New from Moviestuff

[bolextech]

http://moviestuff.tv/

[marc]

Looks good, I'd love to see more specs on it!

[jpolzfuss]

...and I would like to know the price! :-D

[Nicholas Kovats]

Wow. It appears Roger has undertaken a sprocketless system! I would love to know how registration is achieved and whether a 16mm version is forthcoming.

[marc]

Wow. It appears Roger has undertaken a sprocketless system! I would love to know how registration is achieved and whether a 16mm version is forthcoming.

Or how about a three in one interchangeable unit for 8/S8/16?

[Will2]

I'm hurt that Roger didn't announce it here first!

Where's Roger?

[aj]

Working on the wretched thing

The number of unique viewers is so low these days... What can you expect.

[bolextech]

Actually, I saw it first on the German filmshooting site Das Filmvorführerforum!

Jean-Louis

[MovieStuff]

Hi, Guys!

Sorry I didn't post it here first. :oops:

We have been soooo swamped with orders and, honestly, we were trying to get this thing on the website by Christmas but missed that window of opportunity. Just wasn't quite ready. Here's the skinny on the unit:

To start with, the Retro-8 is really meant for consumer use. The unit is not a speed demon. Runs at a little over 2fps so it takes about 30 minutes to scan a 50 foot roll but it is totally automatic. The unit will stop automatically in case of breakage, jam or end of run. The software will stop as well. You load, start scan and walk away. The next version of the software will notify your smart phone when it finishes a run or stops for any reason. The unit scans frame by frame, codec-free in HD and you can watch the files immediately after capture on your PC in the viewing software. You can then export both 1080p HD as well as SD video .MOV files or it can output a numbered image sequence in a folder. When watching the movies on the viewing software, the user can click on the "SnapShot" button and it will save a still frame in a folder, if desired. No focusing required or futzing with alignment. The beta version of the software auto crops just inside the frame but a future version will allow you to adjust inside or outside cropping of the frame after capture in the viewing software.

The unit has a built in high resolution machine vision camera and the Retro-8 Scan/Play software does content analysis during capture to find the sprocket holes and align the frames both vertically and horizontally. We call it Solid State Registration and pretty much accurate within a pixel. Very steady. You can intermix super 8 and regular 8 on the same role and it will automatically change cropping on the fly. You don't even need splicing tape. Though I wouldn't recommend it, you could, literally, staple the films together if you want. But you can certainly tape them with nothing more than regular scotch tape and it works fine. Any frames with missing or covered sprocket holes will be skipped. The unit features zero image area contact at the gate and the rubber guide rollers only touch the film at the edges. So it's very safe on film. Future version of the software will handle color negative. We've already tested it on neg but are limiting the features in the beta version of the software so the release isn't delayed. Anyone getting the unit now can upgrade to the later version of the software at no additional charge, of course. It records in 24 bit color with standard square pixel orientation. HD output files have black bars on the left and right. The unit outputs both NTSC and PAL files with equal quality.

In terms of day to day maintenance, there's not much to it. The high intensity LED relays zero heat to the gate and will last for thousands of hours. The direct drive take up reel pulls the film through the system and that's it. Separate direct drive rewind motor combined with no pinch roller, no capstan, no sprockets, no claw, no belts, no slip clutches, no gears = no maintenance; not even lubrication. Just blow it out and keep on truckin'. Or don't blow it out. Makes no difference on performance of the unit.

The Retro-8 requires a 64 bit PC with a recommended 8 gigs of RAM, though we're pretty sure it will work on 4 gigs but simply haven't tested it as such just yet. However, RAM is cheap! The Retro-8 connects via a standard USB port so no special capture card is required. You can see the frames being captured during the scanning process in the capture software and then play back immediately with no rendering required.

The unit will be priced at $3495.00 starting February 1st. Until then, there is a pre-order discount price of $2495. Both prices include the software. Later in the spring, after we've built up an inventory, we will be renting the units within the USA only for $100 per day.

I'm pretty jazzed about it. We've been working on this for a couple of years, actually.

Roger

[marc]

What about atmospheric dust? Is it recommended to turn off the A/C or heater while this is running?

[MovieStuff]

Well, anything that can keep dust down would be good. The slower speed does actually help to reduce static build up that would otherwise attract dust. But that's just happenstance. Wasn't planned that way.

[Will2]

Before Roger shared the price with us, I almost posted that if it was like $2500 I might have to buy one right now. Glad I didn't post that.

I called Roger up and he was kind enough to walk through what he just posted with me over the phone and told me the introductory price of $2500. UGGGGGGG!!! ROGER!!!!! Why couldn't you make it like $8000 so there's no way I could buy it?

Kidding aside, it seems like a really great deal for something that hobbyists could really use. The time thing doesn't bother me too much since it could run at night or while I'm at work. The resolution should be great too. Love the idea of getting a pristine HD source and running it though DaVinci Resolve myself.

Roger: Make sure you sell one to Dwayne's so they can over this service too!

Bravo, bet this feels almost as good as birthing the Johnny Quest project. Undoubtedly a ton of work.

[MovieStuff]

Well, I think the real paradigm shift in the existing business model will be when we start renting them, which I think is going to be very popular. While the full price of $3500 isn't a ball buster, most people transferring their home movies will need the unit only once. We'll be renting the unit at $100 per day with a 6 day minimum and that includes a copy of the software. For people that have a ton of film, buying one might make sense. For others, renting is more practical. Renting a unit like this in the past was impractical due to the complexity of operation and weight and fragility of the equipment. This unit looks bigger than it really is, measuring about 12x12x5 inches and really has only one moving part, which is the microprocessor controlled, direct drive take up or separate rewind motor. It's a very, very robust unit and ridiculously easy to use. We thought about adding things like sticky rollers or film cleaners but soooooo many people simply are adverse to cleaning their film, either out of laziness or fear of damaging their film. So we kept it simple. And leaving out any kind of full contact mechanism like a film cleaner means we can maintain a zero image area contact film path. People can clean their films separately, if they want.

Roger

[Tscan]

YES!!! I want one! I will call for a pre-order this week!

[aj]

What happened to the dollar when such a machine at $2500-$3500 is considered as an end-user consumer price?

The rental set-up might work. I researched auto feeders for slide scanner (coolscan) a bit and noticed a number of rental services where more or less the same happens.
People rent an expensive Nikon Coolscan 4000 with autofeeder for a few days. Apparently get an instruction with it when they pick it up. And according to posted reviews people really get onto it and manage with around the clock work to scan the full family collection of slides in a few days. Sometimes counting thousands. Obviously not all separetly adjusted. The scanner does autofocus and the software does auto coloradjust. Enough for nearly all. I had a colleague who intended to scan his many thousands slides and adjust focus and colors per piece