Today, with the average age of movie film being about 35-40 years old, simply transferring the film without improvement is unacceptable. Over 90% of the film we see has significant graininess, scratches, exposure issues, and color shifting from the breakdown of the film. Over time, these problems only get worse.

We use dedicated film restoration machines which were used by Hollywood Movie Studios in the 1990's to restore Hollywood Films. Now, you can have similar improvements made to your old movie films*

Below are example film frames to illustrate our restoration technology. For more information, please see Hollywood Restoration Details and Restoration Limitations sections.

 

The Hollywood Restoration Difference
Original Film	Scratch/Grain Elimination
Scratch/Grain Elimination: Over 90% of the film we see has noticeable scratches and graininess. In this case, we were able to remove more than 70% of the scratches and graininess*. Note: On the right,  the frame has been through the exposure and color shift fix as well as the scratch and grain elimination.
Original Film	Exposure Correction
Exposure Correction: In this example, the original film was significantly under exposed and as the film aged, it got darker as well. In this case, we were able to totally correct the exposure problem*.
Original Film	Color Correction
Color Correction: Over 70% of the film we see has color shifting to some extent. As the film ages and the chemicals on the film break down, the image will typically shift toward red (as in this example), blue or yellow. In this case, we were able to correct about 90% of the color shift*.
The images above are from amateur film in average condition. Film that is overly dark, light or grainy will not turn out as good. We cannot improve film that is blurry, flickering (strobing on original film), shot out of frame, damaged due to humidity and mildew or double exposed. Also, keep in mind that the picture quality will vary greatly based on the computer monitor you are using and the resolution setting. The pictures above are best viewed with a monitor that has at least a 500:1 contrast ratio and a resolution of 1024x768 or lower.

Hollywood Restoration Technology - Setting Ourselves Apart

We have just recently developed our Hollywood Restoration technology for Standard Definition video (version 1) and High Definition Video (version 2) that we use in our Gold and Platinum HD processes. For details on the differences between Hollywood Restoration I and Hollywood Restoration II, click here. These dedicated film restoration machines were used by Hollywood Movie Studios in the 1990's to restore Hollywood Films. Now, you can have similar improvements made to your old movie films*.  This technology is the only frame by frame correction system today that significantly improves  scratch/grain, exposure and color shifting issues.

95% of the companies out there today do not have the technology and equipment to make any improvements on the quality of your film. The other 5% make adjustments "on the fly" (the person watching the transfer adjusts exposure/color or the capture device is making automatic exposure and color adjustments). These types of adjustments require the exposure/color shift issue to be detected first (by human or machine) and then the adjustment is made, sometimes several seconds later. As you can imagine, this is not an ideal correction for your film. You will typically see a dark area or color shifted area for a few seconds and then you'll see some improvement until the next scene, which usually comes along about 2-4 seconds later (see illustration below).

These adjustments and automatic correction are not anywhere near the quality of our exclusive frame by frame correction system. First, these competitor systems do not even use a frame by frame transfer. It is typically a real-time transfer similar to our Bronze process. Second, each frame is not being color corrected individually. Third, these systems cannot reduce the scratches or grain. Fourth, the corrections are happening "on the fly" which will create scenes that look bad at first and then better a few seconds later (like illustration above).

Our frame by frame corrections are done as each frame is read individually. So, there is no "delayed correction". For a typical order, we are able to remove 50-75% of the graininess and scratches, correct any color shifting, and correct or enhance any overly dark (underexposed) or light (overexposed) areas.

Restoration Capabilities

It is important to keep in mind that our restoration starts with the current quality and condition of the film. The better shape the film is in when we receive it, the more we'll have to work with to improve it. If the film is in good condition, we will most likely be able to restore it to its original condition or better. On the other hand if the film is in poor condition, we will be able to improve it but not to its original condition. For example, if the color is almost totally faded, we will have very little  to work with and would not be able to totally restore the color.

Lets use a scale of 1 to 10 to represent the quality of the film (see illustration below). We'll use a Hollywood film to represent a 10 at any give time.  So, for example, a film that had an initial quality of 9 degraded moderately to a quality rating of 6 today. We might be able to restore the film to a 9, (its initial quality) if not better because we have more to work with. On the other hand, a film which had an initial quality of 7 that degraded significantly to a quality rating of 3 today, might only be restored to a 5 because we had so much less to work with.

      

So, even though our restoration techniques are very good, we are limited by both the initial quality of the film, and the current quality of the film. We might be able to restore an amateur film with a quality of 6 to a 9, but cannot restore an amateur film with a quality of 2 to a 9 because we have so much less to work with. 

*Quality of restoration is dependent upon condition of existing film stock; severely deteriorated original materials may be beyond the reach of even the most sophisticated restoration methods. Click here for more information. Refunds are only given if a competitor can obtain better quality (defined by clarity, color, graininess and scratches) for a similar price (within 10% of ours). Under these fair terms, we've never had to give a refund.