When I looked into this several months ago (because I, too, have a pile of

old home movies), I discovered:

The frame rates of film and video do not divide evenly.  So, to get the video

to flow at the same rate as the film, extra copies of frames are inserted

here and there - at regular, but odd intervals.  [I wonder if, on a computer,

you could set the video refresh rate and video frame rate to something that

would work for the original film frame rate.]

There are some relatively cheap set-ups available to project a film on

a small screen and video-record it.  I can't imagine that the quality would

be better than horrible.  With the incompatible frame rates, how bad would

the flicker be?  I vaguely recall that you have to provide the projector and

camera.  Those once ubiquitous Kodak Instamatic projectors are famous for

having brittle plastic gears.  I have two such projectors; both broken.  [They

worked when stored 30 years ago.  When I fired each up, little bits of plastic

gear went flying.]  There is a company I found on the web that provides instructions

and parts to restore these things, but...

I would think that trying to run an old film through a projector - with the

jerky motion necessary to get each frame stationary in the gate when

the shutter opens - risks shredding the film.  Non-linear scanning at low

speed sounds safer.

Googling, I found a web site by some guy who was working on his own

transfer mechanism.  He was using a scanner with fine-enough resolution

that he thought it would be OK for such tiny pictures.  And, he rigged up

some mechanical device to automatically advance the film some number of

frames at a time and scan a group of frames.  -And, he was working on some

software to separate the frames and adjust them so that they're aligned (based

on the sprocket holes) because the mechanism couldn't possibly align the

frames on the scanner well enough.  I'll see if I can find the site again.

I wonder if there's pent-up demand for transfer services because the prices

are so high.

I had hoped to find a co-op or non-profit.  But, commercial transfer equipment

is so expensive, even a non-profit would have to charge a lot to break even.

-Maybe a charitable organization interested in preserving old film and Americana

would do it on the cheap?

Or, a small number of people buying a (used) $1000 telecine machine could split the

cost and take turns...  ...and sell it when done?

I would think that it'll be worth looking over the films carefully and deciding

which are really worth transferring.  [I used a microfiche reader to look at

a few of mine.  It was extremely awkward.]  Some of the the companies

in/near Boston allow you to use their equipment for free to view your movies.

And, there are old viewers (hand-cranked, for editing) around...

http://www.thebattles.net/video/8mm_restoration.html

http://photo.net/video-forum/003WXX

http://vimeo.com/22015773