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Video to DVD Transfers

Sunray Video specializes in converting your videos to DVD.  Whether you need to convert VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, Hi8, Digital8, MiniDV, or Betacam videos, you'll find plenty of useful information below about video to DVD transfers, including authored and unauthored DVDs, DVD formats and duplication.   We hope you find this information to be helpful.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions About DVDs   |   Download Mail Order form

 

Do you have any family memories recorded on camcorder tapes?  Watch NBC 7/39's story on why your recorded memories will soon be lost forever.

Video to DVD transfer special:  Transfer 12 hours or more of your 8mm, Hi8, or Digital8 camcorder tapes to DVD now and SAVE $ 5.00/disc off your order!  Minimum transfer order of 14 hours required.  Offer expires September 26, 2008.  Transfer order must exceed 12 hours of video to qualify for this offer.  May not be combined with any other offer.  Mention website special to receive discount.

As the proverbial "sun" sets on the VHS format, it's become critically important to get your videotapes transferred to DVD before they lose all of their irreplaceable contents forever.  Tests have shown that images recorded on videotape can noticeably deteriorate beginning as soon as just 7 years after they were originally recorded.  We've confirmed this on some of the videotapes that we've used in the past.  Of the thousands of tapes we've received from customers for transfer to DVD, we've noticed that VHS, 8mm, and Hi8 camcorder tapes seem to be the most vulnerable.

The reasons for that videotape recordings break down over time can be varied from the quality of the tape used to how the tapes were stored over the years.  For example, videotapes that were placed on or near a stereo speaker or close to a magnetic source could have fallen victim to accidental erasure as the magnetic field can rearrange the metal particles on the tape, disrupting the information that was recorded.  In fact, the use of magnetic fields is precisely how the information was recorded onto the videotapes in the first place.  The tapes, themselves, are made up of tiny metal particles that are "arranged magnetically" in a pattern corresponding to the information being recorded.  Storage of videotapes in areas that are too hot or too cold can affect the actual tape itself, in some case by warping it, making it difficult for a videotape player to play back the images precisely as they were originally recorded.  While DVDs are not infallible, they are not subject to the same types of deterioration described above.

Whether your videos contain precious family memories or important seminars or educational information, we can't emphasize enough the importance of getting them put onto DVD before their contents are lost forever. 

8mm, Hi8, and Digital8 formats have been discontinued

 

In case you haven’t heard by now, the popular camcorder formats of 8mm, Hi8, and Digital8 video have been discontinued.  Sony, the developer of all three of these formats, no longer manufactures the cameras that will record or PLAY any of these types of tapes.  If you’ve ever owned one of these cameras and recorded any of your home videos on any of these formats, then your memories are in danger of being lost forever.

 

Between the 80s and today, less than a third of the people who used video cameras to record their families’ memories recorded on the 8mm, Hi8, or Digital 8 formats.  This led to far fewer machines available to play these formats or transfer them to DVD.  Unfortunately, whenever someone’s 8mm camcorder became in need of repair, most of the owners opted to throw them away and buy a new camera, with some of them deciding to switch to a different format altogether.

 

Sony no longer makes 8mm, Hi8, or Digital8 camcorders

 

Since Sony is no longer manufacturing 8mm camcorders, it’s become a lot more difficult for companies like ours to obtain the equipment necessary to be able to transfer any of the 8mm, Hi8, or Digital8 formats to DVD for our customers to be able to view their precious memories.  We anticipate that we have only a few years left before we will no longer be able to play these tape formats.  For this reason, we are strongly encouraging anyone who still has any home videos on these types of tapes to bring them in to be converted to DVD as soon as possible while we still have players that work.

 

 

VHS-C and VHS formats are on the way out

 

You probably already know by now that VCRs have become harder to find as they are being phased out in favor of DVD.  VHS-C camcorders are just about extinct and before long we will lose the ability to transfer VHS-C and VHS tapes as well.

 

Did you know that the picture and sound on VHS tapes begin to deteriorate just 7 years after they were recorded?  If you have any tapes older than 7 years, you should transfer them right away.

 

MiniDV could be next

 

During my last visit to Best Buy and Circuit City I noticed that most of the camcorders for sale used an internal hard drive, a mini DVD disc, or some form of memory card to record and store video information.  I did not see very many MiniDV camcorders available which leads me to believe that the MiniDV format could very well be the next format to disappear.  The MiniDV format shares an important element with the 8mm video format in that you pretty much had to have a MiniDV camera in order to play these tapes back on your television.  After these cameras are discontinued, we’ll have a similar limited transfer time window as the 8mm format except that there were a few more people that used the MiniDV tapes than 8mm.

 

We highly recommend a backup DVD copy

We know how easily discs can be scratched and damaged, sometimes just by accidentally dropping them on the floor.  So we recommend getting a 2nd set of DVDs that can be stored away in a safe place.  If any of your discs should become damaged beyond the ability to be played, you'll be able to make another copy for a fraction of the cost of having your videos transferred all over again, assuming you still have them.

 

Dangers of DVD labeling

 

Did you know that you could be damaging your DVDs by the way you’re labeling them now?  One of the most popular methods people choose for labeling their DVDs and CDs is using some sort of magic marker-type pen to write on the top face of the disc.  There have been cases where the chemicals in the ink from the marker have actually “eaten” through the disc rendering the disc unreadable when played in a DVD or CD player.

 

The next most popular method of labeling discs is using the press-on labels that you print on using a printer and then peel and stick onto the face of the DVD or CD.  This process introduces a few problems.  First, the label must be accurately centered onto the disc face or the disc will be unbalanced and tend to ‘wobble’ while it spins at a rate of several hundreds revolutions per minute inside of a DVD player.  The wobbling of an unbalanced disc may cause problems for the laser inside the disc player when it attempts to read the information on the disc.

 

Second, the label must be affixed to the disc surface as smooth and flat as possible.  Otherwise, there will be air bubbles that can cause problems or worse, the label could begin to detach itself from the disc.  Also, some of the glues used on press-on labels have been known to lose its stickiness resulting in the labels separating and peeling off from the disc face.  When this happens, the label could get wrapped up inside the DVD player and damage both the player and the disc.

 

For these reasons, we exclusively use a special type of disc that allows us to print the labeling information directly onto the surface of the disc without the use of labels or chemicals that can damage the disc.  In addition, we now use DVDs that are resistant to water stains or bleeds should some liquid accidentally spill onto the disc.  Stop by our office to check out our direct-to-disc printing results for yourself.

 

Unauthored vs. Authored DVDs

Authored DVDs

There are essentially two methods used to create DVDs, authored and unauthored.  If you own or have viewed any Hollywood movies you may remember that when you first placed the DVD into your player a menu appeared on your television screen at some point, prompting you to select "play" to play the movie.  You may have also noticed some options for other features like bonus footage, director's commentary, or choices for changing the sound playback characteristics of the movie.  All of the menus created for these DVDs are customized for each movie.  These DVDs have been created using authoring software and usually require several hours of labor to design and "program" the menu layout and function.

Unauthored DVDs

In order to keep the cost of transferring videotapes to DVDs low, Sunray uses stand-alone DVD recorders to create unauthored DVDs of your videos.  They do not require the use of a computer and can convert and record video to DVD in real (actual) time without the assistance of a technician.  A two hour video will require a little more than two hours to convert to DVD as opposed to the authored type which utilizes the services of a computer and technician for at least 5 hours or more.  Therefore, we can convert a two hour video to an unauthored DVD for just $25.00 versus over $300.00 for an authored DVD.  There are some compromises with this process.  For example, you cannot have a customized menu.  Unauthored DVDs will have a generic menu instead.

Chapters

Chapters have been described in more than one way.  For unauthored DVDs our equipment will place "chapter points" approximately every 10 minutes throughout the video that may be accessed by using the next button (usually notated by two right-facing arrows and a vertical line  >>| ) on the remote control for your DVD player.  I prefer to call these index points rather than chapter points.  Each time you press this button, the DVD will advance 10 minutes ahead.  In addition to these "index points", chapter points can also be manually created anywhere within the DVD.  Once created, they would be assigned a designated title (chosen by you) that will appear on the DVD menu whenever you press the menu button on your remote.  After highlighting a specific chapter title on the menu and pressing the enter key, the DVD player would then jump directly to that specific spot on the DVD and begin playing from that point though the end of the disc.  Since there is additional labor required to create these chapter points and label them, we typically charge $5 per title for every title over 2 titles per disc.

DVD Formats

If you remember the format wars of the 80s when VHS and Betamax battled it out to see which format would become the standard for video recording and movie rentals in most households.  Of course, VHS wound up being the winner and Betamax seemed to disappear.  Well, unfortunately, the introduction of DVDs led to a whole new level of format wars, with DVD-Ram, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, and DVD-R being among the contenders, and DVD-Rom used primarily for software and as alternative data storage for computers.  The DVD-Ram, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW formats have been, for the most part, brand specific in their use which requires the same brand of DVD player to play a disc as the one that recorded it for each particular format.  For example, if you had a DVD-Ram disc you would have to use a Panasonic machine to either record or playback the disc.  Most other brands would not recognize the DVD-Ram format.

DVD+R and DVD-R have been more compatible than the other formats in terms of being able to play them on several brands of DVD players, with DVD-R being the most universally compatible of the two formats.  This is the reason why most video companies, including Sunray, will use DVD-R for all of their video transfers.

High Definition DVDs (Blu-ray)

You may have heard about the battle for the next generation high-definition DVD formats between Blu-ray and HD DVD.  With more high-definition programming becoming available and Hi-Def televisions taking over the market, the need for a DVD format that will hold enough data to adequately contain an entire Hollywood movie in Hi-Def has become necessary.  Again consumers were stuck in the middle of yet another format war.  There is good news.  As of February 2008, Toshiba, one of the last holdouts, has decided to discontinue their support for the HD DVD, making Blu-ray the winner of this battle.  Blu-ray discs can hold about 66% more information than an HD DVD, so it seemed logical to presume that it would eventually win.  Blu-ray discs will hold up to 25GB of data on a single-layer disc versus only about 4.5GB on a traditional DVD.  If you use a dual-layer disc, it would hold 50GB of information, equivalent to about 9 hours of high definition programming.  At this time, the cost of the equipment to play and record Blu-ray is still rather high, with players starting around $400.00.   For more information about Blu-ray, check out http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#bluray_capacity_video

 

Hazards of using large chain retailers for video to DVD transfers

 

During the past few years some of the large national chain retailers like Target and Walgreens have started offering film and video transfer services.  We thought you should know that none of these chains actually perform the transfer of film or video to DVD.  Instead they ship them off to a large warehouse firm that handles thousands of projects.  They often have quality control issues due to the large volume of work they handle and it’s much more difficult to have corrections made to any transfer.

 

All of the film and video transfers brought to Sunray are transferred in-house and never shipped out.  We handle each and every film, videotape, and DVD as if it were our own.

 

Benefits of a Sunray Video to DVD transfer

Sunray offers video transfer to authored, unauthored, and even PAL DVDs complete with chapters if you need them.  Our company uses professional quality DVDs that tend to be more durable and last longer than the bargain discs that are sold in stores and online.  In our experience it's not worth trying to save a little money at the risk of losing the priceless images captured on your video.  And to ensure there is no damage to the DVD during the labeling process, we don't used magic markers or press-on labels when labeling your DVDs.  Chemicals often found in magic markers have been known to "eat through" the materials in DVDs that can render them unreadable.  

Magic markers have been know to "eat through" DVDs making them unreadable.

Press-on (or stick-on) labels introduce their own set of problems that can affect the playback of a disc.  If the label is not applied precisely centered on top of the disc, the disc will be off-balance and may tend to "wobble" during playback while the disc is spinning at several hundred revolutions per minute.  Some DVD players may have trouble reading a disc that wobbles while it is spinning inside the player.  Also, some of these labels have been proven to separate from the surface of the disc over time and are at risk of getting snagged inside the DVD player mechanism causing irreparable damage to both the disc and the DVD player.  Our process involves printing directly onto the surface of the disc that is specifically designed for the application of ink that is resistant to moisture and won't destroy the materials within the DVD. 

Formats we can transfer to DVD

We have the equipment to transfer all of the following formats to both NTSC and PAL DVDs.  

    For source video in NTSC:  VHS, VHS-C, 8mm/Hi8/Digital8, HDV, MiniDV, DVCAM, Betacam and Betacam SP.

    For source video in PAL:  VHS, VHS-C, HDV, MiniDV, and DVCAM.

We can transfer from NTSC DVD to PAL DVD and from PAL DVD to NTSC DVD.  We can transfer AVI, QuickTime, and MPEG videos to DVD, as well.

        Give us a call for pricing information.

Gold Archival DVDs now available

Sunray now offers the Archival Gold DVDs for preserving your films even longer than before.  There have been numerous reports of DVDs that started coming apart after just 3 years.  Many are blaming the poor quality materials used to produce the discs.

The innovative materials and manufacturing methods used to produce Archival Gold DVD-R's make them among the most reliable storage media available. Other DVD-R's may deteriorate quickly due to common environmental factors: ultraviolet light, heat, and humidity. Using N.I.S.T.'s (National Institute of Standards and Technology) accelerated aging process to test the longevity of DVD-R media, the Archival Gold DVD-R has been shown to safely store your images for more than 100 years.

A key component of the Archival Gold DVD-R's durability is the use of gold as the reflective layer of the disc. Gold is one of the most inert, reflective (and expensive) elements on earth, which makes it perfect to resist the effects of temperature and humidity. These characteristics prevent oxidation, a common cause of failure to most DVD-R's. 

                Thirty percent of the cost to produce every Archival Gold disc is due to the use of 24 karat gold.

LIMITED TIME ONLY

Video to GOLD DVD transfer special:  Transfer 15 hours or more of your VHS or camcorder tapes to our GOLD Archival DVDs now and receive 2 additional standard DVD copies of each disc FREE!  That means for every Gold DVD you get, you'll receive 2 standard DVD copies at no charge.  Minimum transfer order of 15 hours is required.  Offer expires September 26, 2008.  Transfer order must exceed 15 hours of video to qualify for this offer.  May not be combined with any other offer.  Mention website special to receive discount.

 

Pricing Information for Video to DVD transfers

Video transfer to standard DVDs

   From to   From    to
From VHS, VHS-C, SuperVHS, MiniDV,   From 8mm, Hi8, or Digital8 
or DVCAM Video to Standard DVD: Camcorder Video to Standard DVD
    Up to 60 minutes - $15     Up to 60 minutes - $20
        61-90 minutes - $20         61-90 minutes - $25
      91-120 minutes - $25       91-120 minutes - $30
There will be a minimum order charge of $25 on all orders to cover administrative costs.
 
Price includes disc, labeling, and DVD case.  Custom designed case inserts and sleeves are available for an additional charge.

Video transfer to GOLD DVDs

   From to   From    to
From VHS, VHS-C, SuperVHS, MiniDV,   From 8mm, Hi8, or Digital8 Camcorder
or DVCAM Video to Gold Archival DVD: Video to Gold Archival DVD
    Up to 60 minutes - $25     Up to 60 minutes - $30
        61-90 minutes - $30         61-90 minutes - $35
      91-120 minutes - $35       91-120 minutes - $40

Additional DVD copies

We know how easily discs can be scratched and damaged, sometimes just by accidentally dropping them on the floor.  That's why we recommend getting a 2nd set of DVDs that can be stored away in a safe place.  If any of your discs should become damaged beyond the ability to be played, you'll be able to make another copy for a fraction of the cost of having your videos transferred all over again, assuming you still have them.

Additional standard DVD copies - $9.  Additional Gold DVD copies are also available.  Call for pricing on larger quantities of DVD copies.

 

Here's how to order

If you're in the San Diego area and would like to drop them off in person:

  1. Number your videotapes in the order you want them transferred.
  2. Drop them off at our office.  We're here from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm (Pacific Time) Mon-Thurs, 9:30am to 5:00pm on Fridays.  Directions to our office
  3. We'll call you when they are ready for pick up.

If you're outside the San Diego area and would like to ship them to us:

  1. Number your videotapes in the order you want them transferred.
  2. Print a copy of the order form and fill it out.  Be sure to include your credit card number and preferred method of return shipment.
  3. Enclose the order form with your movies and ship* them to:
Sunray Video Productions
9265 Dowdy Dr, Suite 100
San Diego, CA  92126

You may download an order form here.

*We recommend shipping your videos via UPS or FedEX, since they have the ability to track the whereabouts of your package at any given time. 

 

 

DVD Duplication and Replication

Whether you need several DVD copies of your video to distribute to employees, customers, or just share with family and friends, let Sunray help you with all of your DVD duplication needs.  Once you have determined the number of copies you need, we'll just need to know the following:

  1. Do you want the DVDs labeled with simple black text on a white background or do you prefer a full color design?
  2. What type of packaging do you need for the discs?  Paper sleeves, jewel cases, slim jewel case, or the standard DVD cases like the ones that movies typically come with?  We can design and print full color DVD case inserts for the traditional DVD cases to give your DVD that professional look.
  3. How soon do you need them?

Paper Sleeve      Jewel Case       Slim Jewel Case         DVD Case        

        Give us a call for pricing information.

For more information on Duplication and Replication go to our Duplication page.

 

 

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