Webmaster sid@memoriesdsNOSPAM.com © MEMORIES digital services 2005
Cine film, VHS video & all sizes of Camcorder tapes, Photos, Slides, Negatives and documents,
Audio ~ non-copyright personal vinyl records and tape ~ cassette or reel to reel,
Photo Restoration ~ Memory Card “Lost data” recovery
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers
What is the best & safest way to get my films to you?
I have some slides, old photos and cine film. Can they all be put on one DVD?
Does restoration work on an old photo affect the photo in any way?
How do the Menus on DVD's work?
What transfer methods do you use?
Can you transfer cine film with sound?
Do you edit out the leader tapes?
I don't know what is on the old cine films?
Will the entire picture be visible on TV?
I have Standard 8mm; Super 8mm; and 16mm cine films. Can these be together on one DVD.
Do you have a demonstration DVD which I can try in my DVD player?
I have some old personal vinyl records but they have some scratches. Can they be improved?
What reel to reel audio tape speeds can you transfer ?
Can you transfer from NTSC Video or DVD?
Can you transfer from Camcorder tapes - VHS-C, 8mm, Hi8, MiniDV
Will the DVD play in other countries?
How long will my order take to be processed?
Do you have Terms & Conditions?
I have a question that is not covered by these answers.
What is the best & safest way to get my films to you?
We would strongly recommend all valuable or sentimental value material should always be sent BY ROYAL MAIL SPECIAL DELIVERY, COURIER or you are very welcome to bring your films. We do NOT recommend Recorded Delivery. Mds will return your material and disc(s) by RMSD / courier / personal delivery unless otherwise agreed.
I have some slides, old photos and cine film. Can they all be put on one DVD?
Yes, you can have any assortment of material together.
Does restoration work on an old photo affect the photo in any way?
No, once your photo is scanned and copied to our computers, your photo is safely stored to be returned to you. The scan process is completely safe for all photos, negatives etc. All restoration work is carried out on the digital image stored on our computer.
How do the Menus on DVD's work?
On DVD's you have the power of Menu navigation. Instead of endlessly having to rewind / fast forward a tape to find the section you want, you can jump to your favourite part at the touch of a button. If you have never seen a DVD menu with title albums and / or chapters, just think about the index page of a book. When you select the chapter you want, the book would open at the exact page. That's how the DVD menu works. Select the thumbnail picture of the event you want to view, and play starts at that point. You can, of course, also view the entire collection all the way through.
Using the remote control navigation arrows to move and select any required chapter, the highlighted red selected thumbnail picture will play.
An alternative is simply to have regular chapter marks (ie every 5 or 10 minutes) throughout the film, to jump forward at the touch of a button.
What transfer methods do you use?
Still images are transferred using a 'Standard' scanning is carried out for all film & slides, black & white or colour, 24 bit colour usually between 1200dpi and 3200dpi. For photographs, documents usually between 600dpi and 2400dpi. at Mds discretion. This is dependent on subject and quality of the submitted material. Unless otherwise requested and agreed, the image file will be in .jpg format, up to a maximum 5MB in size, although usually between 1 and 3 MB, to maintain the highest possible quality / image file size ratio possible. The individual image files will normally be included on the disc. 'Special' scanning, at highest resolutions, up to 12,800dpi, or to other formats (eg .tiff or .psd), or descreening etc, and can be carried out at special request and agreement.
Included in our “standard” scan service is a basic colour restoration and / or dust & scratch reduction in order to produce acceptable results.
Cine film is transferred using an advanced technology system and telecine 3chip CCD cameras to produce high quality results, with no flickering and the speed of the film is correct. (Many companies have to speed up the film to get rid of the flickering!!!) If the film has sound, that will be transferred also.
Can you transfer cine film with sound?
Yes, 8mm or 16mm with sound is always captured if it is there, at an extra charge, as our basic ‘non-sound’ costs are very competitive. If there is no sound, background music can be added if required, from Mds non-copyright music or customers own supply CD.
Do you edit out the leader tapes?
Yes, Basic editing includes removing major sections of leaders, blank, completely under / over exposed footage only. All sections with any images visible are left intact. More precise editing can be discussed and charged as required.
I do not know what is on the old cine films?
We offer a Tape and Cine film Review Service
For a small fee of £20 per 400ft of cine film (or part thereof) we will review and let you have a report by email, phone or post, which ever you prefer, as a review of content with quality comments. Cine film could be one reel of 400ft or 8 reels of 50ft. You can then decide if it worth having them all transferred, or just the important ones.
Will the entire picture be visible on TV?
Cine Film: In order to remove the fuzzy edges of the film frame, we normally zoom in just a fraction to give a clean image. Also as wide screen TV is not compatible with the cine frame proportions this may also lose some outer limits. If the extreme edges are important to you, it may be better to view on a Standard (4:3) format instead of Wide screen (16:9) format.
Slides / photos / negatives etc: We scan the entire image and this is stored as the .jpg image file. However, again TV's may display slightly less that the entire frame due to the different proportions as above.
However, this is not normally any problem and on 99.9% of images, TV viewing is perfectly acceptable.
I have Standard 8mm; Super 8mm; and 16mm cine films. Can these be together on one DVD. Are there extra charges?
These can all go together on one DVD without any problems or extra charges.
Do you have a demonstration DVD which I can try in my DVD player?
Yes, My Free Demo DVD has examples of old photos, documents, negatives, 35mm slides Also included are short excerpts from cine film transfer, 9.5mm Pathescope, Standard 8mm, Super 8mm, VHS video, VHS-C & Hi8 camcorder cassette. The Audio transfer album has excerpts from 78's, 45's, and 33's LP, Cassette and Reel to Reel tape, and the last 2 albums show various Restoration projects and just a few Special Effects that are possible from a standard image.
Simply request my Free Demo DVD, together with any details of projects you would like advice or an estimate for, and I shall be happy to get back to you.
I have some old personal vinyl records but they have scratches. Can they be improved?
Yes. The recording can be digitally enhanced with ‘Crackle’ or ‘Click’ filters to reduce disturbances typical in Vinyl records. ‘Crackle’ is a result in damage from wear of the stylus and / or vinyl record and is audible as short high pitched sounds. ‘Clicks’ are the result of a scratch in a vinyl record and are audible as ‘pops’.
Audio Tape, reel to reel or cassette, can be enhanced with ‘Noise’ filter to reduce background 'hiss' typical in tape recording.
What reel to reel audio tape speeds can you transfer?
All tapes recorded at speeds of 15/16; 1.7/8; 3.3/4; 7.1/2 ips (inches per sec) can be transferred.
Can you transfer from NTSC Video or DVD?
Yes - there are sometimes problems with protected NTSC discs.
Can you transfer from various Camcorder tapes - VHS-C, 8mm or Hi8, MiniDV, MicroDV
Yes - all charged at standard rate, and can be put together on the finished discs.
Will the DVD play in other countries?
The normal DVD format is PAL which is acceptable in most European countries, Australia and New Zealand. However, the United States and Canada use NTSC format. If you require an extra version in this format, please specify at time of ordering, at additional cost of £20. For a more comprehensive list click here for PAL FORMAT LIST or NTSC FORMAT LIST
How long will my order take to be processed?
Our usual turnaround is 2 - 3 weeks, but please allow extra time towards Christmas. If you need your order for a special date or especially quick, please discuss this with us, some jobs can be completed in a few days if very important.
Yes, we try to keep a backup of all work safely stored so you can always request extra copies at any time in the future at just £10.00 each disc. However, this is not a guaranteed service so we always advise clients to have an extra copy to keep safely as a back-up.
Do you have Terms & Conditions?
Click here to read our Standard T & C's.
Yes, if you have editing and DVD authoring software, then give it a try. You should not be able to harm the original DVD.
DVD's are normally in a VIDEO_TS format which can be transferred to your computer with software like Nero. Or we can supply additional data disc in .mpg2, .mpg4 or .avi format which will be ready for you to copy, or as files on a USB Memory stick.
I have a question that is not covered by these answers.
You can e.mail me direct at " sid@memoriesdsNOSPAM.com " , click on the e.mail link below, or send your enquiry using the ENQUIRY form.
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Please let me have details of any requirements or queries you have. I shall be pleased to help and give advice, or a more detailed quotation against your needs. The price guide can give you an idea of costs but we always have special offers, depending on time of year and workload, so please do not hesitate to contact me.
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