The following sections describe the digitization process that was used to covert the film, audio, and other ancestry materials on this site.
To digitize the Super 8mm and 8mm silent film a 1970s Bell and Howell projector was purchased to project the film. The projection feeds into a STN transfer box which is used to provide a completely dark environment for capture of the projection. The video passes against a mirror then through a lens where it is recorded by a digital camera.
Once the video from the camera is retrieved, it is post-processed with a series of video editing programs including AVS Video Converter and AVISyth. A comparison of the original captured video and a post-processed result can be found below.
These two videos show the original captured video on the left and the post-processed result on the right. Note that the overall bloom and flicker from the mismatched frame rates (22fps from the projector and 28fps on the digital camera) has been reduced. A number of color artifacts have been removed and the overall sharpness has been increased. The video has also been stabilized in some areas to reduce image jitter.