Let Your Family History Live On: Converting 8mm Films to DVD

As a kid, did you frequently ask your parents what they were like when they were growing up? Did you ask about your grandparents or their parents? Wouldn’t it be great if you could see how they lived back then? Fortunately many of us can because shooting 8mm movie film was so popular from the 1930s to the 1980s. It’s quite likely that you will find movie reels hidden in the closets or garages of your house or those of your family members. You should have these films transferred to DVD to be enjoyed by you and future generations.

digitizing your 8mm movie films is quite easy to do and very rewarding. For me, it’s been a big kick to see my grandfather, who unfortunately passed away before I was born, as well as my great grandparents who I didn’t get to know well either, in video. Everyone in the family has enjoyed being able to really see how they lived: what cars they drove, what houses they lived in, how they dressed, and how they celebrated their special moments in life.

Viewing these movies gives us the chance to see our family members in a previous stage of their lives, in motion. This ability gives us a sense of deeper understanding of them. Everyone in the family has enjoyed watching these videos- it has been very much a video family history.

Consider the rapid growth in people’s interest in genealogy. people are busy searching for family documents whether it be marriage licenses, birth certificates, immigration documents, or even old photos. Finding documents such as these are great and that’s all we had a hundred years ago. These static documents leave us unfortunately to only imagine how they really were – what they were really like. But what if they were able to find a movie of them? Converting your 8mm film is truly giving something to the future generations to remember you and your ancestors by.

Sadly, film preservation is an up hill battle. All films deteriorate, some do alarmingly quickly, even in Hollywood. This happened to Steven Spielberg when he was viewing has original master copy of Jaws a short 15 years after its production, only to find that the film had faded badly. Ever since, Mr. Spielberg has been one of the more active supporters of film preservation. A film’s quality of manufacture, the stability of it’s dyes, it’s processing or development, and how it is stored, all play a role in determining how long it will survive.

Let’s face it, we’re not Hollywood, and our films are not blockbusters, However, our movies are still very important to us but we do not have funds to spend on professional film restoration. For us, we need to concentrate on preservation and digitization. We should convert to digital to prevent further deterioration and preserve our original film the best way we can.

It may seem like a daunting task, but you can start as soon as today; I’ll show you how. To help you along I’ve created a website dedicated to 8mm film to DVD conversion, 8mmfilmtodvd.net that summarizes hundreds of hours of my research on 8mm film conversion. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I’ve researched how 8mm film was manufactured, why it’s decaying, all the various techniques and equipment used to convert it to digital, the best ways to store the original films, DVD media types and their respective lifespans, the video compression formats available, among many other topics. I’ve spent the time doing it, why not benefit from it? The website will show you that after a few quick decisions, mostly regarding how to you want to use and enjoy your movies, you can begin as soon as today. I hope you find converting and sharing your home movies as enjoyable as I have.

What you need to know about converting 8mm film to DVD to get the best results: The 8mm Film to DVD Transfer Guide