General Order questions

Why use Home Movie Depot?

Home Movie Depot is a group of professionals you can trust with your precious memories. We would like to offer answers that we think you might ask when considering having your memories preserved.

• Home Movie Depot has over a decade of experience transferring home movies.
• Home Movie Depot has been recognized by The New York Times, Parade Magazine, PC World Online and various newspapers and radio stations. We have transferred home movies and video productions for clients across the US and around the world. We have posted some of their testimonials.
• Home Movie Depot provides two different transfer methods for 8mm film: Premium and Expert. This provides for better options for our customers.
• There are no hidden handling fees, processing fees, or storage fees. Our pricing is available online and allows the customers to see exactly what we include with each package.

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What type of formats do you transfer?

• Film - 8mm, Super8,16mm
• Images - Slides, Photographs up to 8"x10", *Negatives.
  *For non-35mm slides and non-35mm negatives please use the customized option.
• Video - VHS, Hi8, Video8, VHS-C, Betamax, MiniDV, or Digital8

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How much does it cost?

Pricing varies depending on the amount of film, video and images you may have as well as what other services you order. Click on the below links to visit our individual pricing pages:

Film Pricing Page.
Videotape Pricing Page.
Scanning Pricing Page.
Flat Fee Pricing Page.

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How long does it take?

Most orders are completed in about 2-3 weeks after being received at our facility. Due to an increase in order volume around the holidays our turnaround time may vary.

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What do the different statuses mean?

You can track the progress of your order at anytime! Just login to your account and look at the status next to your order.

1. Not Received- Means that you've placed an order with us, but it has not arrived at our facility.
2. Received- We've received, opened, and verified the contents of your order.
3. Transferring- Encompasses all the "hands on" interaction that a technician has with your media- cleaning, splicing, inspection, and transfer. This status will take the longest, as it is the bulk of your transfer.
4. Transferred- Your media has been transferred and will be put on a DVD or hard drive.
5. Burned- Means that your order is ready for packaging and shipping.
6. Shipped- Your order has been shipped. Back to top

Is it safe? Will you return my originals?

We receive orders from around the world on a daily basis. Your images and movies are not destroyed or damaged in the process and you'll be able to view or even transfer your media again! We return everything that you send to us- film, cans, boxes, reels, video tapes, albums, negatives, slides, carousels.

A technician is with your movies and images during every step of the process. You can read about some of our efforts to ensure the safety of your film, videotapes, and images.

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What if I'm not satisfied?

Customer satisfaction is very important to us. We are committed to fixing any problem that is not inherent to the original media in a timely manner. Visit our guarantee policy for more information.

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How many DVD's or hard drives will I get with my order?

As many as it takes! You do not have to calculate how many DVD's or hard drives will be needed to complete your order. We only need to know how many complete copies of your movies you'd like to receive. If your order takes 10 DVDs to create a complete copy, that is what we deliver. The cost of your media is calculated when you place an order - so the number of DVDs needed will not further affect your price.

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Do you have any restrictions regarding the content of my images, videotapes or film reels?

There are several instances where your media will be returned without being converted to DVD. If we do not transfer your home movie or images for any of the following reasons, the associated transfer costs will be refunded to your card (Not Applicable to Flat Fee Options):

1. Blank or undeveloped film
2. Non-supported Format
3. Objectionable Material
4. Copy Protection
5. Copyright*
6. Media with extreme physical damage

*If you do have items under copyright protection, or have permission from, the original copyright holder, please include this copyright waiver and we will be happy to transfer your film.

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Home Movie Editing

Will my new DVD play on my DVD player?

For your film and videotape transfer we use brand name DVD-R which has been shown to be the most compatible general use media. Our discs have been found to be compatible with over 95% of home DVD and Blu-Ray players made in the past three years.

For your image scanning, a data DVD is used. The data DVD is a DVD-ROM disc for your computer and it is not intended for viewing purposes in any DVD player or in a CD-ROM drive.

However, slide (35mm slides and others), negative (35mm negative and others), or photo scanning customers who order the additional Slide Show DVD will be able to play their new DVD on a home DVD player.

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I want to edit my new DVD on my home computer. Can I simply drag and drop my DVD files onto my computer?

Although our DVDs are not encrypted, editing your new DVD would require DVD authoring software which we do not provide and cannot support.

If you want to edit your films or videotapes on your computer, we highly recommend getting a hard drive:

Hard Drives are available for Expert transfers only. They are the best media for home editing because the files can quickly be dumped onto your home computer, edited, and turned into your own DVD!

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Shipping

How do I order, how should I send my media?

• Let us know what you are sending and what you want as your finished product. Calculate your transfer estimate with one of our pricing pages.
• Please visit our Shipping Instructions page to learn how to safely package your media.
• Send your media and the checkout confirmation to:
  

  Home Movie Depot
  7998 Centerpoint Drive
  Suite 600
  Indianapolis, IN 46256

  We recommend UPS shipping.

• We will email you once we have received your movies.

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