What is a telecine? When film is transferred to video, it is done by a machine called a telecine. The telecine projects the film onto a device that converts the images into a signal that can be put on a video tape. What is flickering? 8mm film captures images at 18 frames per second (fps), and 16mm film captures at 24 fps. When film is transferred to video, it is captured at 30 fps. To produce the smoothest video picture, the telecine actually introduces intermediate frames to make up the difference in speed between film and video. Without this adjustment, there would be a “flickering” effect, which you can see in any of the old silent films. Why is my film transferred to a mini DV master? We transfer your film to a mini DV tape for several reasons. The first is quality. Analog tapes such as 8mm, VHS, S-VHS and Hi-8 come in the form of magnetic tape tightly wound around spools. With repeated play, the magnetic tape becomes thinner and thinner until you can’t play it at all. In addition, after making just one copy of an analog tape, you can see noticeable degradation of quality in the color and an increase in “video noise”. This “noise” is best described as the fuzzy appearance of your video. A digital video signal, however, is a unique pattern of 1's and 0's that represents a moving picture stream. With a digital video signal, there is no variation in the original signal once it is captured, so the quality of your mini DV doesn't diminish over time. It remains as sharp and clear as the original. The second reason we transfer to a digital tape is to accommodate the ever-changing DVD technology. The most common DVD format today is encoded at 5 – 8 mega bits per second (mbps). This “bit rate” refers to the speed at which the processor can read and process data from the disc. A miniDV’s bit rate is about 25 mbps, which delivers a better quality. Basically, more “bits” per second means more information (via color and luminance) is being transmitted, thus providing a higher resolution image. Soon DVDs will be able to process at a higher bit rate, and when that happens, you will have the option to re-encode your master tape to take advantage of the higher quality DVD to share with your family and friends. How long will the film transfer take? Please allow 3 to 4 weeks for your film to be transferred prior to it being available on your Afiniti account for viewing, editing, and sharing with your family and friends. How do I get DVDs of my film transfer? Once we’ve notified you that your footage is viewable on your Afiniti account, you can place an order for Basic DVDs of all the raw footage, or create Director’s DVDs with custom chapters, titles, thumbnails and packaging. We can include up to 2 hours and 10 minutes of footage on each DVD. How much film fits on a DVD? A single DVD disc holds up to 2 hours and 10min of video, which is just over 1,500 feet of 8mm film or 3,200 feet of 16mm film. How do I get my film back? HomeMovie.com will keep all your film and the corresponding mini DV masters safely in our vault. At any time, you can place an order through your Afiniti account to have them shipped back to you, or just give us a call. Once I get my film back, how should I store it? Store your film no hotter than 70º F, with 20-30% relative humidity. The main floor of a house or building is usually better than the basement (too moist) or the upper floors (too hot). If you do need to store it in a basement, keep it at least 6 inches off the floor in case of flooding. If you don’t plan to transfer your film right now, spend the time to make sure all your film and photographs are stored properly so they’re in good shape when you are ready. It will be worth the effort!