Video Cinemate--Transferred Clip

[tfunch24]

Hi,

I got my Video Cinemate on Friday (Thanks Roger!) and I've been spending the past few days practicing transfers. For those of who are interested in how well the Video Cinemate transfers film, why don't you take a look at this clip that I transferred? You can look at it here:

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tfunch24/homemovie.avi

It's compressed (Indeo Video 5.10, 12 fps, 352 * 240, 24-bit color, 54 kbs data rate).

This is an old film that I found in the back of one of my kitchen cupboards and it's not in good shape; there's a lot of torn sprocket holes. In a few places, the frame skips.

Hope you enjoy.

Any comments/suggestions?

Tom Funch

[MovieStuff]

Hi, Thomas!

Glad you like your unit! As I mentioned in an email to you, I notice some slight vignetting on the image. I don't know if that's in the original footage or not but if your camera is at the right distance, there will be zero vignetting of the image. You should get even illumination across the entire frame from corner to corner. But it's always nice to see people post their work using my equipment! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Roger

[tfunch24]

I originally posted this on the Shooting 8mm forum but I'm posting it here for wider exposure...

Hi,

With Roger's aid, I've continued to work on transferring and I've improved somewhat. However, there is room for improvement.

If you're interested in helping me out, take a look at the following compressed AVI clip (Indeo 5.10, 352 * 240, 1.69 megs): http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tfunch24/artbeat.avi

Compare that with the following stills (taken from the source file--captured at 720 * 480):

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tfunch24/compare6.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tfunch24/upload2.jpg

Glancing at the compressed AVI file, it appears that there is a hot spot in the center of the frame. Playback on the original 720 * 480 captured clip, however, looks normal. I don't have the time to upload an uncompressed clip at 720 * 480, so the stills will have to suffice. What I'm getting at is, is the "hot spot" a product of compression or is it present in the stills of the original 720 * 480 captured clip?

The scene featured in the above clip and stills is not the best example for these purposes. It's unevenly lit (the brightest areas are beneath the track lighting in the ceiling; notice how many dark corners there are.) Here's two other stills of a clip that I transferred during the same session. The camera set up had not been changed:

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tfunch24/upload1.jpg
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/tfunch24/upload3.jpg

I filmed this myself one sunny evening in early June. The shadowy area on the left side of the frame in upload3.jpg is not vignetting; I watched the film projected and the darkness (a result of underexposing the film--K40--by a half f-stop) appears there as well.

I'm sorry about the long-winded post but I'm just trying to fine-tune my setup. I promised some of my friends and relatives that I would transfer their footage and I want everything to look right.

Any advice?

Tom

[MovieStuff]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by tfunch24:

Glancing at the compressed AVI file, it appears that there is a hot spot in the center of the frame. Playback on the original 720 * 480 captured clip, however, looks normal.

I promised some of my friends and relatives that I would transfer their footage and I want everything to look right.
</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi, Tom!

As I understand what you're are saying, the "hot spot" is not apparent when watching the actual video transfer and only shows up in your online clips here. If that's the case then:

A) I would say that you have a *slight* missalignment that is causing a minor exposure variation in the middle of the frame. This variation is so slight that it is not perceivable to the naked eye on a video monitor and would probably not even be visible if you were using a more sophisticated compression scheme for your post on-line AVI clips.

However, the fairly severe pixelation I see in the clips means that there would be a more sudden "jump" in exposure values due to the very limited grey scale your compressor is using for the AVI clips. This would make any minor differences in exposure more obvious, which is perhaps why it shows up in the posted AVI and not on your actual video transfers.

B) I wouldn't worry about the video for your friends and relative since they are not likely to watch the clips on-line as presented here but, rather, on a normal television where the effects aren't perceivable.

Still, you're getting better! Keep it up!

Roger

[tfunch24]

Thanks for your help, Roger!

For anybody else following this thread, I've taken down the rest of the clips and the stills to save space on my web server.

Tom Funch