old super 8 to dvd!

[jesse]

My grandma had a bunch of old super 8 movie slide reels in her basement. We had a company put them on a DVD. It was really neat to watch the DVD. It's of my grandpa crop dusting, my dad's first solo, and my uncles first solo.

In most of this my dad is my age or younger so It's really interesting to see how things were.

If anyone has any old movie slides like this GET THEM ON DVD BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!

I edited the video to just show the aviation parts. It's good stuff. Take a look. It is 68 megabyte, but it is 17 minutes long and you won't regret it

http://www.jesseangell.com/video/angellaviation.wmv

 

[gismo]

My grandma had a bunch of old super 8 movie slide reels in her basement. We had a company put them on a DVD. It was really neat to watch the DVD. It's of my grandpa crop dusting, my dad's first solo, and my uncles first solo.

In most of this my dad is my age or younger so It's really interesting to see how things were.

If anyone has any old movie slides like this GET THEM ON DVD BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!

I edited the video to just show the aviation parts. It's good stuff. Take a look. It is 68 megabyte, but it is 17 minutes long and you won't regret it

http://www.jesseangell.com/video/angellaviation.wmv

JOOC, why can't I skip forward through part of the video? On some vid's I can and some I can't. I always assumed that this was a feature that could be disabled in a video, but why disable it in your own stuff (like this)?

 

[jesse]

JOOC, why can't I skip forward through part of the video? On some vid's I can and some I can't. I always assumed that this was a feature that could be disabled in a video, but why disable it in your own stuff (like this)?

My assumption would be that this is because you are still downloading the video as you are playing it. If it buffered enough of the video to let you start watching you cannot skip ahead until it finishes downloading.

Right click on the video and click "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" and save it somewhere like your desktop. Once it's finished downloading you will be able to open it up and skip ahead as desired.

 

[gibbons]

JOOC, why can't I skip forward through part of the video? On some vid's I can and some I can't. I always assumed that this was a feature that could be disabled in a video, but why disable it in your own stuff (like this)?

Lance,
It appears that you can't skip forward (or back) until the entire video has downloaded. After that you should be able to skip around.

Thanks for sharing the video. I really enjoyed it.

 

[gismo]

My assumption would be that this is because you are still downloading the video as you are playing it. If it buffered enough of the video to let you start watching you cannot skip ahead until it finishes downloading.

Right click on the video and click "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" and save it somewhere like your desktop. Once it's finished downloading you will be able to open it up and skip ahead as desired.

Yeah, I did find that I could skip back and then forward so it must have been related to the buffering.

 

[SCCutler]

Jesse:

This is a real treasure. Like your whimsical choices of music, too!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

Well done Jesse.

BTW, Do you know about what the average fuel/payload weights are for Stearman sprayer rigs ?

 

[Jim Chumley]

Jesse,

I have over 6,000 feet of 8mm movie film. Upon researching the cost to transfer the images to DVD, I discovered that it can be anywhere from expensive to VERY expensive. I checked four places on the internet. The costs for the service ranged from just under $800 to about $1,300. The numbers slowed me down a bit. I'll have to do some serious budgeting for this.

Do you have an outfit that you recommend?

Jim

 

[Skip Miller]

The costs for the service ranged from just under $800 to about $1,300. The numbers slowed me down a bit. I'll have to do some serious budgetting for this.

For that price, you should look into buying the machine that does the conversion.

FWIW, this is just an idea... I have no idea what said machines will cost, but it seems as if their useful economic life is about over and if you get very lucky, someone will be glad to get rid of it to make space for the new new thing.

-Skip

 

[jesse]

Well done Jesse.

BTW, Do you know about what the average fuel/payload weights are for Stearman sprayer rigs ?

I'm not sure I'll ask my dad. Pretty much as much as you could put in it and have it still take off. Since you are operating in the restricted class you are not restricted to the manufactures weight limitations. He was telling me that when they had a big field to spray the ceiling of the plane sometimes would be around 500 ft.

An airplane built for the purpose of spraying is a much better setup though. You can haul more spray, it is MUCH SAFER (think roll cage, etc) , and the operating costs would be less.

The expense of maintaining and running that radial on the Stearman I have been told was quite steep.

The cost of doing this was around $300. It was worth every penny. I don't have the companys name off hand but I can tell you when I get home. They did a pretty decent job, my only complaint is they provided you with just one DVD and you could order more at $20 a copy. They also put copy protection on it which caused a minor inconvience but I was still able to rip the video off.

 

[gismo]

For that price, you should look into buying the machine that does the conversion.

FWIW, this is just an idea... I have no idea what said machines will cost, but it seems as if their useful economic life is about over and if you get very lucky, someone will be glad to get rid of it to make space for the new new thing.

-Skip

There's a fairly cheap gadget that works with your movie projector to image the film into your camcorder, but IIRC the frame rate for Super8 is 16fps and that's going to cause some annoying visual aritifacts when recorded at video frame rates. The preferred method involves capturing some film images two time and some three times and this requires more expensive equipment.

 

[bstratt]

For that price, you should look into buying the machine that does the conversion.

FWIW, this is just an idea... I have no idea what said machines will cost, but it seems as if their useful economic life is about over and if you get very lucky, someone will be glad to get rid of it to make space for the new new thing.

-Skip

I don't have Super 8 but have boxes and boxes of 35mm slides in the basement - some mine and some my father's of the family growing up. I've priced it and it would be cheaper to buy a machine than pay to get them done. Only what do you do with the machine once you've finished doing all the converting? It seems to me I'd probably sell on ebay - too bad you can't 'rent' these machines.

 

[gismo]

I don't have Super 8 but have boxes and boxes of 35mm slides in the basement - some mine and some my father's of the family growing up. I've priced it and it would be cheaper to buy a machine than pay to get them done. Only what do you do with the machine once you've finished doing all the converting? It seems to me I'd probably sell on ebay - too bad you can't 'rent' these machines.

For slides, all you need is a simple optical device which I think I've seen for as little as $60.

 

[SCCutler]

The cost of doing this was around $300. It was worth every penny. I don't have the companys name off hand but I can tell you when I get home. They did a pretty decent job, my only complaint is they provided you with just one DVD and you could order more at $20 a copy. They also put copy protection on it which caused a minor inconvience but I was still able to rip the video off.

Jesse, I was wondering why they had that logo in the corner in spots.

I think it should be obvious, but for those who do not know, "rip" is generic terminology for copying media in the digital age, and it is important for people to realize that, as the content they converted was yours, you are doing nothing wrong here. I have a big problem with them putting copy protection on the media in the first place, when their putative service is the conversion of your old movies to digital media in the first place.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

I'm not sure I'll ask my dad. Pretty much as much as you could put in it and have it still take off. Since you are operating in the restricted class you are not restricted to the manufactures weight limitations. He was telling me that when they had a big field to spray the ceiling of the plane sometimes would be around 500 ft.

One reason I'm curious is because after reading Koont's, CANNIBAL QUEEN, where he writes of cruising around southern USA in a Stearman (if memory serves) it didn't seem like he had much room/payload for more than his son and a little luggage.

 

[gismo]

One reason I'm curious is because after reading Koont's, CANNIBAL QUEEN, where he writes of cruising around southern USA in a Stearman (if memory serves) it didn't seem like he had much room/payload for more than his son and a little luggage.

There are quite a few engine variants on Stearmans ranging from around 200 HP up to (and possibly beyond) 450 HP. It could that the higher HP versions (or STC's etc) allow for more payload.

 

[jesse]

Jesse, I was wondering why they had that logo in the corner in spots.

I think it should be obvious, but for those who do not know, "rip" is generic terminology for copying media in the digital age, and it is important for people to realize that, as the content they converted was yours, you are doing nothing wrong here. I have a big problem with them putting copy protection on the media in the first place, when their putative service is the conversion of your old movies to digital media in the first place.

There were no logos when I started. When I ripped the DVD it ripped it into DIVX format. Since I was using a free divx encoder it applied that logo. I then converted it to wmv (windows media video) for the purpose of showing it on the internet.

I plan on editing this better and making a better DVD out of it. When I do this I'll make sure there are no such logos.

Yeah. I was a bit shocked and $*@#ed when I encountered the copy protection on the DVD.

There are quite a few engine variants on Stearmans ranging from around 200 HP up to (and possibly beyond) 450 HP. It could that the higher HP versions (or STC's etc) allow for more payload.

I know the stearman had a 300 hp Lycoming R-680 on it. I'm not sure if it legally changed the useful load.
I remember my dad saying my grandpa's policy was that you would put as much spray into it as you could. If you couldn't takeoff in 3/4 of the runway that meant you were too heavy.
It was not a safe spray plane though, it had no spray dump, so there was no quick way to get rid of the load. Also no roll cage, fuel tanks are right above your head..etc.

 

[bstratt]

For slides, all you need is a simple optical device which I think I've seen for as little as $60.

Lance, any idea where you saw it? I've been checking the internet and the best I could do was between $200-$300.

 

[Eamon]

I heard that film & audio tape will outlast a DVD in storage & can be restored if it gets messed up.

Does anyone know how well 30 yr old DVD will play?

Once a DVD has be slightly mutilated by weather damage, it cannot be fixed.

I have some 16mm stuff. I projected it on a screen & taped it with a camcorder with fairly good results.

 

[gismo]

Lance, any idea where you saw it? I've been checking the internet and the best I could do was between $200-$300.

No, but I'll try to remember to ask around at work tomorrow. One of the optics guys there may remember. I may also be that I'm remembering a price from 10 years ago and it's gone up a bit. I think the device I remember was little more than a lens or two and a means to mount a camera and a projector, plus maybe some sort of diffuser or attenuator.

 

[jesse]

I heard that film & audio tape will outlast a DVD in storage & can be restored if it gets messed up.

Does anyone know how well 30 yr old DVD will play?

Once a DVD has be slightly mutilated by weather damage, it cannot be fixed.

I have some 16mm stuff. I projected it on a screen & taped it with a camcorder with fairly good results.

Digital media *NEVER* degrades. That is the beauty of getting it digital.

Now the problem is the storage method you choose for the digital media. It's possible if you put it on a DVD the DVD media could degrade overtime and no longer be readable. The key here is to have it stored in several different ways. Currently I have this video on my server, on a few DVDs, on my computer, on my external hard drive. There is no way all of those are going to fail. When technologly improves I'll be transfering my information to the newer technologly.

The thing you must remember about film is everytime you are using it the quality is degrading. Every second it sits, it is degrading.

The guy that converted these said it was quite a bit of work as the flim kept busting and was lucky to get it all.

 

[bstratt]

No, but I'll try to remember to ask around at work tomorrow. One of the optics guys there may remember. I may also be that I'm remembering a price from 10 years ago and it's gone up a bit. I think the device I remember was little more than a lens or two and a means to mount a camera and a projector, plus maybe some sort of diffuser or attenuator.

Maybe I'll just get a tripod for the camera, set up the screen & projector, and snap away!

 

[gismo]

Maybe I'll just get a tripod for the camera, set up the screen & projector, and snap away!

That should work but I suggest a "hard" screen to eliminate the distortion of a wavy soft one. You don't need a retroreflective surface for this, just something white and a bit diffuse.

 

[Eamon]

Digital media *NEVER* degrades. That is the beauty of getting it digital.

.

BS BS BS BS BS BS

One can really only guess for how long the data will be able to be retrived from a DVD, CD, CDR, CDRW... Some say 100 yrs, but some said Thalidomide was safe, some said the earth was flat. There is no way of knowing for sure untill we have a 100 yr old DVD

Do you know who mixed the dye on your DVD? Bad dye = bad retention. People make mistakes all day long

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/sec4.html

 

[wsuffa]

Digital media *NEVER* degrades. That is the beauty of getting it digital.

Now the problem is the storage method you choose for the digital media. It's possible if you put it on a DVD the DVD media could degrade overtime and no longer be readable. The key here is to have it stored in several different ways. Currently I have this video on my server, on a few DVDs, on my computer, on my external hard drive. There is no way all of those are going to fail. When technologly improves I'll be transfering my information to the newer technologly.

The thing you must remember about film is everytime you are using it the quality is degrading. Every second it sits, it is degrading.

The guy that converted these said it was quite a bit of work as the flim kept busting and was lucky to get it all.

I have a couple of AVIs where the codec is not supported any more. Upgrades to the various media players overwrite the old codecs. I've found a way around it, but long-term, compatibility may not be assured.

DVDs have longer estimated lives than CDs do. The stuff you write to disk in your home machine has shorter lives than the stuff that's pressed professionally. Somewhere I saw numbers as short as 7-10 years on a CD-R/RW and as long as 100 years on a DVD. Time will tell.

There are ways of storing film that reduce the degradation to negligible. There are still old nitrite prints of movies stored in vaults. With heavy fire protection nearby. B) I recall there being such a vault in Brooklyn back when I lived in NY.

 

[jshawley]

Sigh!!

Such wonderful memories you have preserved there, Jessie!

Now I'm feeling maudlin...


Great job! And it's so neat you are just another Angell in a line of aviators! There just aren't a whole lot of metrologists who have the pleasure of seeing their offspring join them in their career; it's just too boring a job, I guess.

Loved your choice of music. A'propos the times, if I remember correctly.

And yes, love is indeed blue--especially unrequited love (great choice).

 

[SCCutler]

Funny thing about all this discussion of storage and degradation.

In my previous life, I worked with microfilm, and there was always the prediction of the demise of film as a storage medium. It was always going to be "dead in five years."

That started about 22 years ago, and it still has not happened, and the discussion above is a big part of the reason why.

No magnetic or opto-mechanical (like CD, DVD) storage medium is archival yet. All of them are subject to degradation from time and environment. This, contrasted with properly-processed film on modern base, which is essentially eternal. Emphasis: I am talking about properly-processed silver film, not duplicating films such as diazo or vesicular.

The other, often-overlooked factor was touched-upon by Bill, above: will you have the proper toy for reading the media when you need it? There have been instances of companies having to cary old tapes to computer museums (Smithsonian? Not sure...) to read the tapes for audit purposes. How many of you can read a 5.25" floppy? How about 8" floppies? the first scanned-document system I worked with was red-hot state of the art, had 12" platter laserdisk data drives. Bet there isn't one of those plugged in, today, in the country.

The one technology that is absolutely guaranteed never to fail is shining light through film. Not to say film will never die; but it will have utility and relevance for a very long time.

Last thought: At the AIIM (Association for Information and Image Management) show in 1989, there was a company showing a cool hybrid technology; it printed digital data onto 105mm film, hence yielding a truly-archival digital record. Of course, the system to read it (to decode it, if you will) would always have to be available, but there would never be a problem with being able to read the raw data.

I ran on a bit, didn't I? Enough of that, then.

 

[SCCutler]

(Oops- double post!)

 

[jesse]

BS BS BS BS BS BS

One can really only guess for how long the data will be able to be retrived from a DVD, CD, CDR, CDRW... Some say 100 yrs, but some said Thalidomide was safe, some said the earth was flat. There is no way of knowing for sure untill we have a 100 yr old DVD

Do you know who mixed the dye on your DVD? Bad dye = bad retention. People make mistakes all day long

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/sec4.html

A digital file does not degrade it's that simple. Like I said the media in which you store the data on can fail. The best choice is to store it several different ways.

Really as far as data goes you need to be always on top of it. Never give it a chance to lose it. Sure if you threw the file onto a DVD, tossed it in a box, and put it in your basement. You'll have problems someday.

My pictures and my movie files are things that I never give a chance to fail. I make weekly DVD backups. I back them up on another server on the other side of the country every week. They are stored on three different hard drives in my apartment. In order for me to lose all of this information my apartment would have to burn down, my car would have to burn up, and the datacenter in Virginia would have to burn down. The chance of all three of these happening at the same time is pretty slim. Then again my luck lately isn't so great, So it wouldn't surprise me.

Great job! And it's so neat you are just another Angell in a line of aviators! There just aren't a whole lot of metrologists who have the pleasure of seeing their offspring join them in their career; it's just too boring a job, I guess.

I'm actually the last Angell that I know of that still has a valid pilot's certificate. Hopefully I can carry on the tradition.

 

[Eamon]

A digital file does not degrade it's that simple. Like I said the media in which you store the data on can fail. .

Not to get into a ****ing contest, but..........

If every possible place a file is put (cd,DVD,HD,Flash) will degrade, then the file will degrade.

It is like saying that a song recorded on 3M 996 tape will not ever degrade as long as the tape doesn't degrade.

35mm filmstock from the first "talkies" still looks good almost 100 yrs later.

10 cent CDR's will NOT hold up as well as filmstock or analog IMHO. We will all know in 100 yrs

 

[flyingcheesehead]

If every possible place a file is put (cd,DVD,HD,Flash) will degrade, then the file will degrade.

True, if the media is thrown in a box and never used.

However, the beauty of a digital file is that you can make an EXACT copy (with no degradation in the copying process) as well as do error correction. If you take your box of CD's or DVD's out every 5-10 years and burn a new copy onto a new CD/DVD/Whatever's-out-by-then, the digital file will in fact last forever.

 

[ErikU]

Cool film! It's great to have stuff like that.

I work in pro film and video and specialize in film transfers. The "expensive" quote is probably from the place I used to work and am now a consultant for.

I want to point out a couple things:

While transfering to DVD is great for viewing, the film WILL out-live the DVD. So PLEASE be very careful with your film and store it in a cool, dry place and it will last forever. As technology improves, you can retransfer the film and it will look even better in the future.

As for the costs, the expensive pro-houses can do amazing things with S-8 film, even transfering to HD! They can also remove dirt and scratches and do amazing color correction. The technology for that type of transfer is about $1.5 million, so $1,500 for a transfer isn't bad, you do get what you pay for.

If you would be interested, let me know and I will set you up with the right people,.. and I could maybe be talked into a free/low cost short "test" of some film.

Here is the outfit:
www.fsft.com