Convert 8mm Film to MPG
Computer editing software has made it simple to convert 8mm home movies to digital files, and to shoot new 8mm films and edit them on a computer. Compressing these digitized files to MPG enables compatibility with phones and other devices; it also allows you to upload them to video-sharing sites. You will need to take the film to a lab to do a film-to-tape transfer as the first step.
Instructions
Digitizing the Tape
1. Take or mail your footage to a lab that does film to video transfers. For new footage, process the film and then transfer it to video. For old home movies, ask for a transfer to digital video. Request a type of digital video compatible with your editing system, such as miniDV, HDV, or Digital8.
2. Turn on your camera or deck and open the software you use for digital video. A few common digital video software programs are Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Vegas, MovieMaker, Premiere and Quicktime Pro.
3. Look for the "capture" or "digitize" command in your software and select the command to capture video. Check the format that your system uses for this--most software digitizes footage as .mov or .avi files. The standard format for your system is called the "native capture format." Once you are done capturing your transferred footage, you will export it to the MPG file, which is smaller, compressed version of the native capture format.
4. Check the settings in the capture or digitize menu to make sure you are capturing the best quality file. Also check that you are digitizing all the media that you need, such as both audio and video. Depending on the program you are using, this will be in a menu called "options," "preferences," or "settings."
5. Play the video in your camera or deck and hit the command to capture it using the software. You should see the video play on the screen. Typically there is a button to stop the capture, or you can hit the "escape" button on your computer.
Exporting the MPG File
6. Look for the export function in your software. It is usually located in the "file" menu. Open the first file and look for button to launch the export dialog box.
7. Look for a button or menu in the export dialog box to choose the compression setting of your video. There should be several choices including MPG. You might see ".m2v," which is MPEG2 compression used for DVDs. You might also see ".m4v," which is MPEG4 compression used for iPhones and other devices. Choose the appropriate MPEG.
8. Check your file size settings in the export dialog box. Some programs will allow you to reduce the resolution of your MPEG export to 320x240 or smaller. Choose based on the destination of your footage. You may also have a quality setting. Lower resolution files will be smaller but are often jagged and pixelated. Higher resolution files will be larger but have a better image.
9. Hit the export command when you have completed the settings. Depending on the length of the original 8mm movie, it may take several minutes to export. If your film is long you may want to do a test export of ten to fifteen seconds to see if you are satisfied with the quality settings. Your test export should be a part of the movie with action or movement, as motion is where the conversion process tends to create the worst image quality.
10. Open your exported MPEG file and watch it. The picture and motion should look clear, not pixelated. If you see jagged areas you may need to redo the export at higher quality settings.
Tags: digital video, export dialog, camera deck, capture digitize, capture format