December 15, 2003

Before you click on the image below, please be sure to read the following first.  Marty Nislick, Class of 1962 has sent us a rare treasure.  It's 20 seconds of home movies that he took back in 1971 with an 8 mm camera at Beach 35th street.  He transferred it to video and sent it to me over the weekend.  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the "moving images" of the boardwalk and beach as it was back then.  However, in order to download this file, you need to be mindful of the following:

1.  The file is very large and if you don't have a high speed connection such as cable, DSL, T-1 or T- 3 line, it will take forever to transfer to your computer.  For those using the regular dial up connection, I have no idea how long it will take to transfer.

2.  In order to view it, you need to have Windows Media Player installed on your system or some other program that plays .mpg video files.  If you have a PC and are using the Windows operating system then you already have a media player on your computer and you should be "good to go".

To view the 20 second video, click on the screen below.  When Internet Explorer prompts you to 'save' or 'open,' choose 'save' to view in Windows Media Player at a time of your choosing.
This will save the file on your hard drive.  If you click 'open' the file should automatically load into your Windows Media Player and appear on your screen after the download had been completed.

Thanks again to Marty for this wonderful gift.  In addition, below the screen Marty has shared with us how he got his home movies on to video.

Several years ago I brought my 8 mm film to a local video store / lab in Jackson Heights that has equipment which converts both 8 mm and 16 mm film to VHS tape.  Since I have a video card and capture software on my computer  it was a relatively easy process  to digitize the VHS tape output to a movie clip (either mpg or avi format). You can check the yellow pages or do an internet search (under video tape duplication), to find a company in your region that will convert home movies directly to CDROM or DVD.     VHS tape is no longer a preferred medium onto which to convert your old movies since the tape will degrade in quality over time.

I hope this clip will encourage others to scour their attics and basements for old home movies of the Rockaways.  Maybe someone out there has some precious moments captured on film to share (like an outing to Central Avenue in the 1950s dining at the Palace, Pickwick. or the Central Deli).

Marty Nislick, Class of 1962     Email Address:   mnislick@nyc.rr.com
 

Return to Rockaway Beach