Looking back, it would have been MUCH simpler for me to simply pay a company to transfer the film directly to DVD. I eventually did get them to convert about 1200 feet of the 4000 feet of movie film I have to DVD (a company on EBay advertised a deal for $99.00), and I'm using those as source files as I add my own titles, soundtrack, etc. to it.
But if you want to do it the hard way:
1. Get an 8MM movie projector, run the film through it, then camcord the displayed picture. The bulbs for these projectors are the most expensive part of the process - I had to get three bulbs for my old Kodak Brownie projector as I ran film through it, and they were $35 apiece. I projected the image onto a big piece of white paper, which produced only a small amount of background roughness on the projected image. A DV camcorder is best, but all I had was an analog camcorder.
2. Transfer the video to your computer. I have an ATI All-in-Wonder video card that has video/audio inputs. I connected the camcorder directly to the video card, ran the tape and recorded the image using the video card's software, and the card converts the video to mp2 files I can work with. You can also use a Firewire adapter to transfer video from an analog source.
3. Use a video authoring program such as Pinnacle Studio to cut out bad spots from the video, add a soundtrack, add titles and graphics, and generally edit the video. This is where I am now (and that program's drivers are VERY sticky and fussy to work with).
4. Copy the resulting movie files to a DVD-R disk that will play on most DVD players. I have a Memorex DVD+RW/+R drive that lets me do that.
I'd like to do this for safer storage of the family home videos.
That was my plan as well. Some of the film has shrunk and faded, which is why I wanted to transfer it as soon as possible. As a storage medium, DVD lasts about 200 years and the image will never get any worse.
The answer is on Post 1126, Publius6961.