Video Transfer advice

[Wickerman]

Hi,

Couldn't figure out was the best forum for this, but know the group here is wise about so much. Perhaps you know a lot about video transfer?

I need to transfer a VHS clip to DVD. I have the right equip and software to do what I want and a decent amount of experience. However, I need a bit more than a straight transfer. I need to clean a really dark video. I'd rather a professional do it.

Anyone have an experience with a vendor who could do a transfer and cleanup a dark video for me?

thanks in advance.

[RoyGBiv]

1. I've done this once ...

That is, I've taken a video to a pro to do the transfer for me. Like you, I have the equipment and the software, but this particular transfer needed some skill I didn't feel I had.

I did some research (this was about three years ago) and settled on a locally owned photo/video place that had been in business for a long time, originally as a photo/camera store. It kept up with the times and branched out into video later.

The results were very good, given the source material, which was an old VHS tape that had a lot of noise, was originally recorded at the lowest resolution, and had darkened considerably.

I had originally thought of taking it to a Big Name place that advertised this service but decided against it because the humans that actually do the work tend to be low-paid machine monkeys. They just press a button, in other words, and let automation take its course. The people at the photo/video place paid attention to what they were doing. Certainly they were using the same basic system, and they could have just walked off and left it once they started the process, but they didn't.

I had to pay more than I would have at the Big Name place, but I feel I got better results.

No specific advice, there, of course, so I don't know how helpful this is. Just thought I'd mention it.