Hope this is not a duplicate post -- while editing it I hit some combination of keys that made it disappear;-) Thank goodness I had copied it to the clipboard earlier. So sorry if this is a duplicate.
Thank you Steve and Cheryl I don't have any of the files yet. They put them on their servers and you can let others access them, too. I will be downloading from there. They will, for extra cost, write the files to hard drive or flash drive or create DVD's. So far I have only sent in the 8mm and super8 films.
G Spot and Media Info sounds great and I will download it soon. I have been creating DVD's from the VHS's with a Panasonic DMR-EZ475V DVD recorder we have (about 6 or 7 years old?). It is one you can put in the VHS on one side and record it over to a DVD. I've been doing this because I won't let go of the original VHS's without some type of backup. The specs show 'Recording system (for DVD) as MPEG2 (Hybrid VBR)'. Would the programs you recommended be able to give us the information you mention from the created DVD's? Can these DVD's somehow be used to create a file to use in Preimere Elements 12?
I called the service that is transferring the film for details on what their output is. They produce MPEG4's. He did not know the Codec right off, does the Codec tell you the compression level? Anyway, from VHS tapes the details I got were 640x480 resolution, 2.61 mbit per second, 29.97 frame (rate?), 2.61 mbits data rate, 1.2 gig per hour. Does this information give enough info about the quality of the files? Is there ALWAYS some compression on a MPEG4 files? (As there is in a JPEG vs RAW photo file?) Probably the most I am hoping for on improving the output of the VHS would be a shift in color balance (to compensate for incandescent light yellow) and maybe increase tone, even though may make noise worse. At least I can be in control
Apparently they would be willing to write AVI DV files to a hard drive I provide for only $15 for the ENTIRE ORDER, which sounds very good. Is AVI DV uncompressed by definition?
Barbara