It's a pain in the ass to do it yourself and you need to have the right equipment. Honestly, the last time I needed it done, I let my fingers do the walking and found a nice small company locally that took ALL my film reels and did the transfer. Cost was totally worth not having to deal with all the hassle. a dozen or so reels for a little less than $100 and I'm happy with the quality.
If you had 8mm video tape, then that would be a slightly different story as it's a lot "easier" to do yourself. Still, a video capture card and editing software would need to be involved - not to mention all the time spent working it all out.
I'm sure someone near you locally can help. Do a white or yellow pages search if you no longer have a phonebook handy
If you really get in a bind, I bet you could send your stuff to where I had my transfers done: Videogenics in Janesville, WI. I actually know a couple of guys that work there now, including the owner. Good people that do great work.
