Old movies still bring new money  to First Coast video converters

Personal, business videos restored by Jacksonville-area firms.
     In the years following World War II, millions of American families used home movies to record weddings, graduations, birthday parties and other special occasions.
      Few knew getting those memories to stand the test of time would mean keeping up with ever-changing technology: 8mm movie film gave way to "Super 8" film, which was replaced by videotape, then digital videotape, digital video discs and now computer video files.
      Along the way, many who have home movies recorded with previous technologies find they no longer have the equipment needed to watch them. The same thing happens to businesses that rely on multimedia aids to sell products or train personnel. But there are many businesses in Jacksonville that will help both get their videos back up to date so they can use them again.
      For 18 years, the technological changes in video have helped bring steady business for Jacksonville-based Easy Edit Video. Today, the company converts movies from all video technologies now extinct by today's standards to computer video files and DVDs that can be readily viewed on modern equipment. That includes film and VHS tapes, which up to about 10 years ago had ruled multimedia for decades.
     "We were doing videotape for everyone in town — ad agencies, government, military and corporations," said David Zuckerman, the company's founder and president. "We were making thousands of copies of sales, marketing and training tapes."
    The videotape duplicator the company used was the largest in the region. And two years ago, Zuckerman had to get rid of it, he said.
     "There was zero demand for VHS duplication."

Saving time
     People are still bringing in VHS tapes — but only because they want them converted to DVD or to computer files that can be posted, streamed and watched on portable devices. Today, thanks to newly released equipment that cost about $500, Easy Edit Video is able to convert a home movie to a computer video file in as much time as it takes to watch it, saving employees' time and cutting the amount charged customers for the service.
      It's part of the company's obsessive quest for the latest equipment. About seven years ago, Zuckerman said, the company got one of the first DVD recorders. But it was not yet released in the United States, and employees had to translate Japanese in order to use it.
      The video technology beat goes on, and Zuckerman's company continues to follow it.
     "Now, we are at a transition point, where more and more people are wanting it as a file where they can edit it or store it to a hard drive," he said. "Our industry is so much more interactive now. Video needs to be uploaded. People can watch video on a cellphone or on a 100-inch screen. It has to be flexible."
     And many of those companies that used to make hundreds of copies of videotapes now simply post a digital video to a website where it can be viewed by multiple people at any time, he said.

No slowdown seen
     Easy Edit Video recently helped another Jacksonville company, PSS World Medical Inc., keep up with the times by converting 300 old videotapes and 20,000 slides to digital files stored on a hand-held computer storage device. The project took a little over two months, but today, PSS has those speeches, conferences, ceremonies, educational training, and corporate communications neatly cataloged — and got a storage room back, said Frank Hankins, Easy Edit Video production technician.
      The company still does high-speed video duplication, but now it's DVDs. Easy Edit Video can make up to 40 copies at one time from one master, Zuckerman said.
      And at the company's front desk, customer conversion orders keep coming in.
     "People will be bringing in videotapes for the next 30 or 40 years," he said. "And whatever it's being converted to, we will still be doing it."

kevin.turner@jacksonville.com,