Here's an idea, although I don't know how practical it is: Do what the pro's do and what pro/ams do-- transfer the films. But don't transfer to VHS or BETA, but to Digital Video. Who knows how long vcr mediums will be around, or DV for that matter, but when you transfer it digitally, it's archived digitally and then you can do with it what you want. You can transfer it yourself by getting a DV cam, a super8 projector, and a projecting screen. This seems arcane, but it's what the pro's do, they just use really sophisticated equipment. If you don't have access to a DV cam, hold onto those prints; you'll be able to in a few years. Also, the last transfer house I went to actually mastered onto DV and then MIXED DOWN for my VHS dupe. You could just cut out the VHS part and ask for the master. This is cheap, about.10 cents a foot. So, now that you have your DV tape, you can figure out a way to dump it to hard disk. If not, community cable stations usually now have DV decks maybe you could use. Or rig the cam?
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Here's an idea, although I don't know how practical it is: Do what the pro's do and what pro/ams do-- transfer the films. But don't transfer to VHS or BETA, but to Digital Video. Who knows how long vcr mediums will be around, or DV for that matter, but when you transfer it digitally, it's archived digitally and then you can do with it what you want. You can transfer it yourself by getting a DV cam, a super8 projector, and a projecting screen. This seems arcane, but it's what the pro's do, they just use really sophisticated equipment. If you don't have access to a DV cam, hold onto those prints; you'll be able to in a few years. Also, the last transfer house I went to actually mastered onto DV and then MIXED DOWN for my VHS dupe. You could just cut out the VHS part and ask for the master. This is cheap, about .10 cents a foot. So, now that you have your DV tape, you can figure out a way to dump it to hard disk. If not, community cable stations usually now have DV decks maybe you could use. Or rig the cam?