Have you ever seen an old video of your parents or grandparents and wished that it looked clearer and easier to see? With video restoration, that’s now a possibility.
This process helps take old footage from older formats and film and converts them to a better quality format. But how exactly does it work?
In this blog post, we will explain video restoration and what you can do to convert your old videos into precious memories that your whole family can enjoy.
Read on to find out more about the process.
The History of Film Restoration
Video restoration traces back to the early days of film. To keep films preserved, studios would often make copies of them onto new film stock.
This process was known as film preservation and it helped to ensure that movies could be enjoyed by future generations.
However, over time, the quality of these copied films would degrade and they would become harder to watch. To combat this, they developed film restoration.
This process involves taking an old film and repairing it so that it looks as close to the original as possible. This can be done by removing scratches and dirt, correcting color levels, and stabilizing the image.
In some cases, video restoration can even help to improve the quality of the video beyond its original state.
For example, Peter Jackson’s war documentary, “They Shall Not Grow Old” uses old footage of World War One, however, the footage has been restored to show the images in color for the first time.
The original archival footage was almost 100 years old and due to the professional finish of the restoration process, the footage looks as if it could have been shot today. It’s an important piece of cinema and history as it gives clarity and color to those that fought and lost their lives in World War One.
The video restoration gives a sense of reality and transports the viewer into the lives of the soldiers that they couldn’t possibly relate to as much before with black and white images.
How Video Restoration Works
The first step in video restoration is to digitize the video. This means that the video is converted into a digital format so that it can be worked on by restoration experts.
Common video restoration pieces are 8mm, 16mm, 9.5mm, and Super8 pieces that don’t have compatible machines or equipment for them to be played on. If a person doesn’t have the right machine, it could mean that the footage gets lost forever.
Once the video is in a digital format, the next step is to clean up the video. This involves removing scratches, dirt, and other imperfections from the video.
After the videos are cleaned up, you then need to correct the color levels. This is through using a process known as color grading.
Color grading is where a video gets altered to make the colors more accurate or to make the video look more aesthetically pleasing. This can really make a video or piece of footage shine.
The final step in video restoration is to stabilize the video. This helps to keep the video from shaking or blurring.
After stabilizing your video, you can then convert it into a new format and play the newly restored version.
The Benefits of Video Restoration
Video restoration can help to improve the quality of your old videos. It can also help to preserve your memories and keep them safe for future generations.
These pieces of family history are priceless and can’t be replicated or reproduced, this is why it’s so important to preserve and maintain them.
There’s also the fact that cassettes, vinyl, and reel-to-reel tapes have a lifespan of between 10-30 years. If these are sitting in your closet gathering dust, you might not realize that they have a shelf life.
By not getting them converted to a digital format, you run the risk of losing the recordings or footage forever.
Video restoration companies offer digital transfer and restoration services for very reasonable rates. It’s nowhere near as expensive as you might think for the levels of video restoration and expertise you are getting.
You can’t put a price on the preservation of family history, however luckily with a video restoration service, that price doesn’t need to break the bank.
There are also methods and ways of doing it yourself online, however, without the proper expertise or know-how, you simply aren’t going to get the same results as using a professional video restoration company.
It’s a time-consuming and painstaking process, which doesn’t guarantee that you’ll end up with a good-quality finished product.
And there’s also the chance that if you attempt to do it yourself you could end up damaging the original video and harm your chances of restoring it to its former glory.
Types of Video Restoration
We offer various types of video transfer from the following formats:
- VHS
- Hi8
- Betamax
- Betacam SP/SX
- Mini DV
- Mini DVD
- Umatic 3/4
- Helical Scan EIAJ 1/2
- DV Cam
- 8mm / Super8 FIlm
- 16mm film
- 9.5mm film
With this wide range of videos, including VHS restoration and film restoration, that is able to be converted, there is no reason your family’s precious memories should become be lost or forgotten.
You can convert videos to a number of different formats and storage media such as DVD, a flash drive, or the Cloud. This means you can easily store and share your video memories for years to come and know they are perfectly safe.
Video Restoration: Place Your Online Order Today
We understand how important your video memories are to you and your family.
That’s why we offer a wide range of video restoration services and formats that you’re able to tailor to your specific needs.
If you would like to know more about our video restoration services or place an order, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us or contact us directly via our contact form.