|
Our goal is and always has been to achieve the quality of the
original film. This is no easy task for several reasons. First, movie
film has a very high level of detail & resolution. In fact, 8mm and
Super 8 film have around 900 lines of resolution (more than today's DVDs), 16mm
film has 1800 lines of resolution (more than HD video). Second, since the
film was originally recorded, it has degraded - color shifted, is
darker, has scratches on it and is grainy.
Throughout the years, attempts have been made to reach the goal of
getting a digital copy as good as the film was originally. Our company
has by far done more work in this area than any other film transfer
company in the world. The proof is in the processes and quality that we
offer.
One of the best ways to describe our film transfer processes is to
imagine that you can compare the film, as it looks today, to the video
produced from each of our processes side by side. Meaning, pretend that you
had the same film go through our Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum process.
When you get it back, you setup your projector and compare them side by
side.
If you are interested in additional details and the basic types of film
transfer technologies being used by the industry today, see
Our Film Transfer Processes
- Additional Details and
Film Transfer Types.
Our Film Transfer Processes
- Additional Details Our goal is and always has been to achieve the quality of the
original film. This is no easy task for several reasons. First, movie
film has a very high level of detail & resolution. In fact, 8mm and
Super 8 film have more resolution and detail than today's DVDs, 16mm
film has more resolution and detail than HD video. Second, since the
film was originally recorded, it has degraded - color shifted, is
darker, has scratches on it and is grainy.
Throughout the years, attempts have been made to reach the goal of
getting a digital copy as good as the film was originally. Our company
has by far done more work in this area than any other film transfer
company in the world. The proof is in the processes and quality that we
offer.
|
Bronze
First Process (1970’s to Present):
The original film transfer process was
developed in the 1970's and 1980's. Most film companies call this a
Real-Time transfer. This is essentially what most film transfer companies
still use today and is what our Bronze transfer is. Essentially, the film
is being projected onto a surface and is video taped from that surface. A
real-time transfer like this only captures about 50% of the quality of the
film as it looks now (not as it was originally). |
 |
|
Silver
Frame By Frame (1990’s to Present):
We developed the Silver transfer process in the 1990's to improve upon
this. We stop and capture each frame one by one like you would scan
photographs into you computer. The resolution of the process
allows it to capture about 65% of the details from the film. This is over
a 30% improvement over the Bronze. So, the Silver process will look
closer to the film if you were to get it out and play it on a projector
but will lack some details because it isn't being captured at the original
film resolution. |
|
|
Gold
Hollywood
Restoration (2001 to Present):
The Gold process was developed in 2001 and is the first process in the
United States that starts to recover the lost quality on the film since it
was recorded. Over 90% of the film we see today needs restoration work.
The film is professionally scanned at 480 lines per frame. After the
scan, we correct each frame by itself for color, exposure, grain and
scratches using our Hollywood Restoration equipment. The restoration
equipment was originally made to restore 35mm/70mm Hollywood films but has
been modified to work on 8mm, Super 8 & 16mm film. On average, the Gold
process produces video that is 30% to 40% better than the Silver because of the
scanner and restoration.
|
|
|
Platinum HD
 High
Definition Scan (2005 to Present):
Even though the Gold process is very good, it is not scanning the film at
it's original resolution. This can only be done with a high definition
scan of the film. Our recently developed Platinum process scans each frame
of the film at 1080 lines of resolution. After the scan, we correct the
colors, exposure and remove the majority of grain and scratches using our
Hollywood restoration equipment in true high definition. This is the only
process that can capture the film's original color, exposure and detail.
The Platinum process will produce video that is about 30-50% better than
the Gold due to the high definition scan and high definition restoration.
The Platinum process faithfully produces digital video quality as good as
the original 8mm, Super 8 or 16mm film.
|
| 
800.575.6202 
