DIGITAL MOTION PICTURE (MOVIE) FILM SCANNING (TRANSFER) & ARCHIVISTS OF SOUND OR SILENT MOVIE FILM IN SD, HD, 2K, 3K, 4K, 5K, 6.5K FOR REGULAR 8MM, SUPER 8MM, 9.5MM SUPER 16MM, REGULAR 16MM & 35MM TO FILE FORMATS, DVD, BLU-RAY DISCS, HARD DRIVES, SSD OR USB THUMB/FLASH DRIVES
We are a company you can trust with decades of experience and the best film teams using the latest, state-of-the-art motion picture film scanning (Transfer) equipment available today.
We are listed with KODAK Motion Picture Transfer & Processing (developing) Facilities. We use only the best supplies by Kodak in the physical processing, cleaning and editing of motion picture film.
CUSTOMER COMMENT: Dear TMTV crew, I received my originals and the hard drive today. I can’t tell you how delighted I am with the quality of these transfers. It’s kind of amazing that the image quality of the Super-8 stacks up very well against that of the 16mm. I am truly impressed with the audio quality of the Super-8 transfer. As it was all done by Foley. Thanks so much for your excellent communication throughout this project and for this superb transfer service. Glenn W. WI, USA, Motion Picture Film Scanning Nov 2023
Film scanning of 8mm, Super 8mm, Super 16, 16mm silent or sound or 35mm silent, colour, B&W or negative motion picture films for home movies, the professional movie maker or for our film recovery, restoration and archival services. Film is scanned (transferred) and can be output to several file formats for computer viewing and editing or we can create HD Blu Ray DVD or SD DVD.
8mm, 16mm & 35mm film that requires an output to home movie SD, HD or 2K is scanned in 2K. and output to a variety of file types depending on your requirements. Scanning up to 6.5K is available for those high-end projects. We use several specialty built TMTVISION® scanners for a variety of “damaged” motion picture films requiring “RECOVERY” and the Lasergraphics ScanStation™ is available for Ultra HD, Super 2K, 3K, 4K, 5K & 6.5K scanning for those professionals requiring hi-end archival & broadcast scans for film in good to excellent condition but can also handle mild warped, still pliable non-brittle film. The Lasergraphics ScanStation™ also has built-in color grading tools for easy dye fade correction, applied during scan that eliminates secondary post-processing step.
VIDEO (ABOVE): Raw scanned movie film by TMTV Studios and output in HD for the Rossland Museum of an early promotional film originally made for Red Mountain Ski Club in Rossland BC and featuring early ski footage from the 1960s.
All film is prepped & cleaned prior to scanning (see “Film Preparation Prior to Scanning”).
All home movie film can be output to SD, HD 720, 1080 or 2K and is scanned Flat in 2K (what we also call Raw), however, we do provide “Best Light” exposure, light “Grain” reduction, mid “Shadow” detail and White “balance”) each frame of film is individually scanned, uncompressed onto our hard drives. There are options for SD, HD & 2K to provide post scene by scene color and exposure/density correction and exported as a completed movie in various files of your choice or make DVD or Blu Ray HD Master discs for playback and distribution.
Super 2K, Ultra HD (near 3K) or high-end large format 4K, 5K, 6.5K compressed or uncompressed files can be placed on a portable hard drive, solid state drive or USB flash/thumb drive that can be plugged into your non-linear computer edit system (NLE) and then viewed or edited.
SCANNING OF EACH STATIONARY INDIVIDUAL FRAME INTO A PC: After scanning, we can export your transferred home movies to several file formats for either PC or Mac: 1) M-JPEG .MOV QUICK TIME, 2) AVI (Audio-Video Interleaved). 3) NUMBERED IMAGE SEQUENCE (photos of each frame of film) IN JPEG, PNG, BMP OR TIFF IMAGES 4) Pro-Res, DnX, MXF or TIFF (for Ultra HD and larger scans up to 6.5K).
EXPORT FILE FORMATS FOR SD, HD, 2K HD
These are the standard file options we provide for your home movies in SD, HD or 2K.
VIDEO FILES
1) .MOV QUICK TIME video files in the MOTION JPEG (M-JPEG) codec. Though sometimes conversationally mistaken for the MPEG codec, please note that the “M”-JPEG codec is NOT the same thing as MPEG. The preferred M-JPEG codec maintains individual data for each frame of film on a separate digital video frame while the MPEG codec uses information from preceding video frames to fill in missing information on the next video frame. We can also output AVI in SD, HD or HD 2K.
2) NUMBERED IMAGE SEQUENCE – each frame of movie film is a still image.
Numbered image sequences, otherwise known as Individual Image Frames or Image Sequences (sequential still photo image files) what we call NIS files. This jpeg image frame was originally scanned RAW (with no colour or exposure correction) at 24 bit in High Definition. We do provide “Best Light” exposure, light “Grain” reduction, mid “Shadow” detail and White “balance”). Any additional major effects such as scene-by-scene colour/exposure “correction” should be manipulated in post with either a video editing program or a photo program such as Photoshop™when using still image frames.
3) AVI FILES
AVI in SD or HD. These are a lawless compressed video files called, Audio-Video Interleaved (AVI) file used for editing on a personal computer or viewing in standard Windows format viewing software and compatible Mac software. We can output AVI in SD, HD or HD 2K.
SCANNING
feature a safe scan zero image area contact at the gate and rubber guide rollers that handle the film only by the edges for maximum film safety. No sprockets, no advance claw, no capstan, no pinch roller, no belts, means no film damage.
Whether you need SD (standard def), 1080 HD (high def), 2K, 4K, 5K, 6.5K, all films are scanned uncompressed. Files are then exported to your choice of format from the original uncompressed scans for maximum clarity.
SETTINGS FOR SCANNING SD, HD, 2K: Our system will be white balanced during transfer along with Best Light exposure, light Grain reduction, mid Shadow detail and we will set auto exposure. (Option for manual exposure). All file formats, NIS (Numbered Image Sequence or photos of each frame of film), .MOV & AVI FILE formats will have color and brightness that can be enjoyed “as is”. But final brightness, contrast & gamma along with RGB control and color correction can be performed on your edit system to suit your personal taste. NOTE: If you are having TMTV create and edit a completed DVD, BluRay disc or a “Completed” converted file after transfer, all footage can be colour, exposure, grain reduction, dust removal and density corrected by our Colorist at additional cost. Otherwise your discs or files will be RAW with the minor exceptions as explained above. For Super 2K and above, the Lasergraphics ScanStation™ has built-in color grading tools for easy dye fade correction, applied during scan that eliminates secondary post-processing step.
SOUND FILM
TYPE OF SOUND FILM WE CAN HANDLE:
Magnetic Sound;
16mm commag
16mm sepmag 2-channel
Super 8mm commag 2-channel
Standard 8mm commag
35mm sepmag 3-channel
Optical sound;
Soundtrack/KeyKode reading simultaneous with image scanning
If your film is sound, we can create a separate WAV PCM audio files from our Film Sound Reader or we can provide a synced image and optical/magnetic sound scanned in a single pass file depending on your project requirements.
CREATING A SEPARATE SOUND FILE: Uncompressed WAV (audio files) are created at 48 bit quality for both right and left channels. Audio WAV FILES allows for immediate use in any editing program or archival storage. We can provide complete audio restoration and re-master from the magnetic or optical sound strip (track) from Super 8mm or optical sound track from 16mm film. THE AUDIO CAN BE ENHANCED BY REMOVING CLICKS, POPS AND CRACKLES, CLEAN & BOOST LOW AUDIO. Otherwise we can simply supply the raw WAV audio files for you to edit on your own editing program.
FILM PREPARATION & CLEANING PRIOR TO SCANNING
FILM CONDITION BEFORE SCANNING (TRANSFER) – CLEANING & LUBRICATION All films are prepped before transfer to repair bad splices and to look for potential bad or damaged film, then cleaned using our Kinetronics StaticVac Anti-Static Film Cleaner system. After cleaning films can be lubricated and a preservative added if required. If your film is in excellent condition, lubrication & preservatives may not be required, in this case we will only perform cleaning using the Kinetronics StaticVac. This would be determined during visual inspection when the films arrive at the lab and during preparation before scanning.
Kinetronics StaticVac Anti-Static Film Cleaner , The perfect way to clean cinema film and photo negatives
OUR FILM CLEANING SYSTEM USED PRIOR TO LUBRICATION AND PRESERVATIVES: The Kinetronics StaticVac Anti-Static Film Cleaner is a vacuum cleaner to be used on film. It utilizes an electronic “bipolar” ionizing system. The StaticVac produces both positive and negative ions for complete static elimination. As the film is passed through the StaticVac, the ionization system gets rid of the static on the film. Then, the gentle StaticWisk brushes wipe dust and lint away. The vacuum action draws the dust and lint into the foam filter. Even Nikon’s digital ICE tool software does not replace the StaticVac film cleaner for the removal of dust from both sides of your film prior to scanning.
WET GATE SCANNING: In the past we have used a “Wet Gate” as an option. This solution does provide a good alternative to cleaning and minor scratch removal, however, we have found that in most cases, Wet Gate provides a softer image and loss of detail in the scanned image. Using the Kinetronics StaticVac Anti-Static Film Cleaner other wet cleaners, lubricants and preservatives during the preparation of your film works much better then Wet Gate. There are alternatives to using Wet Gate such as digital software enhancements including; scratch and dust removal in post that we feel also works much better then Wet gate during scanning.
DAMAGED MOVIE FILM: Films that are in poor condition such as bent, warped, shrunk or brittle will have to go through our Film Recovery process and can only be transferred by our custom made digital TMTVISION® scanners to avoid further damage to the film. SEE: FILM RECOVERY & RESTORATION
AFTER SCANNING
DELIVERY (MEDIA) FORMAT OPTIONS. EXPORTING TO MEDIA – DVD, BLU RAY, USB THUMB/FLASH DRIVES, PORTABLE USB HARD DRIVES OR SD CARDS. CLICK HERE FOR A VARIETY PRODUCTS
DVD & BLU RAY: We can create a “movie” from your films on DVD in standard definition or Blu-ray Disc in high definition with main titles & direct to disc printing for playing on your DVD or Blu Ray home player or Mac, PC NLE system with a DVD or Blu Ray disc drive. Maximum content for SD on a 4.7GB DVD-R is 60 minutes and maximum content in HD on a 25GB Blu Ray DVD is 90 minutes per disc. NOTE: these are for playback & viewing only and you can not extract or copy “files” from a DVD or Blu Ray disc master because of the type of disc recording used to create a DVD-R Archival Master discs.
Exported “files” can be placed on a portable hard drive, SSD, SD card or USB thumb/flash drive for file storage, archiving and later use. NOTE: Depending on your type of file choice, exported file sizes can be very large and take up a considerable amount of storage space. USB flash/thumb drives or SD cards are limited by the amount of file storage or content that can be placed on these types of media. The BEST option for file storage when dealing with a large amount of files, is a portable “plug and play” 3.0/3.1/3.2 USB hard drive or portable Solid State (SSD) hard drives.
NOTE: Movie (video files) are NTSC video format (North America and Japan) but we can output to PAL format. See International World conversions
OUR SUPPLIED MEDIA PREFERRED: We can only use customer supplied new or used media if it meets our specifications. (see below).
SUPPLYING YOUR OWN MEDIA: You can supply your own 3.0 USB new or used media but it must be large enough to fit all of your files. Hard Drives should have a standard USB 3.0 connection and must be PC/MAC compatible and pre-formatted in EXFAT or NTFS and be a 1TB, 2TB or larger size drive. USB Flash/Thumb drives we prefer is a maximum size of 128GB. Flash/Thumb drives larger than 128 GB take too long to upload the files to the drive. No warranty or guarantees on customer supplied media. We prefer “plug & play” media over A/C powered hard drives.
- Additional film cleaning with lubrication with preservatives
- Secondary colour grading
- Secondary grain reduction
- Scene by scene colorization
- Enhanced exposure of under/over exposed scenes
- New film reels or cores, leader or tail, cans or cases (if required or requested)
- Titles or on-screen credits or logos
- Sound enhancements including adding music or narration
- DVD or Blu Ray Archival Preservation Masters – We include; scanning (Transfer) to a Digital Master: 100 YEAR ARCHIVAL PRESERVATION MASTERING DVD-R DISC (Certified Swiss Quality), direct to disc printing with your title information, full size DVD case, reusable cello wrap, main title at the beginning of your movie (Example: SMITH FAMILY MOVIES)
- Copies of any media including USB drives or DVDS
- Additional file formats
- Custom disc printing and packaging for your DVDs – SEE CUSTOM PRINTING AND PACKAGING
PRICING
Pricing is not provided by phone due to the many options available. However, please feel free to call us and talk directly to a lab technician during our regular business hours or email us anytime (including weekends and holidays) to discuss the many options and to help you prepare your films for us to provide you a detailed estimate by email showing discounts based on your volume and additional seniors, schools, student, veterans discounts available.
TO RECEIVE AN ESTIMATE
Before requesting an estimate by e-mail for your film project please prepare a physical description of your film as best you can. Alternatively you may also send the film to our lab for a complete hands-on inspection and no obligation quote.
Please supply the following:
Name:
Phone Number:
Location:
How you heard about TMTV?
What is the format of your film; Regular 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm or 35mm?
Does the film have a soundtrack? – If you know (99% of Regular/double 8mm film is silent, some Super 8mm or 16mm film could have a soundtrack). If you see a brown strip or stripe on either 16mm or Super 8mm in could be sound. If your 16mm has sprocket holes on one side of the film only and not both sides there could be an optical or magnetic soundtrack (brown stripe). If you don’t know we will check for this during our inspection process once the films arrive.
Approximately how long is each reel? measured in feet or reel size. (SEE “FILM GUIDE” CHART BELOW). Some film reels have the “feet” marked directly on the reel.
Is the film on reels or cores? 8mm and Super 8mm film would normally be on reels. Some 16mm & 35mm may be on cores and no reels.
What file format do you require once scanned? IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT FILE FORMAT YOU REQUIRE AT THIS TIME DON’T WORRY, WE CAN HELP YOU WITH THIS DECISION.
FILM CONDITION The films physical condition is important for us to provide accurate pricing, estimate or quote. Film can be in various condition from excellent, poor to very poor and film requiring “Recovery” if warped, curled, vinegar syndrome, very dirty, white powder (mold), brittle or damaged by water, flood or fire. Does your film smell like vinegar or have a bad odor, warped, shrunk, brittle, twisted? Then your film may need recovery before transfer. GO TO: Filmrecovery.net
Please check your films condition and provide, as-best-as-possible an accurate description. If you suspect that your film is damaged please let us know. You can also email us photos if you suspect they are damaged. If the films look good, no photos would be required.
FILM GUIDE SIZES
Most 8mm & 16mm silent home movie film speeds are 16 to 18 Frames per second (fps). This depended on the original setting on the camera when the film was shot. Professional film speeds and those with sound are usually shot at 18FPS for Super 8 and 24FPS for 16mm.
SUBMITTING YOUR FILMS FOR SCANNING
Print out and sign the estimate (if provided) by email and include it with your order. If submitting your films for a hands-on inspection and quote please provide a note in your package that you are sending the films for a “quote before proceeding” and provide all your contact information.
When submitting film to the lab please number them CLEARLY in order of sequence, Example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (do not use POST-IT Notes, they fall off). If you do not know their sequence please number them anyway for our reference on quantity and sizes when they arrive.
Once shipped, email and let us how and when shipped, along with the tracking number.
ONCE THE FILM ARRIVES AT OUR LAB
Once the film arrives at our studio/lab we will email you and then provide you an order number and a full inspection before proceeding.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO SEND YOUR FILM WITHOUT AN ESTIMATE OR PRICING – When submitting film to the lab please number them CLEARLY in order of sequence, Example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (do not use POST-IT Notes, they fall off). If you do not know their sequence please number them anyway for reference on quantity. Please provide all your contact information, return shipping address and email us and let us know how and when shipped along with the tracking number. Once the films arrive we will provide a complete hands-on inspection and quote with no obligation.
SHIPPING TO OUR LAB You may ship to our lab however you choose. Please ship by a reliable courier or by USPS or Canada post and get a tracking number. PLEASE READ OUR IMPORTANT SHIPPING INFORMATION ESPECIALLY IF SHIPPING FROM THE USA TO CANADA: SHIPPING INFORMATION
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