LightJar

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Identifying Film with Sound

When we receive film transfer orders, one of the most common questions people have is how can they tell if  their film has sound.  Most of the time the film is very old, its contents have long been forgotten, and it is film that has been passed down from family members.  So it’s typical that not much is known about what is actually on each reel.

But determining if your film has sound is actually quite simple, but the procedure varies depending on what type of film you have.

8mm and Super 8 film with sound

8mm and Super 8 film with sound both contain sound on a magnetic strip that runs along the edges of the film.  Most of the time the magnetic strip is different in color from the rest of the film and will look discolored or brown.  Below is a graphical representation of what 8mm and Super 8m film with magnetic strips look like.

Film with sound 8mm and Super 8

Determining if your 8mm film has sound is easy, really all you have to do is examine your film.  If you have wider discolored areas that go down the edge of your film then more than likely your film does have sound.

16mm film with sound:

Now that we have gone over 8mm and Super 8mm film we will look at 16mm film with sound to see what the difference is.  16mm film can actually have two different types of sound depending on how it was captured.  The first is a magnetic strip just like 8mm and Super 8.  Again, with this version you will have magnetic strips that run along the edge of the film and just like the others will look different in color from the rest of the film.

However, 16mm film can also have optical sound.  With optical sound the film itself has sound waves on the outer edges of the film.  As you can see from the picture below the optical sound looks like a jagged wave that runs along the film.

You can see the optical sound on the far right of this 16mm film.

Even though there are two different versions of film with sound, magnetic and optical, both types can be seen just by looking at the film.   If you have questions about if you have film with sound or not, the easy thing to do is unwind a little film, handle it delicately, use a magnifying glass if necessary, and inspect the edges of the film.  Look for 1 of 2 things.  Discolored strip along the side of them film or a jagged wavy line down the side.

For assistance on determining if your film has sound or if you are thinking about starting a digital preservation project visit our website at www.cintrexav.com or contact us at [email protected]

Image from Wikipedia.

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Film Decay

Old home movies on 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm film are often packed away in boxes and canisters, left alone for years in dark damp basements or dusty attics.  These memories were important enough to record at one point but are often neglected over time.

Over time film decay can occur along with other problems in quality, But the film decay is not always the cause of the issues, many problems occur at the time the film was shot or when it was developed.

We have compiled a list of the most common issues that we receive when transferring customers film.  During our process we analyze, clean, and repair your film by hand to ensure the best possible transfer.

Because of the age of most film, the way in which is was stored, and the technology and methods that were used to shoot and develop the film, there are some unique challenges that arise during film scanning.  Our experienced technicians and careful transfer process ensure we are able to mitigate many of the common issues that plague old film.

Common film decay and other problems:

Dense, Dark Pictures - This is often caused by film that was Underexposed when it was developed.

Black film - If there are sections in your film that are black, showing little or no image, it may that the film that was either poorly exposed or not exposed at all.   We prepare and analyze your film prior to transferring it and long sections of black film are removed to improve viewing quality.

Thin, Light Pictures - Light or an overly bright picture is caused by film that was overexposed when it was developed.

Wavy Pictures - A shaky or wavy picture is often caused by failure to hold the camera steady while filming. This is particularly noticeable when the camera operator is moving the camera back and forth rather then holding it still or using a tripod.  For minor shaking we can apply a filter during editing that stops minor movements.

Blurred or Fuzzy Pictures - This is caused by incorrect setting of the camera focus or extreme close-ups taken with a fixed-focus camera.

Blurred or Doubled Images - Pictures that show double images or blurred scenes with a vertical “jumpy” effect are caused by problems with threading the film into camera or a camera that is out of adjustment.

Heavy, Foggy Shadows - This is caused by failure to make allowances in exposure for side or back lighting. For example, a scene that is shot with the sun facing the camera. In this case, special allowances must be made when exposing the film due to the amount of light that is captured. Better results will be seen when the camera operator shoots with the sun or bright lighting behind the camera, often called front lighting.

Pictures Misty or Flat All Over - This is caused when the camera lens is veiled with dust, moisture, or oil.

Light Circular Spots or Curved Streaks - also called “lens flare”,  is caused by the sun or a light source shining on the camera lens when the film was captured.

Lines and Scratches - Continuous or intermittent perpendicular lines or short perpendicular scratches in the picture are caused by dirt and other particles that accumulated in the camera that captured the film. It can also be caused by film that was not properly threaded into the camera.

Yellow Pictures - This can be caused by a yellow filter (for black and white pictures) accidentally left on camera or waiting too long between exposure and processing, or possible exposure to excessive heat.

Excessive Redness - This can be caused by pictures taken in the early morning or late afternoon sunlight or Kodachrome film that is not exposed properly, we can sometimes correct tinting issues after transfer.

Excessive Blueness - Kodachrome Film used in the daylight without the proper filter, again our experienced technicians can often correct tinting issues of film.

Even though a lot of these issues occur at the time the film was shot or developed, film decay still does affect home movies that has been hidden away and neglected over time.  The best thing to do if you are concerned about preserving your family’s old home movies is get them transferred to DVD, Blu-ray, or data file.

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Choosing a Modern Media Format

Digitally preserving old home movies from film reels and video tapes is important to people who are looking to save content for future generations.   We help customers every day that want to convert their irreplaceable memories, but we often get questions on why they should choose one media format over another.  So we’ve compiled a list of the most popular media formats that we convert to and what are the benefits or drawbacks to each.

DVD – is one of the most common request that we get when transferring home movies for customers to newer media formats.  DVDs provide great quality and are pretty much the standard for discs in the industry.  Everyone has a DVD player or CD/DVD-ROM drive in a computer so they can be viewed in multiple places. However, the quality that they provide may be good, it is not in High Definition and that is an issue for many of our clients.  If your looking for a good quality transfer on  a universal disc that can be played almost anywhere, then DVD may be the media format for you.

M-Disc – The M-Disc is just like a DVD and plays in DVD players that were manufactured after 2009.   But unlike a DVD the M-Disc is made up of inert materials and does not use dyes like traditional DVD.  The information is actually imbedded in the discs layers “called pits” and this information is not susceptible to decay over time like tradition discs.   The M-Disc is rated to last 1000 years, with long term properties like that the M-Disc are great for the consumer that wants to archive their content for future generations.  Looking for LONG TERM data solution, a M-Disc transfer might be the choice.

Blu-ray Disc – The go to choice for HD Video playback. Blu-ray discs can hold up to 3.5 hours of HD content, 9 hours of Standard Definition, or 50 GB of data.  The Blu-ray is a great option for customers that want to convert their film to a HD Media Format, combined several video tapes to one Disc, or preserve a lot of content all in one disc.   If you are thinking about high definition transfer or you have got a lot of content and need a high capacity disc format,  you should be considering the Blu-ray Disc.

MP4 – The MP4 a great format for someone that wants HD copies of their video collection, but is also concerned about file size.  MP4s are for the customer that wants high quality transfers of movies into easily transportable formats, suitably sized (compressed) for transport across the web,  smaller file sizes, and can be easily recalled for later re-purposing and editing.

MOV - MOV files are ideal for customers that want HD video content and are using video editing by Apple’s Final Cut Pro, Adobe’s Premiere Pro, and other 3rd party commercial systems. They are larger in size than the MP4s and are often used as long term preservation copies of film content.

AVI - The HD AVI format is intended for use by DIY (do-it-yourself) customers who plan to do their own editing, who would like to reformat old projects, and are doing on on Windows based editing systems.  Like MOVs, AVIs are extremely large in size and are also often used as preservation copies.

With these choices it is important to remember that when you are deciding which media format to use, you should be thinking about what you would like to do with your digitally preserved content.  This will help in choosing a media format.  Knowing what you have and what you want could make the choice for you in determine the output for your project.

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Cintrex AV File Size Calculations

Do you have film or video tapes that you want to send in to Cintrex?  Want to send in your own Flash Drive or Hard Drive but don’t know what size to send along with your precious content? Well you are in luck, At Cintrex AV we have a couple of ways to help with File Size Calculations Charts and Hard Drive Estimator Tools.

Here is an example of the 8mm Film Chart for estimating capacity

There are a few options that come into play when trying to figure out how much space your order will take.  The obvious factor is the number of film feet or video tapes you have will play a direct roll in file size, but the type of film (8mm vs 16mm) also plays a role in varying size.

One factor that is not often thought about by consumers is the size difference that file types have on the size of your project.  AVIs and MOVs files are usually larger in size and are typically used for consumers who want to preserve their collection or use the high quality formats for do it yourself edits.  On the other side many consumers like MP4s and WMVs because they are normally smaller in size, compressed, and used for storage and sharing purposes.

Then to take these factors into account, what type of media you want transferred and what type for return format you want it will help you determine the capacity needed for your order.  Once you make your decisions you can look at our Film Transfer Chart, Video Tape Transfer Chart, or Hard Drive Calculator.

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Color Correction for Film

If you have old home movies on 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm, you have probably gotten them out at some point and watched them. You might have noticed that over time they seem to discolor and are almost tinted. Film tinting is a problem that can occur throughout the films life cycle, but there are some steps that you can take to combat tinting. We’ll explore proper storage techniques and color correction service that keep your irreplaceable memories the way they should be.

So what causes your home movies to be discolored?

There are a couple of reasons that your film can appear to be red or blue in color. Some factors include when the film was shot, what time of day it was recorded, or if the correct filters were used.

Overly red tinting can be cause by shooting in the late afternoon or the early morning. The sun can have an effect on the way the film was captured can cause discoloration. Red tinting can also be caused by the film not being properly exposed during development.

While blue tinting typically occurs at the time of capture, due to shooting in daylight without the proper filter or camera settings.

However, tinting does not always just occur when the film is being recorded. Often times film that is not properly stored begins to deteriorate. When you see film with an overly red tint, it is not because the red dye is gradually getting worse, it is the opposite. When films become red tinted its actually the blue dye used in the film that begins to deteriorate. The blue dye is the first color to fade with time and that creates a red tinted film.

Since film tinting can occur both when the film was recorded and throughout its lifecycle it’s important to know what you can do to keep your films color in good condition.

Proper Storage of old film

Kodak states that conditions for medium to long term storage for film should be kept at 10 degrees C or (50 degrees F) and with humidity levels of around 20-30 %. The best practice is a cool area with a little humidity, and keep them in containers that are allowed to breath. Even though film is often kept in attics and stored in hot humid places, these temperatures create conditions that are prime for deterioration of film. Remember cool and constant temperatures will help extend the life of your irreplaceable memories

Color Correction for Film

As a best practice for anyone that wants to keep their content for long term we recommend getting the film digitized to new formats (DVD, Blu-ray, or Data File). Check with the company that is doing the digitization about color correction services, and see if they offer services that can help restore the original color to your home videos. Qualified technicians will be able to add in colors, change the hues, or apply filters that give your films the natural color that they have lost.

Color Correction and Restoration of Old Film

As we stated if you are really concerned about saving your film for future generations get your home movies converted before its to late.

If you think you have film that needs restoration or would like to have us transfer your home movies check out our Color Correction Service or visit our website at www.cintrexav.com

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Calculating Film Feet for a film project

So just remember that it is easy to calculate film feet, you just need to have a few things.Gather your film and other necessities, calculate your subtotals for each group, and add them all together.If you need help or have any questions about calculation film feet, film transfer, or other media conversions visitwww.cintrexav.com for more information or contact us at [email protected] Would you like to have your film transferred , but you’re unsure how much film you have? This is the #1 issue that people come across when planning a conversion project.  They have several different reels of varying size, and aren’t sure how to determine how many feet of film they have.  Here’s the process, step-by-step.

Before we get started, you will need a few items that will help you calculate film feet.

The film you want to transfer

An area to work

A pen or pencil

A pad of paper

A ruler or tape measure

A calculator (optional for adding up totals)

The first thing you need to do is gather up all of your film that you want to transfer and group it by size.  It will be easier to calculate film feet, when you know how many reels you have of each size.

With all of your film reels grouped by size make sure you have your tape measure handy. You will want to measure a reel out of each size group, which is the next step when you calculate film feet. Make sure you measure the film reels across their center, you’ll want to measure the film reels diameter, and write down the size of each group.

Measure Film Reels Across The Center

The next thing you need to know is the amount of film feet on each size reel.  Below is a list of the most common reels sizes with their corresponding feet.

3 inch reels hold 50ft. of film.

4 in reels hold 100ft.

5 inch reels hold 200ft.

6 inch reels hold 300ft.

7 inch reels hold 400ft.

10 inch reels hold 800ft.

It is helpful to take notes on your paper of the number of reels you have in each size, what size they are, and how many feet each size contains. This way you have a quick reference guide for the next step.

Now you are ready to calculate film feet!

Calculating the total amount of feet you have is easy.  In this step you just take the number of film reels for each size and multiply it by how many feet that reel size holds.

Here is an example:  Lets take our 3 inch – 50ft reels

As you can see from the picture above, we have 5  of the 3 inch or 50ft reels.  If we take the number of film reels and multiply it by the number of feet per reels we can calculate film feet for this size group of reels.

5 reels of 50ft = 250ft of film.

Now look at your pad where you made your notes and repeat this process for each reel size, you will then be able to calculate the total number of feet you have for your entire collection.

Now that you have your total amount of film you can easily estimate how much preserving your memories will cost or you can simply enter that amount in our quantity box to place an order.

So just remember that it is easy to calculate film feet, you just need to have a few things.

Gather your film and other necessities, calculate your subtotals for each group, and add them all together.

If you need help or have any questions about calculation film feet, film transfer, or other media conversions visit www.cintrexav.com for more information or contact us at [email protected]

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Tips for Packaging & Shipping Your Family Memories

When you ship your items to Cintrex it is important to pack your items to protect them from being crushed or damaged. We take pride in the fact that we have never lost a customers order. A package that is improperly wrapped and taped could possibly allow a valuable recording to be lost in shipment to Cintrex AV.

Below are a couple tips to ensure that your memories are safe in transit.

Select a sturdy box with no ripped areas. A box is a better choice than an envelope. Envelopes are not sturdy and won’t protect your items from being crushed. For large orders you might need to divide your order into separate boxes. We provide an optional service, a Safe Shipping Kit, where we will send out ahead of time containing packing materials, tape & a GPS tracking chip for an extra level of assurance for customers that are shipping us their valuables, one-of-a-kind media memories. The GPS tracking chip online application gives detailed visibility to the viewer, allowing one to follow the package as it makes its way into our labs.            

Place your Tapes, Film, Photos, Slides, etc. in a plastic bag to prevent from water damage and to keep separate from packing materials. If you are sending in photos it is helpful place a piece of cardboard in with the photos to prevent them from being bent.

Line your box with padding, bubble wrap works. Place the plastic bag containing your items in the center and then fill up the empty spaces of your box with more bubble wrap, newspaper, or shopping bags. When you close the box you should be able to shake it without the contents shifting a lot. Use study tape to seal the box along the top and bottom seams.

Through our website you will be able to print a free UPS shipping label which will contain your origination address & our lab destination address. Cintrex will provide free shipping, both ways, on orders valued over $100. Once your order is completed, we return your original contents and new digital formats via UPS.

Include specific instructions on your job and the expected results. We want to make sure that our final product is not an unpleasant surprise for you.

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My Film is over 50 years old, is it worth transferring?

Two answers to this question. Yes and Maybe. 8mm and 16mm home movie film contains one-of-a-kind irreplaceable content about your family. If you want to digitize it so that family members can again view and share earlier generations’ recordings, then the answer is most definitely YES. However, if the film was not properly stored and handled over the years, it may have been damaged or suffered deterioration, and repairing this damage may be outside your family’s budget to convert and transfer the film to DVD, Blu-ray Disc or Data File format.

Everyday Cintrex AV scans and converts 8mm and 16mm film from the 1930’s – 1980’s. Most of the film is still in decent shape, but sometimes the film has been damaged and this can impact the quality of our film transfer.

Reasons we might not be able to transfer your film:

Mold & Mildew - These types of damages occur if film was improperly stored. The mold & mildew can cause damage to the quality of the picture on the film. The film might look extremely faded or be too brittle to unwind off the reels.

Vinegar Syndrome - This is caused by a chemical reaction combined with heat & moisture. You will know if your film has vinegar syndrome by the distinct odor! The film will also start to shrink and curl up in a tube shape rather than laying flat. In bad cases the film is not flexible and you will not be able to unwind it from the reel.

Pulled Perforations (perfs) – This type of damage is usually caused when threading a projector improperly. If every perf is torn or damaged, the film will not run through the projectors smoothly.

Most of the time we can transfer the film even if it has started to deteriorate. We can work with these problems if they are not too advanced. When receive film that has been affect by the above problems, our trained technicians will perform a couple tests to find the condition of your film & whether it can be transferred or not.

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How Cintrex AV Employs Ultrium LTO Tape to Back Up Customer Video Assets

Cintrex AV regularly archives video files to both LTO-6 and LTO-5 tapes.  We use Ultrium tapes for both archiving and delivering files to our customers and for internal company storage.  Internally, Cintrex provides 90 days of backup storage on all of our completed customer projects.  This means that we need to be able to keep large amounts of video data on-hand, especially in the 90 days following the holiday season.  To to this, we utilize LTO tapes as a supplement to several network connected Drobo storage systems.  We’ll often back up multi-terabyte jobs directly to LTO tape, saving our spinning disk storage for jobs that we may need to access more actively.  We use Hewlett-Packard LTO tape drives, and format the tapes with either HP’s StoreOpen (LTFS)  or Tolis Group’s BRU Professional Edition software.  We use StoreOpen from both Windows and Mac workstations, while BRU PE is currently Mac specific.

Different versions of LTO Ultrium tape have different native and compressed capacities.  Because we typically store only video content on LTO tape, the hardware compression provided by the tape drive has little to no effect.  This means we can store about 2.5TB of video on an LTO-6 tape, or about 1.5TB on an LTO-5 tape.

When archiving content onto LTO tapes for customers that primarily use Mac OS, we prefer to use Tolis Group’s BRU PE software for tape formatting and archiving.  BRU PE offers more robust verification and restoration, and is much faster and more capable of handling jobs that are ‘large’ both in terms of total bytes stored, as well as total number of files.  Jobs requiring us to store hundreds of thousands of files on each tape can be completed much more quickly with BRU PE than with a LTFS formatted tape, and the integrity of every file written can be verified automatically.  When we return a completed archiving job to the customer, we include a data DVD or USB Flash-drive along with the LTO tapes.  This extra storage media contains a catalog of what’s been archived on the LTO tapes, as well as a copy of BRU PE restoration software if appropriate.   We also now provide cloud storage for these two items, enabling our customers to access their tape catalogs whenever/wherever they might need.  If restoration of files contained on the tapes becomes necessary, the customer will simply need access to a compatible computer and LTO tape drive.  Because LTO is an open standard, any compatible (same generation) LTO drive can be used.  This gives our customers the flexibility to restore files in-house, or with any vendor they choose.

If our customer uses a primarily Windows environment, we archive their files using HP’s StoreOpen.  When mounted on either a Mac or Windows computer, the LTFS formatted LTO tape appears identical to any other attached hard drive.  This enables us to use any Windows or Mac software to copy files onto the LTO tape, or reverse the process when restoring a file.   If restoration is needed in the future, HP’s StoreOpen application can be freely downloaded, again giving our customers the flexibility to restore files in-house, or with any vendor they choose.

For our internal Cintrex LTO archiving, we employ a networked HP LTO-5 tape drive.  This allows us to write to tapes from any workstation on the network, and store completed jobs for future editing work or long-term storage.   We prefer LTFS formatted tapes for internal backup because LTFS is fast and easy to use when archiving smaller numbers of large files - the drag and drop functionality suits our internal workflow well.  Restoring a video project from LTFS formatted tape is also simple to do from any station on the network.  The life expectancy of the R/W LTO-5 tapes used by Cintrex is estimated to be 200 complete tape rewrites.  We began using LTO-5 tapes for internal backup in January 2012, and have not yet experienced a tape failure as of March 2014.    

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The Rule of 3 – Easy Digital Preservation

How many times has your hard drive crashed, computer stop running, or you get an error that your memory card has gone bad?  Everyone has lost data at some point due to technology failing.  There is almost no way to guarantee that you equipment will never go down, but following the the simple rule of 3, can help keep your important content around and stop you from pulling your hair out when your next piece of technology does fail.

The rule of 3 is simple and isn’t a new concept for people in archival and preservation circles.  It’s short, easy to follow and looks like this:

The Rule Of 3 or (3-2-1 Rule)

“Make 3 copies of anything that you consider valuable, in 2 different formats, with 1 of those versions offsite.”

Seems simple enough, so why do so many of us continually lose our data files, irreplaceable photos, and digital videos?

As a society we are always adding to our digital collections and its in our nature to capture life’s most valuable moments, but too often we neglect to do anything else with it once its recorded.

In a previous blog we wrote about why you should digitally preserve, this one explores why following the simple rule of 3 is just as important.

Losing your Content:

We have all heard stories about people grabbing photos, wedding albums and videos, or other important content out of their houses in an emergency.  They do it because those records are some of the most important instances of their lives, and they are irreplaceable.

Everyone has content that means the world to them, but wouldn’t it be nice to not have to worry about always losing it?  That is where following the simple rule of 3 comes into play.

The rule might seem complicated to some users but is actually really easy to do, and we can walk you through it:

Say you had baby photos in an album,  your first step would be to digitize the photos to have data files of your physical copies.  Now once you have created the digital copies, the next step would be to place them on 3 different formats:  lets put them on Data Disc, a flash drive, and on a storage network in the cloud.  By doing this you have ensured that your most important memories are preserved and now you are complying with the rule of 3.

Place your important content on 3 different formats

How easy was that?

Essentially, what you have done is created back ups of your album, placed them on different formats, and created an offsite storage in the cloud.

Different Formats and Offsite Locations:

Now when choosing the formats for your content there are many options and it really depends on what you have access to and how you will want to retrieve it in the future.  Your formats can be anything from DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, memory cards, external hard drives, flash drives, LTO tapes and more.  Whatever you choose make sure it’s a format that you know you will be able to use when recalling the content later.

For offsite backups, the general rule is to have a copy of your content in a place that you can access, that is not with the existing copies.  Cloud storage networks are a popular choice because you can access your files from anywhere, but there are other options out there.  Using a professional service like LightJar to protect and store your content, placing a backup in a safety deposit box at a bank, or even giving a copy to a family member or friend.  These all work and are all great ways to ensure that you have a copy that you can get to when you need it.

The Rule of 3 preserves your legacy

You never know when your next piece of technology or equipment will fail but it can be certain that at some point you will lose something that is very valuable to you.  It’s frustrating when it happens but by following the rule of 3 you can rest assured that you have not lost it for good.

Whatever you formats you decide or where you place your offsite backup, the important part is that you have decided to follow the rule of 3 and are being proactive in preserving your most important content.  If your families digital legacy is important to you then you should really consider following this one simple rule.

For help digitizing content for a project or your own check out our website and professional services at www.cintrexav.com

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Want to be sure your data sticks around for a long time?  Backblaze has almost 35,000 hard drives in use, and they regularly publish blog posts about which are the most reliable for their purposes.  The winner for September 2014 is the Hitachi Deskstar 5K3000.  This is a 3TB hard drive that they’ve been using for 2.1 years on average, with an annual failure rate of under 1%!  Get the full stats from their blog post:  https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-update-september-2014/

Of course, Cintrex AV recommends the 3-2-1 rule for all backups:

At least three copies,

In two different formats,

with one of those copies off-site.

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New Features in Q4 for LightJar!

We add new features to LightJar on a regular basis, based upon feedback from our subscribers, or because we think a certain feature is needed to make LightJar more useful for you. Here is a list of new service features to expect from our LightJar in the coming months.

Added info on the Collections’ pages - When clicking on the representative thumbnail for a LightJar Collection, the resulting Collection page will show all the media items in a collection, and the Collection’s title, description, place, and date in the top part of the page, and this information will be editable.

Addition of Proxy Files for your stored videos for a better Sharing experience - For all types of video files uploaded and placed in LightJar, we will be automatically producing and transcoding an extra proxy file copy in universal MP4 format. The purpose of the proxy file is to make it easier to share your videos with others, regardless of what type device or browser that they have. For example, an MOV file captured by an iPhone will be viewable as an MP4 video file on an Android phone.

Enhanced sharing of media assets - Shared media items will have both a Download and Play button. Currently, there is only a download button on shared items. The play button will allow users of smartphones the ability to play a video proxy file without having to download the item onto to their phone’s limited storage.

Enhanced Upload Capability - Nonsubscribers will be able to upload into a shared collection sent them by a LightJar subscriber.

Zipped downloads - Subscribers and recipients of shared collections, will be able to download up to 50 photos or 50 short videos (up to 20 seconds in length) with one click (rather than 50 clicks)

Expiration Date for Shared Items - Adding an expiration field for shared items and collections

Transferring Collections between LightJar subscribers - Give subscribers the ability to share copies of collections with other LightJar subscribers, rather than a recipient having to first download a shared item, and then possibly upload the same item back into LightJar.

More Information given to recipients of Shared items - In addition to your message to a recipient and the Shared item itself, the message from LightJar will include the item’s associated description, original file name, date, and place.

Post function for media assets - We plan to provide an easier way for LightJar subscribers to post their assets on YouTube, Instagram, and other social networking site.

LightJar Affiliates and Resellers - we are making it possible so that the Affiliate’s or Reseller’s company name will be seen in the drop-down selection menu under the subscriber’s name.  Clicking on the company name will allow the subscriber to quickly visit the Affiliate’s or Reseller’s home website for additional services.

The LightJar team is hard at work getting these new features up and running. Be on the look out for some of these new features in the coming months!

Again, thank you for using LightJar!

The LightJar Team

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LightJar is made for you to upload and share your media simply. Check out this video to see just how easy LightJar is to use!

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiZsU8sCfDE)

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Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Official Blog of LightJar

LightJar is a new service that provides a private, secure storage service for saving videos, photos and other media. Relive your special moments, organize them, and share them with the people that matter to you.

Here you will be able to learn more about our services, the benefits of cloud storage services, and stories from LightJar customers just like you!

Thanks for visiting!

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