i'd like to find 1 or more companies in Georgia, Jacksonville, FL that
transfers 8mm film (regular & super 8 film) to a digital format.  they
must
be able to scan the film frame by frame, not just in real-time.  they
must be able to save the digital data in avi format onto a firewire
hard drive that i provide. Would you agree that the results will be
much better than what I've experienced with a transfer box (set-up
where film is projected and camcorder records off mirror)

You specified a locality, so I won't submit this as an official
answer. However, my wife is a serious amateur filmmaker working
primarily in the super 8 format. Yes, we have tried the "transfer box"
approach and, yes, it's lousy. Happily, after other experiences with
slower, lower-quality services, my wife discovered bonofilm.com, which
I can recommend without reservation. Her conversions were delivered on
DVD, VHS and mini-DV, and the quality is extraordinary -- you can see
film grain -- if they didn't scan frame-by-frame, then they certainly
have a method just as good. I don't know for sure whether he'll do
your AVI-to-hard-drive conversion or not, but mini-DV should
accomplish the same thing for you.

Check out:
http://bonofilm.com/

Thanks to majortom-ga for his comment.  I continue to be impressed with the
quality responses from this service.