poita, I know you've been interested in handling this project, but I actually know of (just know OF, I haven't been in contact with him) a guy who DOES have 4K scanning capabilities, and lives in the U.S., and has done some scanning for another project I'm following.

Here are two examples of his scanning: A German trailer for The Thief and the Cobbler and the SDDS "pyramid" trailer.

I PMed mikeaz and told him about this guy, never heard back. Again, I know you wanted to do this project, but if it's cost-prohibitive for you to upgrade your setup to 4K + have the print shipped from the U.S. to Australia...

Hey, I'm happy if anyone does it. It is a *huge* amount of work to do, so if someone wants to do it, then I'm all for it. I have already bitten the bullet and done the 4K upgrade (who needs a car anyway).

I see. I didn't realize you could do 4K now.

I still have no idea if this other guy would want to do it. I just brought him up because I knew he was capable of doing it.

I'm pretty sure his rig is based on an optical printer, which would mean a very slow process (as in 100s of hours). Has he scanned any complete features, or just trailers?

Again, I have no idea. I don't know this guy at all, I only know OF him.

I don't care who scans it, as long as it gets done.

Knightmessenger said:

SilverWook said:

They never learn, do they? Seems like an awful waste to destroy a perfectly good print. Do the studios require proof of destruction?

Now I'm having visions of some crazy person concealing old film prints in their house, like a scene out of Fahrenheit 451. Or maybe it's just someone I know...

Has anyone else seen the restoration documentary on the Gone With the Wind 4 disc dvd edition?

They talked about how even technicolor prints could turn out differently and that sometimes people would get excited about finding a technicolor print from a middle of nowhere theater. And it turned out to be one that was a bad printing so they sent it somewhere not important.

I'm pretty sure that was also the documentary that mentioned how for the 60's rerelease, the studio wanted it to be in stereo because that was all "new" and "better." And they wanted whatever source of the mono mix tossed.

However, somebody kept the print hidden and tucked away knowing it would be worth saving and it would have been very hard to present the original audio mix on dvd if that source had no longer existed.

Yeah this is true... I've had 4 prints of Thunderball in the years I've collected film, all were IB, and only 1 or 2 (I forget) had excellent color timing.  One had that weird reddish tinge to it, which I assume is not fading but just bad processing.  That's not to say the print was unwatchable, it was just a little noticeable.

Yes, even if one finds someone to scan a print, it is never good to put their name out there. I am setup only for people who have permission to scan prints, and there are still some super8 and 16mm film makers out there who want their own work scanned and I do that mostly.

Misregistered IB prints are not much fun to watch on a projector, but if scanned right the underlying layers can be re-aligned on the computer with really good results.

When you make a print, you can time it however you like, so an IB print isn't always a good representation of the original work, but as they don't fade noticeably if stored well and not screened too much, they are a good representation of how an IB print would have looked at the day it was projected. Whereas most other stocks will be quite different 30+ years on.

Wrong thread for all of this really, but I am bidding on the tape version. The Super8 is the cineovision transfer which is only of interest for the mono soundtrack really.

The tape is most likely CV and probably recorded from a TV broadcast, but still could be interesting. It might be EAIJ Type 1, which could indicate a dupe from something else which would also be interesting. I have a CV deck, but not an EAIJ one, either way I'll pick it up if it doesn't go for much.

It is 1/2 inch, so as Puggo said, most lilkely one of the two.

The seller also has Thunderball, Close Encounters and Sinbad on the same tape format.

Most tv stations have an old 1 inch machine in the master control room (the stations I worked at all did, but that was some years ago).  I think a tech school that my friend works at has one too, though it might not be hooked up.  I can ask him.

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

Are you sure you don't mean a 3/4" UMatic machine?

Are you asking me?  No, they may have those too, I didn't notice.  I noticed the 1 inch (maybe 2 inch??) machines because they look like huge 16 track reel to reel audio machines, which got me all excited when I first saw them.  

My understanding is that they used to use them to archive important video way way WAY back, and they kept them around just in case they had to access those tapes some day.  In the 3 stations I worked at I never saw any reeled tapes though.  Our footage was all shot on dvcpro and archived on Beta SP (thousands of them in a big room).  Even after we switched from tape to tape editing to Avid we still archived all the finished packages on Beta SP, I guess hard drive space was too expensive back then?

doubleofive said:

GUYS, we're going about this all wrong! I found this at Goodwill this weekend:

...You just point the projector at one hole and a camcorder at the other and its TRANSFERRED! It's like magic!

;-)

That's fun, I've seen a bunch of those in thrift stores over the years.  I've always wondered how that would differ from just pointing your vhs camcorder at a full size screen?  And how do you capture the sound?  Just using the mic on the camera and speakers on the projector??

Yeah we had 1" and 2" machines at the TV station I used to work at, as well as U-Matics.

You are probably right Pug, oddly all the tapes I have been given to transfer from the mid to late 70s have been CV tapes! I have only ever been given one EIAJ tape to do. I was basing my suppositions on my very small sample size.

I'm surprised it would be recorded on either format, Star Wars wasn't on TV until the end of 1982, and even then only on pay per view. CBS didn't ait it until 1984.

It will be interesting just to see a recording from the time, ads and all. Let's hope it is on EIAJ.

I have a CV2100 and an AV 3600. To get 'tracking control' we dicker with the drum entrance and out guides, it is clunky but it works!

Ouch!

BTW Silverwook, you have PM...