FRAME DISCREET'S FILM-TO-'TAPE'

I just finished spearheading a project to transfer a few thousand feet of archival 8mm and Super-8 motion picture film to DVD (and data files). As per my responsibility, I had to look around for the best transfer system available in Toronto and, needless to say, an agreeable price.

Earlier in the year I found him. His name is Justin Lovell and he runs an outfit called Frame Discreet. He is based on Yonge Street (within a one minute walk of the 'Lawrence' TTC subway station), here in the fabulous city of Toronto. Based on the large quantity of film, Justin gave me a good price.

I won't go on too much more about his outfit... but I will say that I was very happy with the technology and the resulting picture quality. Both sharpness and colour rendering are superior. Justin also cleans all rolls before he sends them through his transfer apparatus.

Keep in mind that while a few companies out there do offer the service, and at low prices, they use a primitive system in comparison. They also do not clean the rolls beforehand -- so all the loose dirt and dust is there forever -- and often do not even watch or monitor the transfers. The end result is that you sometimes get a nice new DVD-R of your home movies with jumping splices, chattering images, and other lovely phenomena.

If you don't mind spending more money, then Frame Discreet is the way to go. And if you are a filmmaker who wants their footage to look top notch, then Frame Discreet is the way to go.

Frame Discreet's website... http://www.framediscreet.com