How much shoud I charge to transfer 8mm tape to DVD without any editing? at DVinfo.net

Allan Phan · January 11th, 2005, 02:03 PM

Can some one let me know how much I should charge to transfer 8mm tape to DVD with no editing at all.

I wask thinking of $40 per tape (DVD)

Thanks
AP

Michael Dempsey · January 15th, 2005, 03:38 AM

VHS to DVD with no editing is going for around $15 so I would assume the same amount for the 8mm. By 8mm you mean the new 8mm not the old reel stuff, right ?

Craig Seeman · January 17th, 2005, 11:40 AM

What it "is going for" isn't the only consideration. It's really what can you afford as a business.

If an 8mm video tape has 2 hours of video on it, you'd only get $7.50/hr. Is it worth it to take on that kind of work?

Would you be recording to a consumer DVD recorder? You can do that in real time so you should charge your dub rate for a 2 hour dub.

If you're encoding and authoring it, you're getting a much better quality encode which can take hours depending on the speed of your computer.

Of course once you make that first 2 hour DVD, additional dubs might only take 15 minutes or so with a fast burner. In that case you set up an acceptible minimum order size knowing that you may be able to get 4 (four) 2 hour DVDs done per hour after the first is made.

Base your price on what you NEED to make with the Equipment you have. If you're not a dub house, there's no reason you should ever accept $7.50/hr. You can make that much at a fast food joint and you don't even have to spend $300 on a consumer DVD recorder and DVD+-R discs.

Yes, $40 for one DVD copy of each tape to a consumer DVD recorder (not burner) is likely fair depending. You can vary price by tape lenght and total number of tapes if you want to offer a package deal.

Patrick Pike · January 17th, 2005, 12:01 PM

Im with you on this one Craig. If your not making any money on the job, dont take the job. $40 is a reasonable price for the amount of work, equipment, and expertise that goes into that job. Not everyone in the world has the ability to perform that service. I personally charge by the hour (25 per hour) and by the DVD copy (20 per copy). I dont get a lot of work from this, but Im not trying to either--there are much better ways to make money with our equipment. On the other hand, every client who has asked me to do this for them has been very pleased, and I usually end up doing more work for them.

Besides, if we all start lowering our prices (unreasonable, such as this) to make a fast buck we only burn ourselves.

Jeff Toogood · January 17th, 2005, 01:50 PM

I charge $0.20/minute of video converted plus a $10 media/case charge, so it basically works out to about $34 for a 2 hour DVD. Not a whole lot of work for me, just ties up my computer.
I don't advertise this, but have done it for a few people.

I am currently working through about 25 2-hour tapes for a customer right now though :(
Wishing I would have said no to them, but a few here and there aren't bad.

Craig Seeman · January 17th, 2005, 02:26 PM

Jeff,

You said this is tying up your computer? Are you actually encoding these instead of using a consumer recorder?

If that's what you're doing you need to charge BIG TIME. Not sure how fast your computer is but I'd charge somewhere between $200-$300 to do a computer (2 pass VBR) encode for 2 hours of video.

If you use your computer for editing or other work you'll put yourself out of business unless you edit at this low rate too . . . in which you may put yourself out of business anyway.

January 11th, 2005, 02:03 PM	#1
Allan Phan Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Alexandria, VA Posts: 95	How much shoud I charge to transfer 8mm tape to DVD without any editing? Can some one let me know how much I should charge to transfer 8mm tape to DVD with no editing at all. I wask thinking of $40 per tape (DVD) Thanks AP

January 17th, 2005, 01:50 PM	#5
Jeff Toogood Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: St.Thomas, Ontario, CANADA Posts: 428	I charge $0.20/minute of video converted plus a $10 media/case charge, so it basically works out to about $34 for a 2 hour DVD. Not a whole lot of work for me, just ties up my computer. I don't advertise this, but have done it for a few people. I am currently working through about 25 2-hour tapes for a customer right now though :( Wishing I would have said no to them, but a few here and there aren't bad. __________________ Toogood Studios

January 15th, 2005, 03:38 AM	#2
Michael Dempsey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 47	VHS to DVD with no editing is going for around $15 so I would assume the same amount for the 8mm. By 8mm you mean the new 8mm not the old reel stuff, right ?

January 17th, 2005, 11:40 AM	#3
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	What it "is going for" isn't the only consideration. It's really what can you afford as a business. If an 8mm video tape has 2 hours of video on it, you'd only get $7.50/hr. Is it worth it to take on that kind of work? Would you be recording to a consumer DVD recorder? You can do that in real time so you should charge your dub rate for a 2 hour dub. If you're encoding and authoring it, you're getting a much better quality encode which can take hours depending on the speed of your computer. Of course once you make that first 2 hour DVD, additional dubs might only take 15 minutes or so with a fast burner. In that case you set up an acceptible minimum order size knowing that you may be able to get 4 (four) 2 hour DVDs done per hour after the first is made. Base your price on what you NEED to make with the Equipment you have. If you're not a dub house, there's no reason you should ever accept $7.50/hr. You can make that much at a fast food joint and you don't even have to spend $300 on a consumer DVD recorder and DVD+-R discs. Yes, $40 for one DVD copy of each tape to a consumer DVD recorder (not burner) is likely fair depending. You can vary price by tape lenght and total number of tapes if you want to offer a package deal.

January 17th, 2005, 12:01 PM	#4
Patrick Pike Major Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Mariposa, CA Posts: 200	Im with you on this one Craig. If your not making any money on the job, dont take the job. $40 is a reasonable price for the amount of work, equipment, and expertise that goes into that job. Not everyone in the world has the ability to perform that service. I personally charge by the hour (25 per hour) and by the DVD copy (20 per copy). I dont get a lot of work from this, but Im not trying to either--there are much better ways to make money with our equipment. On the other hand, every client who has asked me to do this for them has been very pleased, and I usually end up doing more work for them. Besides, if we all start lowering our prices (unreasonable, such as this) to make a fast buck we only burn ourselves.

January 17th, 2005, 02:26 PM	#6
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	Jeff, You said this is tying up your computer? Are you actually encoding these instead of using a consumer recorder? If that's what you're doing you need to charge BIG TIME. Not sure how fast your computer is but I'd charge somewhere between $200-$300 to do a computer (2 pass VBR) encode for 2 hours of video. If you use your computer for editing or other work you'll put yourself out of business unless you edit at this low rate too . . . in which you may put yourself out of business anyway.