New for 2010!
"Rapid Motion Picture Scanning"

We primarily serve professional studios and film archive libraries worldwide, providing the latest & greatest capture technology to meet their stringent requirements.  In recent years we have expanded our studio space and have begun accepting more personal orders.  Folks that choose our service receive the SAME studio-quality transfer as those requesting transfers for documentaries and biographies, but in a package that is family-friendly.

Most customers who have inherited their family films do not realize that old films from the 1950's to 1970's can actually look much better than analog VHS and Camcorder videos from the 1980's & 1990's.   Consumers switched to VHS in the 1980's not because the quality was better, but because tapes were much easier to handle & record to vs. films.  (Films had to be photo-developed and then viewed on a separate projector...  Sound film technology was expensive and neither could be viewed on your TV, you had to darken the room and project the movies onto a white projection screen...)

However, film has great properties and it is the reason they still show wide-format films at the movie theaters.  High Definition (HDTV) and Blu-ray video is the first time that modern technology has matched or exceeded the quality offered by those old 8mm & Super-8 films.  So the key in preserving your aging films is to capture them at high definition resolution and we deliver!

Note that we only offer ONE "grade" of service!   Customers with personal orders receive the SAME transfer quality as our professional & educational clients!  All 8mm & Super-8 films are captured with our 1920x1080 high resolution camera technology whether you choose the Blu-ray version or DVD version!  The Blu-ray version plays at 1920x1080 resolution and the DVD version plays at 720X480 resolution due the the limitation of the DVD media and DVD players, not our initial capture technology...

Services using our exact transfer technology typically charge $30 per 3" reel!

For personal orders we print pictures from your family films on the DVD Jacket and DVD Disc and then professionally laminate your DVD so that the artwork lasts a lifetime.  When opening their DVD gift, family members immediately see pictures from long-ago, even before watching the video! 

As the DVD (or Blu-ray) disc begins to play, our professional "Rapid Motion Picture Scanning" (new for 2009 & 2010) will reward all with professional quality video.  Once your family members are finished wowing over the great quality video obtained from such old films, they can enjoy the REAL quality - family memories! Without distractions caused by poor quality video, they will become immersed in what matters most - your family memories - now preserved for a lifetime in a format that everyone can enjoy - anytime! 

Professional Studio Quality
We transfer films for educational film archive libraries and professional studios worldwide.  Because many of our clients are grant-funded, we have been able to continually upgrade our equipment to the latest & greatest without passing the expense onto you.  Customers with personal orders receive our professional studio quality transfers at prices rivaling local photo stores or bulk transfer services capturing at only 1/6th our resolution.  Some of our work has been used in biographies and documentaries produced worldwide.  Folks that demand the best stick with us!

New for 2010:
In 2009 we received the latest pre-production "Rapid Motion Picture Scanning" technology.  The latest upgrade enhancements were added in 2010, making our system the very best anywhere near this price-range.  Our new 2010 technology scans each frame of your film as a (1920X1080) JPG saving it within the framework of High Definition Motion-JPEG video (MJPEG).  (MJPEGs are a way to preserve each frame within a large span of video without loss of quality.  If you order our MJPEG video upgrade, you can receive this unedited high quality video on an external hard drive and use it to print-out (1920x1080) JPGs of any of the thousands of frames we have captured from your films!  (There are over 3,000 frames in a single 50' reel!  We pick 6-12 of the best ones and print them on your DVD Jacket & Disc as artwork!) 

Most modern home video editing software can handle MJPEGs including those produced for PCs and Macs...  We can save your video to a Windows or Mac formatted USB, SATA or eSATA drive.  When you view your MJPEG video within the editing software, you just pause on a single frame, "copy" that frame, and paste it into your photo-editing software for a 1920x1080 print!  Pretty neat!  Not something the local photo store can provide...

15+ Years of Editing Experience
We save every transfer to one of our computer workstations where a color specialist reviews your footage and adjusts each major scene for improved color, brightness and contrast balance.  Our color specialist has over 15 years of video editing experience and we are able make your final video appear better than the actual projected film. 

Latest 2010 HD Scanning Technology:
For 8mm & Super-8 film transfers we use a "Rapid Motion Picture Scanning System" that is just now being made available to other professional studios (production units ordered now will ship in 3 months...).  We are certain this cutting-edge technology will be the transfer method of choice from 2010 forward because it is the only frame-by-frame system capable of producing the 1080P high definition video needed for Blu-ray authoring.  Others can take their 720x480 images and create a Blu-ray disc, but it will not come from 1920x1080 scans...

Our transfer stations use the latest High Definition (HD) camera technology which scan your films initially at 1920x1080p HD resolution!  Our multi-processor computer workstations have (8) hard drives working together as one (RAID0) to capture over 2 million "pixels" per single "frame" without loss of data quality and with NO FLICKER!  Unlike photo stores, we DO NOT save directly to DVD, every DVD & Blu-ray order is professionally edited on a computer workstation.  (Just look at their online pictures...  One popular photo store on EBay advertises a frame-by-frame product, but you can see clearly that they go straight from Telecine to a DVD Writer located below the machine...  This is bait & switch and why photo stores should be avoided!)

Our NEW technology is a vast improvement over previous "frame-by-frame" methods (circa 2003-2009) which were a vast improvement over "telecine" or "aerial" captures (circa 1980-2003).  Because of our cutting-edge technology, we are one of the very FIRST services that can send you the TRUE HD MJPEG files, QuickTime H.264 HD files or Blu-ray discs in addition to a standard definition DVD.  Ask for our upgrade pricing if you are interested in receiving one of these options.  (Note:  Some services offering HD video are projecting the images onto a wall or mirror and videotaping them with a consumer-grade HD camera...  Those services are not professional, but are likely amateurs trying to sell a home-made product...  BE SPECIFIC!  ASK for "Rapid Motion Picture Scanning" at 1080P!

Just look at our sample DVD cover to see the high JPG "picture" quality we achieve!  The pictures on the DVD cover are "stills" taken from actual film transfers.  Since our capture method literally saves your frames as individual JPG images within the advanced Motion-JPEG (MJPEG) HD video, we just snag good pictures and print them for your DVD Jacket & DVD Disc artwork.  Family members receiving DVDs as gifts open their presents to see beautiful pictures from long-ago at modern JPG quality!

Our Transfer Method, Step-by-Step:
1.  All Films Are Thoroughly Cleaned using a professional film cleaning product recommended by Kodak.  If needed, films are cleaned further until no residue remains on our film cleaning pads.  NEW - You can also upgrade your order to include our advanced DEEP CLEANING option where we pre-soak your films for additional time and repeat the cleaning process multiple cycles.  Please email us for details & pricing for your size order.

2.  Your Films Are Transferred Digitally giving our cameras enough time to "scan" each single frame from your films at HD resolution (1920x1080p).  A custom-designed computer workstation with (8) hard drives (acting as one) receives the digital data stream as HD (1920x1080p) video.

3.  A Real Person Manually Adjusts the Camera Settings throughout the entire transfer to obtain the proper exposure, brightness, contrast and color correction levels.  Although we can set this to “automatic”, we prefer the quality obtained from personal monitoring.  We also stop, rewind, adjust our settings & re-transfer sections that are particularly difficult.  Due to the extra care at this important stage, we have become one of the most sought-after transfer services available.  This step-alone can double the time we spend with an order, but we patiently seek-out the best settings for each scene.

4.  We Professionally Edit Your Video utilizing one of our multi-processor computer workstations.   We remove totally black or white areas and further color correct areas that have turned green or red from age.  The final results look better than the original projected film!  Note that we cannot add color to films that have turned brown and lost most of their color, but we can enhance the capture video to bring-out the best from even the most damaged film sections.

5.  We Author Your “Master” DVD complete with a DVD submenu showing picture links to each reel's chapter.  If provided, we will also add precise chapter titles in the DVD menu.  The best method is to give us a 6-9 word title for each reel.  If you do not know the content of your reel, we still provide a picture link to each chapter for easy DVD navigation.  You may also view the entire DVD from start to finish.

6.  Custom Color Labels are Designed using picture “stills” from your film reel.  We print our disc labels directly to the surface of your DVD and include an attractive DVD case with matching cover. Every order now includes our professional high gloss DVD lamination process at no additional cost!  The glossy laminate makes the color label printed to the surface of our DVDs water and fingerprint resistant.  

7.  Your Films and New DVDs Are Carefully Packed & Shipped using SIGNATURE CONFIRMATION.  This method provides tracking info for the safety of your films.

8.  We Standby Our Service and will fix any obvious mistakes if you let us know within 30 days of receiving your order back.  After 30 days, for a period of up to one year, we can send out exact copies of your standard playable DVD set, but can no longer make changes to you order, or replace the "master" MJPEG file set that was originally captured from your films.  These HD files are too large to save for more than 30 days unless the customer chooses to purchase these source files on an external USB or eSATA drive.

What Sets Us Apart From Others:
Even in 2010, when other studios begin upgrading to our technology, we know we will remain a top choice amongst folks looking for the best.   Although we could setup our systems so that all of the adjustments are made automatically, we manually adjust the exposure, color, brightness and contrast levels throughout the entire capture process.  We also further adjust these levels while editing the video for your final DVD.  Finally, we routinely rewind and re-transfer sections if we feel different camera settings will produce better results.  Sometimes we transfer films as many as 3X each to get acceptable results - especially those reels that have turned color from age...  Scene for scene our DVDs are going to turn out better time after time.

Many local photo stores and Internet services (including some on EBay) are still using the old “Telecine”, "Film Chain", "Wetgate" or "Aerial" methods to transfer films.  To avoid these obsolete services, ask if they are using a "Rapid Motion Picture Scanning System" introduced in 2009. Then ask if their system has a High Definition (HD) camera built-in that captures HD MotionJPEG images to a computer workstation.  Finally, ask if all of the video is manually edited on a computer workstation and if the final DVDs are professionally laminated.

We know that what sets us apart from others is our choice of equipment and attention to detail.   We chose to select high-end photo and video components, some of which were only available for specialized medical applications.  Also, although we could setup our systems so that all of the adjustments are made automatically, we manually adjust the exposure, color, brightness and contrast levels throughout the entire capture process.  We also further adjust these levels while editing the video for your final DVD.  Scene for scene our DVDs are going to turn out better time after time. 

For Those Still Considering Doing It Yourself. . .
You cannot achieve the quality of our transfers using a projector and video camera, regardless of your equipment and/or technique...  However, we realize that many customers do have the ability to edit their own video using modern home computers.  Therefore, we can upgrade your order and provide the high quality 1920x1080P MJPEG file set instead of the standard playable DVD.  You then get the best of both worlds - the ability to do your own editing with the benefit of having the best quality transfers already done for you!  Please email us for MJPEG pricing.  Each 3" 50' reel transfer requires approx. 2GB of hard drive space.

How to Place an Order. . .

1. Email us with the size & number of reels you have and we will give you a direct quote.  All prices are for silent reels.  If you have sound reels, please indicate which reels have sound when requesting your quote.

2. After receiving your quote, number the reels in the order you wish to have them appear on the DVD.  We also ask that you provide us with a title for the DVD and one 6-9 word subtitle for each reel.  We prefer a printed list vs. handwriting to ensure the correct spelling of names and places.

3. Carefully package your film and mail to our address using SIGNATURE Confirmation.   The US Postal Service provides free boxes if you ship via Priority Mail.  Most of these box sizes work really well with the size & weight of film reels.  Heavy orders may fit into their "Flat Rate Box" which will also save you some money vs. other shipping services.

4. Please send us an email to confirm that you have shipped out your order.

5. We will send a confirmation email once we have received your film and again when we ship your film and new DVDs back to you.

6. Our typical turn-around time varies from 4-7 weeks depending on the season and the size of your order.   If you need us to expedite your order, we can make special arrangements.
   

How to Pay. . .

1. You may enclose a check or money order with your film shipment.
   Make checks payable to: "CVS Professionals"

2. You may also pay via PayPal using our PayPal ID:
   sales@creativevideoscrapbooking.com

Advanced Services - Email Us for Pricing

1. EXPEDITING YOUR ORDER
   Our standard turn-around time is 4 - 7 weeks and varies greatly depending on the number of orders received the same week as yours.  However, we can work overtime to expedite your order & ship in time for family events or deadlines.

2. ADVANCED DEEP CLEANING PROCESS
   We pre-soak your films for one week & send your films through our advanced cleaning process multiple times.  We recommend this add-on feature for older 8mm films and all 16mm films (due to their larger surface area)

3. ADDING TITLES LATER AFTER  YOU VIEW A PREVIEW DVD
   If you have no idea what is on each reel, we can add titles later.  We can even add fading titles, if requested, where the titles not only show in the DVD Menu, but also introduce each reel's scene during the actual video playback.

4. PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY AVI FILES or MiniDV TAPES
   These formats will allow you to edit your own video & make  unlimited copies from our original transfer work.  The quality is also higher than DVD's standard mpeg2 playback.

5. ADVANCED COLOR CORRECTION
   Our standard color-correction, included with every order, changes the color of the entire scene.  This works great for most films, as films typically fade uniformly to red or green, making everything in the scene slightly off-color by the same level.  However, films shot with a poorly adjusted camera, or films that are severely out of their color range benefit from our advanced color editing work.

6. ADDING YOUR OWN VOICE COMMENTARY
   If you digitally record your own narration while watching our Preview DVD from start to finish, we can add the voice-track to your Final DVD.  For voice quality assurance, we accept digital tapes recorded with a MiniDV camcorder or CDs recorded with a personal computer.  Due to the poor quality & syncing problems, we do not accept audio tapes, 8mm camcorder tapes or VHS/VHS-C camcorder tapes...

7. 35mm SLIDES & OTHER MEDIA TYPES

Questions?  Email us at:  sales@cvsprofessionals.com