Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

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captainvideo6
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by captainvideo6 »

Roger
I talked to you today about the uncompressed version of the retro software so I downloaded it and attempted a scan and after about 50ft/30m the program shut down and had this message:
"your capture session has ended due to the following issue(s):
offset and length were out of bounds for the array or count is greater than the number of elements from index to the end of the source collection
so whats that about.. :?:
not surprising the first time I try to do this it's a disaster..glad I havent bought another computer yet
Robert :x
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by captainvideo6 »

well I tried to scan uncompressed again with the same film and had the same result
after about 50 feet or so the program shut down with the exact same message as before..any Ideas on how to solve this Issue?
RD
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by MovieStuff »

captainvideo6 wrote:well I tried to scan uncompressed again with the same film and had the same result
after about 50 feet or so the program shut down with the exact same message as before..any Ideas on how to solve this Issue?
RD
Dunno. Never seen that message before. Contact me off-list and we'll go over a few things to try and sort this out.

Roger
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by MovieStuff »

Okay, a bit of research and it appears we need to anticipate a larger per-frame data size for uncompressed. Based on doing multiple tests, we figured 2 megs per frame would be enough but your results indicate there needs to be a bit more space. As noted on the download page, this version is a Beta so we'll be making some tweaks to address the problem for uncompressed. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Roger
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by captainvideo6 »

well Roger solved the original issue with the error message,problems still persisted until I upgraded my laptop with a SSD..that eliminated all of the issues and now I can scan UC with no problems and the files playback perfect within the retroscan software.the stock HD wont cut the mustard..(Quote from CB).files are pretty massive but if you want the best possible looking results then its worth it..thanks again Roger
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by MovieStuff »

No problem. We have increased the per frame file size allotment to 3 megs for capture. This prevents the error message you were getting before. I haven't uploaded the latest 3 meg beta version to the download site but will later today for others to use, as well. A raid or a solid state drive like you switched to is really essential for dealing with these HD files. This is information I will be adding to the software instructions later today, as well. Glad it's working well for you.

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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by MovieStuff »

Just posted another beta update that addressed a couple of problems with capture and drive selection that could make albums and files seemingly vanish from the software for no reason. Well, there was a reason and now it's fixed. :)

Roger
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by Tscan »

So what is the file size for a 50ft roll uncompressed? I'll have to check it out. Also think i'm going to need another external drive to start archiving scans. Needless to say I've been very trigger happy this year while able to scan my own negatives so well... another 300ft coming back from Spectra this week!
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by MovieStuff »

Tscan wrote:So what is the file size for a 50ft roll uncompressed?
About 10 gigs for the captured file. But you really need an internal solid state drive or internal Raid-0 array for dependable performance, especially on playing back the original capture file.

Roger
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by Tscan »

With my current setup, I'm running Windows 7, Intel i5 650 with 2 500GB drives in a RAID 0 for capture and 16GB RAM. Then I export the captured files with the Retro8 software to my system drive (500GB) for color correction and editing. I only use it for capture/editing and that thing just plows. I've just scanned so much material so far that I will need an extra drive to copy to and free up some space here eventually :D
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by redrocker »

I received my Retro-8 in January and spent some time getting acquainted with it. I had a few issues with my computer that Roger helped me sort out and now am happily transferring just over 10,000 feet of family "home movies" that I took back in the day i.e. late fifties through seventies. I put them on Dropbox and our kids (and grandkids) are really enjoying looking at them again. I am well pleased with the Retro-8 Roger, and thanks for your help :D
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by milesandjules »

Oooh goodie …just got the call from UPS…...our retro 8 arrives tomorrow…..excited now :D
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by milesandjules »

it arrived
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Still getting our head around all its features ,but its looking very cool. Well done Roger and Moviestuff team. :D

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loving the build quality of this thing.

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Transfers looking great. Will post some footage soon. :D :D :D

Finally something that makes transfering neg a pleasure. :D :D
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by milesandjules »

OMG... i think I love this machine. I captured 400ft of regular 8 colour neg (mix of 50asa fuji and a little bit of 500asa kodak) and I wasn't there for much of the scan to play with the gamma (you can get it almost perfect with the gamma control with enhance turned on)…i captured it uncompressed (40gb) then exported tiffs... chucked that tiff image sequence into after effects and…. I'm astonished …..with the amount of control that the uncompressed/tiff file combo gives you for colour correction. I was able to bring pale milky shots back to life when there was hardly any image contrast on the neg in the first place (cause of my bad exposure nd one cameras light meter was way off) (using just Ae "levels" filter)….I will post the vid up latter. Let me know what you think? Good work Roger... Its amazing. :D
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Re: Retro-8 Film Scanner Review

Post by marc »

milesandjules wrote:OMG... i think I love this machine. I captured 400ft of regular 8 colour neg (mix of 50asa fuji and a little bit of 500asa kodak)
What is your source of regular 8 negative?
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