mostly because they operated on the same principle of a medium being coded and decoded by running over an electromagnetic device.

Are there any wire recorder/players today? Well, yes, but they are rather rare and extremely touchy! We pride ourselves on maintaining an arsenal of rare and obsolete machines to transfer your old audio formats, including wire recorders.

You may have some old wire recordings and not know what they are. Here’s normally what they look like:

The actual wire is as thinner than fishing line...

Imagine what you might hear if you got that recording decoded and transferred to a modern medium! You might even hear your- great grandfather’s voice! Or the family’s new Model-T starting up for their first ride!

At www.homemovietransfer.com we take pride in preserving old memories and bringing them back – including wire and other rare and obsolete media! For More information on wire recorders and wire recording transfer go to www.Homemovietransfer.com or email info@homevideostudio.com

Note: Wire Recordings can be transferred to Gold Archival CDs and also to DVAs (Digital Video Archive) www.DigitalVideoArchive.com

Oh and one more thing. If you like video and want to change careers check out http://myhomevideostudio.com.

Don’t Store Videotapes in Your Oven! True Stories of Videotape Repair!

Videotape Repair

Has something like this ever happened to you? You've decided to take a look at some of your old videotapes, but you discover that the tape is broken or it jams in your old VCR. You get very upset since this is your wedding from 25 years ago! What to do?

First… Don’t panic.

Second, carefully remove the tape from the VCR if possible. If it is stuck in the VCR, you can bring the entire VCR to Home Video Studio Indianapolis: http://homevideostudio.com/cas. We will fix it for you! You can also go to: HomeMovieTransfer.com

Problem solved!

Over the past twenty years, we've seen just about every kind of tape problem. We've repaired thousands of tapes, and can we tell you some amazing true stories, like the lady who "accidently" turned on her spare oven while preparing her Thanksgiving meal. For some unbelievable reason, this oven is where she stored her videotapes! Of course we were there to help and repaired her tapes.

"...this oven is where she stored her videotapes! "

What's your story? What is your tape repair need? Home Video Studio Indianapolis can help with a quick repair of your priceless memories on videotape and then a transfer to DVD or DVA – the Digital Video Archive Cloud http://digitalvideoarchive.com.

Home Video Studio Indianapolis specializes in the repair of VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, Hi8, and Digital8 tapes. We also repair Audio Cassettes, Micro and Mini Audio Cassettes, Mini DV videotapes, ¾ Inch video tapes and BETA video tapes.

We offer a lifetime guarantee on all tape repairs and offer a same day service if you need it. Call us today to discuss your video tape repair issue: 1-317-577-8220. 1-800-660-8273. We’re happy to help.

Oh and one more thing. If you like video and want to change careers check out http://myhomevideostudio.com.