Growing up, I remember watching old 8mm and Super 8 home movies of my parents and grandparents.
I was always fascinated by the way people looked all those years ago - seeing how they dressed, what their homes looked like, and how they interacted with one another.
It was a great way for me to feel like I knew my family just a little bit better.
Of course, as time has marched on, so have the ways in which we record memories.
That's certainly true of the cameras we use for photography as well as how we record videos, too.
If you're like me, you probably have a collection of old family films in the attic or basement.
And, again, if you're like me, up to this point you've probably not had any idea what to do with them. After all, it's not like many of us have reel-to-reel projectors to watch old films.
That's why I was excited to find the gadget shown above - the Wolverine Data 8mm & Super 8 Reels to Digital MovieMaker.
This thing is fully automated, so you can digitize old family movies into videos that you can enjoy on today's technology.
The MovieMaker supports up to 9-inch reels, and will digitize them to 1080p video (no sound) at 20fps in just a few steps.
Just mount the film reel, insert a memory card into the MovieMaker, press a few buttons, and the device will take care of the rest, from scanning the film frame-by-frame to saving it as an MP4 file. The machine is self-contained, too, so you don't need any additional software or drivers of any kind. You can see how easy it is to use this and other Wolverine Data devices in the video below:
And since the video is saved in MP4 format, you can watch it on any computer (Windows, Mac or Linux-based), burn it to a DVD, and save it to a thumb drive or cloud service. There's even an included TV cable that allows you to connect the MovieMaker to your TV for watching your newly digitized films.
It's one thing to record memories. It's another to preserve them and enjoy them for years and years to come.
All those old family films from decades ago will only deteriorate even more with the passage of time.
Before they're gone forever, get yourself a Wolverine Data 8mm & Super 8 Reels to Digital MovieMaker, turn all those movies into digital files, and preserve your precious memories for the coming generations of your family.