Transfer VHS To DVD And Your Film To Blu-ray With Professional Tools
If you are transferring your old VHS tapes and movie film to DVD or Blu-ray, you will need the right tools. VHS is easy. The tools are easy to find. Film is not always as easy. Let’s take a look.
I used to think telecine was too professional for my amateur film transfers. A lot of people recommend the Canopus ADVC-300 to transfer VHS to DVD. For about $350 that seems affordable. But for film transfers I always thought telecines were too expensive. Well, I found a company that actually makes telecine easy and affordable. And the quality is close to perfection.
Movie Stuff in Utopia, Texas is recognized as the best telecine company in the world. It gets this reputation because it is very, very easy to use and the quality can be mistaken for that you would get from a true scanner, which is completely cost prohibitive. Maybe you own a company that is or is about to provide film transfers to DVD or Blu-ray for your customers. Or maybe you are like me and are thinking about transferring your own film to digital. Either way Movie Stuff makes it easy for the average layperson to come in and use the equipment and get a good transfer with minimal training and/or research.
If you are the kind of person that likes to do it all himself or herself, you may find it a little challenging to do 8mm to DVD without a good telecine or similar device. There are other options but they are not that suitable. Here is a short overview of the options.
- Scanner
- Best quality
- Highest cost ($50,000 and up)
- Not practical for individual purchase
- 3CCD Telecine
- Next highest quality
- $1,295-$8,995 with Movie Stuff; more expensive elsewhere
- Probably the best choice for the DIYer looking for quality
- 1CCD Telecine
- Lowest quality
- Lower than $1,000
- Probably worth skipping since the gap between 1CCD and 3CCD is so huge
So, as you can probably see, a 3CCD telecine is probably your best bet. The great thing about Movie Stuff 3CCD telecines is that they are easy to use and the quality is very close to a true scanner. PC Magazine did side by side tests of the DV8 Sniper-HD and the industry’s leading scanner, the Rank Turbo, and said the quality was so close that they could only see the difference when comparing it directly to the Rank.
So, keep using that Canopus model for your VHS to DVD but take a look at Movie Stuff for your film transfers. And if you can not afford to buy, they will always be willing to use their in-house telecines to transfer your film for you.
