New DVD-transfer home business: pricing

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Randy Brown wrote on 2/12/2004, 4:04 PM
Well just because there's no way I could get that around my podunk neck of the woods (Clovis/Portales NM) and was curious if you were in an urban area.
NMRandy : )
AZEdit wrote on 2/12/2004, 4:30 PM
G Randy...even one of the cheapest-lowest quality dupe houses on the net (www.cdrom2go) Charges $7.95 for a high quality DVD when ordering 50!! And to be honest- I used them once-never again-low quality and customer service- they are all about cheap!!
Randy Brown wrote on 2/12/2004, 4:59 PM
I'm thinking places like yesvideo.com could very well be a solution for the public wanting dups. I don't know about the quality (or really anything else about them) but even in my area you can drop off your tapes at a Walgreens or Wal-Mart like you would still cam film and have it transferred. I don't ordinarily do this kind of job but I've seen it posted around for concerned people who do.
Randy
JackW wrote on 2/13/2004, 1:38 PM
While the experience is still very fresh in my mind, let me explain why we charge, and receive, $40 for a one hour DVD, $50 for a two hour.

A client brought in three 15 minuteVHS tapes to be transferred to a single DVD. I use DVDWS. Each tape has to be captured, the in and out points trimmed, chapter stops created and thumbnails selected. 3 times. One of the tapes would not play in a 1960 or 1980 -- no picture. We finally got it to play in an old Emerson VCR, which then had to be wired into our DV deck so we could make a DV work tape, from which to capture the clip.

Then we created a menu. The thumbnails all had to be cropped in a graphics program to get rid of the overscan along one edge. Finally, the disc was burned.

Nobody is going to get that kind of service for $9.99 at Walmart.

Was it worth it? Of course. Just like the clerk at the movies who asks you if you want a Coke to go with the popcorn, I questioned her about other tapes she might have at home. The upshot: about $400 worth of editing business that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. And someone who will go out and tell all her friends about the nice helpful people at VideOccasions.

My point is that you're not competing with the $9.99 or the $19 DVD burners. You're offering SERVICE, something that a client won't get from them. And that service becomes the foundation upon which a solid, ongoing and profitable business relationship is built.
Randy Brown wrote on 2/13/2004, 3:46 PM
Let me say that when do accept one of these "transfers" I do so at my regular rate of $45/hr. I just don't do them very often because most of the time they start asking "well how long will it take?". I explain I would need to capture the tape in real time etc. I ask that they be here for the whole process, that way they can see just what it entails and there are no hard feelings and they can make decisions as to what if any editing they want, if they want a music bed etc. I prefer doing corporate and TV spots though.
Randy
farss wrote on 2/13/2004, 4:00 PM
I manage to make a reasonable amount out of doing transfers but only because it's a sideline. So long as they don't want it done 'NOW' then it means I can turn a buck out of idol machine time.

As for doing it as your sole income forget it. In fact I don't see much chnace for making a decent living out of this business at all, it's too late in the technology curve. The smart operators have now gotten out of the business, having sold their businesses to mugs and are relaxing in the Bahamas.

I can tell you in this city there isn't many left in the business, corporate is dead. TV has a spike at the moment due to the roll out of cable and HiDef but both of those require serious investment. Guy down the road from where I work invested millions in HiDef kit and he's lost very big time.

Probably the trade deals our govt. looks like entering into with the US will erode local content rules further killing the business.

At the consummer side, well every street now has some pimply faced kid who'll do it for free, he probably even does it with Vegas (pirated copy of course). i offered to edit my neighbours home video for nothing but hey he's got Movie Maker <grin> so why does he need me.
JackW wrote on 2/13/2004, 5:00 PM
This has been a really interesting thread, seeing the way everyone involved handles DVD creation and how DVDs appear to fit into people's business structure .

In reviewing the entire thread, it looks like there are three categories of production involved: those who are primarily involved in burning DVDs; those for whom DVD is the end product of choice for their client; and those who do a combination of video activities, among them creating DVDs from the work of others.

Our shop falls in the last category. We work closely with people off the street who want to edit video they have created and make copies of the finished work. We work one-on-one with our clients, with source formats from VHS to miniDV.

In 2000, almost all finished work went out on VHS. We burned fewer than a couple of dozen DVDs throughout the year. In 2003, our VHS duplication had dropped by about 50%, but our gross for duplication was considerably ahead of the 2000 figure. The difference was made up, of course, by DVDs. Most of what we do now goes out the door on DVD, often with multiple copies.

I agree with the comments that suggest that there will always be a kid willing to work for $5 an hour. I doubt that any of us cares to compete with that or, given our overhead, is able to compete. But frankly, I'm not worried by his presence. The things he can't provide -- years of training, taste, talent and, perhaps most importantly, caring about the client and the product the client is trying to create -- this is where the professional videographer shines and why people patronize our establishments.

I think there will always be a market for excellence. Produce a better DVD than Walmart or the kid with pimples down the street -- e.g., where the VHS has been run through a proc amp and cleaned up, and a colorful menu has been created -- and there's a market niche waiting to be filled. It doesn't add appreciably to the time involved to provide service, and it adds a great deal of value to the product and to what you can charge.

Jack