Old 8MM film conversion

This year I would like to convert all my old 8MM film to DVD format for importing to iMovie for editing.
Question: Can the Intel iMacs import from DVDs?
Can anyone provide me with instructions to import from DVDs?
I've tried importing a movie burned in iDVD back into iMovie, but it's just not obvious to me as to how to do it.
Thanks

Hi rjr535
You will have to convert the DVD's image and audio to MPEG-4 (mp4) befor you can import it to iMovie!
I use a DVD recorder to burn my old camcorder tapes to DVD's, then pop the DVD's in the iMac and use HandBrake to convert them to MPEG-4 befor importing to iMovie!
Here is the link for [HandBrake|http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21117]
Dennis

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    Hi Tyler!
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  • 8mm film conversion

    Hello everyone!
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  • 8mm film

    I want to convert old 8mm film to digital, but not sure about converting to a high definition (HD) format or just standard digital format (SD).  My goal is to end have the best quality, but also to be able to play back on my computer, HDTV and use the entire wide screen(s) without compromising picture quality.  In addition, I want the file in a format that I can edit such as using Windows Movie Maker and/or share with others, i.e., burn to a DVD.
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    Yet another option is of course paying someone to do it for you; that way you get an experienced operator to do the transfer for you. Do a Google on 8mm tranfer, and you´d be amazed at the amout of results. Don´t go for the cheapest option...
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  • Transfer 8mm film to DVD

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    Use of a digital camera and projector, as you've suggested, is probably the simplest way. I would only suggest that, instead of a projecting onto a screen or wall, you use a video transfer device such as those designed originally for transferring movies-to-tape.
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    Thanks, I completely forgot about that. If I'm missing something here, let me know: The only thing is that for some reason FCP won't duplicate frames if the sequence is made of still clips, the screen just goes black. But if you export the sequence as a reference quicktime and import that, slowing it down without frame blending, it works perfect.

  • 8mm film from 1950s conversion

    I am preparing to have 2000 feet of 8mm film converted to digital, which I then plan to edit in FCE HD (3.5.1). I am looking at a service that will do a frame-by-frame scan in HD, through an enlarged gate, and captured via a Blackmagic card. The resulting files will be in an .avi wrapper with each 50 ft reel (about 4 minutes) resulting in a file about 1.5Gb in size. Since .avi files do not import directly into FCE... what is the best way to convert them so that they will? ... and will I lose a great deal of quality in the conversion?
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    Bob
    What do you have now.....
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    Please review and consider, and then we can plan our project strategy accordingly.
    Thank you.
    ATR

  • Slides, old 8mm reel to reel, convert to DVD

    Hi everyone,
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    Most scanners built w/in the last three years have trays that let you put a slide or film negative (and a light in the lid to allow scanning of said media). If your current scanner doesn't, buy a new one, as A) they are relatively cheap and B) have progressed so much in the last couple of years that a new one will do a much better job (for a lot less money) than your old one.

  • 8mm movie conversion

    I have about 1200 feet of old 8mm movie film that I would like to have converted so that I can import it into Apple’s iMovie where I can edit it and make a movie of it and put it on a DVD with menus.
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    I think your question is sort of outside the realm of iMovie and more of how to get old film based movies recorded onto digital tape or another digital format easily imported to the computer.
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    These are old silent 8mm films?
    Patrick

  • 8mm film to IMovie

    Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can get from 8mm film to IMovie?
    I had 400 feet of 8mm transferred to DVD But IMovie won’t accept it. Says QuickTime can’t parse it.
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    Someone said to try MacTheRipper. I did and it did rip the movie from the DVD but it was still “copy protected”. Running that through Toast didn’t help.
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    JIm

    A fascinating project!
    My older brother had 4 hours of (silent) 8mm cine film dating back to 1958-1980 (when he finally bought a video camera!). He wanted me to convert them to carefully edited DVDs, with music, sound effects, titles and so on. Like a madman I accepted the challenge! To make life easier he lives in Belgium and uses a PC!
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    At considerable expense he had all the film transferred to four DVDs in some PC-only friendly mpeg codec, and sent them to me.
    I used Streamclip and the Apple mpeg thingy (saving time by not loking it up) to convert these to Quicktime DV files. To make life even easier, the Belgian moron who did the conversion to DVDs had not done so in chronologal order!
    That made for a very large QT file, which I imported into iMovie, and set about carving it into date order, re-exporting the various years to QT as individual files, and then importing into iMovie projects to edit.
    Only a couple of months later I had it organised into three projects, each of an hour or so, beautifully edited with titles, transitions, music, sound effects and other bells and whistles, and burnt them to 3 DVDs. I was generally agreed that I deserved an Oscar for technical merit!
    That was just to let you know that it can be done!
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    But before you even start I heartily recommend that you update your OS and all software to the latest versions, particularly Quicktime, and make that Pro.

  • 8mm film xfers

    I have been indentured into service by family members who feel
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    The commercial transfer houses I work with on client jobs would
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    I have not done any telecine in some years, so the "players" have very likely changed, and outdated. Others can recommend some sources, that are much more current.
    One consideration, though you have probably already taken it into account is the source materail (4:3) Frames, that are far, far below HD quality. However, a good telecine house can probably help you overcome that Aspect Ratio (and the original quality) to some degree. Personally, I would go with pillar-boxed material, rather than Scale to fit the 16:9 and effectively cropping top/bottom/both with Motion>Position.
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    Hunt

  • Imovie and 8mm film

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    movie lady

    I believe most scanners have slide adapters that can be purchased. My sister-in-law did all of he fathers old slides this way, but they had to be scanned on at a time. She has patience.
    As far as 8mm film goes,you can project the image onto a white screen and use your dv camera to capture the footage, but you have to adjust your video camera shutter speed to 24 frames per second, to match the shutter speed to the 8mm . You can purchase telecine equipment that will do the job, but the profesionals have the best equipment that capture the movies directly to 3ccd cameras. You will have all of your films saved onto mini dv tapes. If you are talking about transfering a few hours worth of film, it hardly pays to purchase the high end equipment. You probably only want to do this once , so why spend money and have "adequate" or poor results?
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    They clean the film, and correct for lighting variations. I had some problems with some of the results, and they redid that portion, no questions asked.
    Since you get the films back on mini dv's, you can load the footage onto your mac & edit away, and burn your dvd's.
    http://www.homemoviedepot.com/

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