Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

[captainvideo6]

Hello Everyone
This is my first post on this site
I have recently bought a moviestuff retro-8 unit and would like to review my experience with this machine
I have noticed how everyone seems to love this unit and it seems one sided so here is my review
I have a huge collection of fuji single-8 films,over 300+ 50 foot reels,mainly of concerts in the 1970's in fresno,california..maybe some of you are familar with my vanhalen films
First of all, it is a much better way to transfer films than using a projector based unit since it handles the film without issues you have with a projector
BUT
the machine I recieved was defective right out of the box,here are the reasons :
while scanning, the images would jump up and also sprocket holes would be visible from the left side of the images
I tried many different films and all had the same result,although I was able to use a small 50ft reel and only have a couple of issues
but after closer examination of the films scanned,I discovered that the images on the right side were out of focus
only images on the left and center were sharp,this is hard to see if everything is framed in the center,you can easily miss this...
when I contacted Mr Evans about these problems he at first insisted that I had damaged or defective films causing the problems
also the guide roller on the left side of the machine did not spin in a balanced circle,it was like a bent rim on a bicycle and would not spin at all when rewinding,causing the film to drag on the O-rings, it would spin about a half turn
he said that would not cause these issues But I did not agree with that ..also the hole in the back panel where the usb cable plugged in did not line up with the connector causing stress on the cable and jack
after many emails back and forth I sent the machine back at MY cost to be repaired
He found that the camera was misalinged ,causing it to be blinded with relation to the sprocket holes which was why I had to turn the exposure up to the 1 O'clock position which made the scans useless becaused they were overexposed and the spotlights would wash out
he did repair the mistakes and sent it back,but it does not like splices and I still have a lot of sprocket hole issues
I have tried the latest version of the software and still have the same issues..also,the framer control wont allow me a fine enough adjustment ,so I can see framing lines but that is intermittent..I have to crop the Images when editing
this is because of the large gate and this I dont mind too much, but you have to watch the scans like a hawk or you will miss this issue
so walking away during a scan is not recommended unless you like re-scanning things
my main problem with this machine is how could he miss all of these problems? I had to wait almost 70 days for delivery and was unable to use the unit until I sent it back which took 15 days with shipping,etc
I also think that if you want to charge 3K for this ,you could do a little better than placing it in what looks like a garbage can liner
so for all of you that love your machines,I hope you have had better results than I have and remember these issues are easy to miss

[MovieStuff]

According to your forum profile, your name is Glenn Cross. I have no customer of any kind named Glenn Cross.

Roger Evans
owner,
MovieStuff, LLC

[captainvideo6]

forget the name glenn cross,you sold this machine to me in fresno,california and I am sure you know who I am..this review is accurate and truthful
and you sold us a lemon or your quality control sucks big time and your packaging for shipping is very low budget and cheap in my opinon.
Like I said look at your scans very closely or you can miss these things and Roger Evans missed them also or the machine was knocked out of alignment because of his shoddy packaging... how can you miss an out of round guide roller with a defective bearing??? RD,Fresno,California

[captainvideo6]

According to your forum profile, your name is Glenn Cross. I have no customer of any kind named Glenn Cross.

Roger Evans
owner,
MovieStuff, LLC

you do have a customer(HAD) in fresno california and you did sell him a defective machine and you missed several issues with It and you said that you are the last one to inspect the machines before they ship so you did screw up royal on my retro-8...RD ,fresno

[Tscan]

Sounds like all of his problems would be related to him not calibrating the camera alignment with the sprocket holes... something you can fine tune with the software and an adjustment tool on the unit if needed. The framer control is pretty cut and dry to center your image, but if you leave the scan unattended and a frame line jumps in from a dramatic splice... there is a "clean crop" selection that you can process the file with and get rid of frame lines with only a very slight cropping.

[captainvideo6]

Sounds like all of his problems would be related to him not calibrating the camera alignment with the sprocket holes... something you can fine tune with the software and an adjustment tool on the unit if needed. The framer control is pretty cut and dry to center your image, but if you leave the scan unattended and a frame line jumps in from a dramatic splice... there is a "clean crop" selection that you can process the file with and get rid of frame lines with only a very slight cropping.

If you are talking about the adjustment on the mirror forget it..if the adjustment is inside the unit,that would void the warranty and I have no desire to repair his mistakes anyway even if I had a service manual..and this machine jumps on virtually every splice wheather it is a fuji or kodak splice..it handles the fuji splices better though

[prtprt]

The framer control is pretty cut and dry to center your image

Does that mean that the framer control in Retro-8 only allows you to zoom in and out of the center of the image, and not adjust the framing up/down and left/right?

Charlie

[MovieStuff]

The framer control is pretty cut and dry to center your image

Does that mean that the framer control in Retro-8 only allows you to zoom in and out of the center of the image, and not adjust the framing up/down and left/right?

Charlie

The framer control is just like the framer control on any projector. You simply move the slider up and down to center the image vertically. Because there is no actual "gate" (enlarged or otherwise) the camera already maximizes the film frame horizontally to get the most image area you can, so there is no left to right adjustment. There is also a horizon slider to rotate the image in case frame lines or titles are not level. There is no zoom function but, if your transfer reveals debris on the edges of the film frame due to the maximized camera view, then there is a CleanCrop feature you can use when you export to crop in about 10%. The software will then scale back to the desired size seamlessly.

Roger

[prtprt]

Ok, thank you Roger.

Charlie

[Tommy]

Roger, I congratulate you on bringing an affordable 8mm scanner to market.
May I ask , does this unit come with a return satisfaction guarantee or not?

[MovieStuff]

Roger, I congratulate you on bringing an affordable 8mm scanner to market.

Thanks!

May I ask , does this unit come with a return satisfaction guarantee or not?

Well, anyone can send in for a free test transfer to be satisfied with the quality before purchasing. And, of course, it has a one year warranty on all parts and labor so we'll certainly make it work as advertised. I've been in negotiations to sell it through a specialty catalog that offers novelty electronics and gifts but they have a lifetime satisfaction guarantee which means anyone can return an item at any time for any reason. They're big enough that they can gamble on customers not doing that but my early experience shows that many people would find no use for this unit once they've finished transferring their box of home movies, so all sales are final. Otherwise, I'd be in an endless cycle of people buying the unit, transferring their home movies, then wanting to return the unit for a refund. Not only would that be bad for my business, it would be bad for the film transfer market, in general, because word would get around that you can just transfer your films for free by buying and returning a MovieStuff unit. So I always encourage prospective customers to get a free test transfer before purchasing if they have any concerns.

Roger

[David M. Leugers]

According to your forum profile, your name is Glenn Cross. I have no customer of any kind named Glenn Cross.

Roger Evans
owner,
MovieStuff, LLC

No reply from Mr Cross? It appears his "review" is disinformation. I, for one, do not feel that this forum should tolerate such crap. Unless Mr Cross can correct this as a misunderstanding (I doubt it) then he is some sort of low level creep who gets off on trying to deceive others and causing damage to others via subterfuge he is jealous of. Some would call such persons "cowards". I have other names for them...

[marc]

Maybe this "Glenn Cross" is Alex from previous years! I remember Alex used to try to undermine Rogers units out of spite. Then again, it might be a collective effort of high end production houses that see the future threat to their business of high priced transfers. Being the hopeless conspiracy theorist that I am, this is just how my mind works!

[MovieStuff]

Okay, before this gets out of hand, let me step in. I was finally contacted directly by the customer in question, who was posting under an assumed name because they don't like using their real name on the Internet. Most of the issues are related to an earlier version of the software that is no longer in usage or even available. This customer also has one of our earliest production units, produced at a time when we were still working out some of the kinks in our assembly line. We will be working together to sort out any residual issues to make sure their unit meets the quality and performance of our latest production line. This could have happened earlier but there was a simple break down in communication. While this person may have posted under an assumed name, they are still a customer of mine and I prefer they be treated with proper respect, though I do appreciate the attempted support of other forum members.

Roger

[marc]

:oops: