Hand-held movie camera and film reels

Movie Film Transfer

Preserve your treasured family home movie film to Digital Formats

Tailor-Made produces the finest picture quality available, using state-of-the-art film scanning equipment. This technology, up until now, has only been utilized by film archivists and Hollywood film makers. With a full-time staff of experienced technicians dedicated to movie film transfers, Tailor-Made can actually improve the quality of your fading films when you transfer them to Digital Formats, such as DVD or hard drive in Standard Definition, High Definition and 4K Ultra High Definition.

Over time, movie film deteriorates. Not only will the projected picture fade, but the film itself can become scratched. Our innovative Wet Gate System can improve film dramatically, providing higher quality picture that reduces or eliminates the appearance of scratches and other defects, resulting in a cleaner image.

Tailor-Made Transfers uses its own proprietary system for editing, removal of blank spots and correcting color, contrast and brightness. In addition, Tailor-Made Transfers' production value is second to none. Your DVD will include chapter points, menus and background music. All film transfers will include high quality MP4 files at no additional charge. It is this attention to detail that sets Tailor-Made Transfers apart from the others.

Digitizing and transferring your home movies to digital formats will ensure that your memories will last a lifetime.

Film Reel Sizing Guide

If you are not sure of the footage of movie film you have, print out our handy film reel sizing guide.

Film reel sizing guide

What's Included with your Film Transfer

  • Cleaning Movie Film
    The tiniest speck of dust or dirt will look enormous on your TV screen. We clean all 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm movie film to assure you get the clearest picture possible.
  • Splicing
    As your film gets older, the splices you may have applied years ago may not hold as well as they used to. Should those splices break, we will repair them (within reason) at no extra charge. If you have three or more 50 or 100-foot reels, they will be spliced onto 200 or 400-foot reels. Each reel will be labeled, indicating which 50-foot reels have been spliced into it. Empty reels, with writing on them, will be returned.
  • Transfer & Monitoring
    Trained technicians carefully monitor the entire transfer for picture framing and focus. Your film is digitally scanned, frame by frame, and captured in its entirety in high resolution directly to computer hard drive before going to our editing department for further enhancing.
  • Editing & Enhancement
    Our editors view your entire transfer scene by scene, eliminating blank footage, and enhancing brightness, contrast and color on our exclusive transfer system.
  • Opening Title
    We begin your home movie production with your own personalized title (Example: "The Smith Family Memories"). This same title will be imprinted on the face of your DVD and on the DVD case insert.
  • Background Music
    We will add family oriented, easy listening, instrumental background hi-fi Dolby digital music to the entire length of the transfer.

DVD-R

When transferring to a DVD, we use the highest quality DVD-R media that has been tested to get the maximum quality results with our equipment.

  • Conversion Process
    Your film will be converted to DVD utilizing VBR (Variable Bitrate) encoding technology which produces an overall higher and more consistent quality level than Constant Bit Rate encoding.
  • Custom DVD Imprint
    The same Opening Title that you choose will be custom printed on the face of your DVD.
  • Thumbnail Menu & Chapter Points
    A visual "thumbnail" menu at the beginning, showing a picture of the first frame of each "intelligent" chapter point.

Movie Film Transfer FAQs

Movie Film Transfer Pricing

Movie Film Transfer to DVD/MP4
Up to 400 feet of film $96.00
Additional feet of film

(charged at a minimum of 25-foot increments)

$0.24/foot

Regular 8mm, Super 8mm (Sound and Silent), 16mm (Sound and Silent / Optical or Magnetic)

Standard Definition (SD)
720 x 480 Resolution

Includes .MP4 file

(Flash/hard drive NOT included)

Movie film Transfer to Enhanced Definition MP4 File
Up to 400 feet of film $128.00
Additional feet of film

(charged at a minimum of 25-foot increments)

$0.32/foot

Perfect for viewing and editing your movies.

Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm (Sound and Silent / Optical or Magnetic)

Enhanced Definition (ED)
1280 x 720 Resolution

(DVD & flash/hard drive NOT included)

Movie Film Transfer for Digital Editing (.avi or .mov)
Up to 400 feet of film $96.00
Additional feet of film

(charged at a minimum of 25-foot increments)

$0.24/foot

Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm (Sound and Silent / Optical or Magnetic)

Transferred in standard definition (720 x 480 resolution)

Available in .AVI or .MOV file format (Includes .MP4 file)

(DVD and flash/hard drive NOT included)

Movie Film Transfer to High Definition Video File
Up to 400 feet of film $160.00
Additional feet of film

(charged at a minimum of 25-foot increments)

$0.40/foot

Perfect for viewing and editing your movies.

Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm (Sound and Silent / Optical or Magnetic)

High Definition (HD)
1920 x 1080 Resolution

(DVD & flash/hard drive NOT included)

Movie Film Transfer to 4K Video File
Up to 400 feet of film $300.00
Additional feet of film

(charged at a minimum of 25-foot increments)

$0.75/foot

Includes Wet Gate Service

Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm (Sound and Silent / Optical or Magnetic)

4K 3840 x 2160 Resolution

(DVD & flash/hard drive NOT included)

Add-ons Available for your Movie Film Transfer

Some add-ons may not be available for all movie film transfer services.

Flash Drive
32GB Flash Drive $15.00
64GB Flash Drive $25.00
128GB Flash Drive $35.00
1TB Flash Drive $80.00
2TB Flash Drive $100.00

NOT INCLUDED WITH TRANSFER

Film Splicing
Do Not Splice Film $0.03/foot
DVD Copies
1 Copy $14.95/copy
2 to 9 Copies $12.95/copy
10 to 20 Copies $10.50/copy

Additional copies make for great gifts as well as backups in case your original DVD becomes damaged.

For more than 20 copies, please call Tailor-Made Transfers for special pricing.

Additional Titles
Additional Title $5.00/title
Separate Files
Separate Digital Files $5.00/reel
Movie Film Reel Transition Options
Edited $2.00/space
Unedited No Charge

Select option ONLY if you ARE NOT separating reels for digital files.

Movie film will be transferred as one continuous recording/file, one reel appearing immediately after the next. If you require the reels to separated to identify when one reel ends and the next begins, please select either Unedited (no fee) or Edited (fee).

Unedited: Record a short section of "film leader" between each reel to designate when one reel ends and the next begins.

Edited:: A short blank space (or color bars) between each reel to designate when one reel ends and the next begins (charge applies).

DVD Standard Def Run-off Copy
DVD Run-off $19.95

A standard definition DVD “Run-Off” copy can be requested with .avi or .mov file transfers.

Wet Gate Service for Hi-Def
Wet Gate Service $0.15/foot

This service is INCLUDED at no additional cost when transferring movie film in Ultra Hi-Def 4K

During film scanning, an alcohol-based solution is dispensed filling in and eliminating most of the scratches and imperfections that have occurred over time to older film.

Blu-Ray HD Disc Run-off
Blu-Ray Run-off $30.00/disc

Available when transferring movie film in Hi-Definition and 4K ONLY

For an additional charge, a 1920 x 1080 high definition Blu-Ray “Run-Off” copy can be requested with file transfers.

Preparing Your Home Movies for Transfer

  1. Number Your Reels
    • If you want your film reels transferred in a specific order, number all reels in the order. While numbering, should you omit or misnumber a reel, add a letter to the number (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 3a, 4, etc.) and cross out any old numbers.
    • When numbering your reels, please underline all numbers as the numbers 6 and 9 can be confused on round reels.
    • Use either stickers or write the numbers directly on the boxes. Post-its tend to fall off.
    • Keep film formats together to avoid extra charges.
  2. Select a Title for Your Transfer
    • "The Smith Family Memories", "The Adventures of the Wells Family", "The Johnsons" are a few suggestions. If a title is not desired, please leave the title fields blank on the order form. Otherwise, we will begin your production with the title of "Memories."
  3. Don't Forget to Order Extra Copies
    • Store your master and watch the copy.
    • Copies make great gifts.
    • Share the cost with family and have copies for everyone.
  4. Complete the Order Form
    Use the Tailor-Made Transfers online order form to get an estimated cost of your film transfer and print it out.
  5. Package your reels
    Package your film reels along with your order form and send to the address shown on the order form.

If you prefer to take your order to a local dealer, contact Tailor-Made Transfers at 1-888-322-3228 or email us at info@tmtransfers.com and we will help you locate the nearest dealer.