Transferring film to DVD yourself is possible, although it is time consuming and requires additional equipment you may not have, such as a film projector. In actuality, the majority of fly-by-night companies or individuals who sell film to DVD transfer services do it this way too.
Do-It-Yourself Film to DVD Transfer
You will need:
A piece of paper (preferably matte photo paper)
A film projector (preferably a variable speed projector, but these can cost several hundred to a thousand dollars)Camcorder
Tripod
Scotch tape
Tape the piece of matte photo paper to the wall.
Aim your projector and digital video camera (camcorder) at the paper. You may project the image onto the wall instead of on matte photo paper, but any subtle textures on your wall may affect the picture quality in the end.
The projector should be head on with the wall, while the camera next to it may be at a slight angle. This will unfortunately add a bit of dead space around the final project, but this can be cropped out with video editing software later on.
Ensure the digital camcorder is zoomed in and properly focused on the piece of paper. Unfortunately, attention will have to be paid to the film with regards to the white balance on the camera, which will fluctuate as the film is played.
Put the film into the projector, press play and record. Afterwards, the file on the digital camcorder can be transferred onto a DVD using your computer.
As you can see, transferring film to DVD using this method is time consuming and requires a lot of effort – and the result isn’t even that great.
The film that is played may have a slight flicker that can be distracting, but this can be solved by speeding up the frame rate on a variable speed projector.
In order to get sound on the video recording, the audio will have to be played at the same time. Care should also be taken to ensure that the audio and video line up exactly.
Other devices are available that project film to DVD for over about $1000, but they will project the film directly into the video camera, which is then uploaded into a capture device, and the distance between the camera and projector results in lost quality.
While you can transfer film to DVD at home yourself, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Transferring film to DVD using the above method degrades the quality of the picture, sharpness and colour significantly. If you are transferring a large amount of film to a DVD, it might be best to use a professional (and reputable) film to DVD transfer service.