8mm Forum: Moviestuff Retro-8 and Retro-16

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Topic: Moviestuff Retro-8 and Retro-16

John Saunders
Film Handler

Posts: 32
From: Canada
Registered: Nov 2004

posted February 24, 2014 06:18 PM

Does anyone have any experience/opinions on the Retro HD series projectors being offered by Moviestuff? I have been looking on their website at both the 8mm and 16mm models. From what I can gather, these units scan the films frame by frame and save them as still images in a program that you buy separately? Does this software allow editing, or do you export the images to a video editing program like Adobe, etc? Let's say I have a movie scanned as still images and wanted to create an AVI or MPEG movie...how does the software work to accomplish this? Also, these machines don't handle sound recording, so the film would have to be recorded separately on a projector into an audio program and synched with the film later? Thanks in advance for any info on this...they look like nice machines with impressive results, but seems like there might be some extensive labour involved to have a finished project, especially with sound film?

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Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008

posted February 28, 2014 03:52 PM

John, I have not seen or used the new Retro 16 unit so zi can't speak for that one but I have used a number of the Movie stuff units and currently use the Retro 8 almost daily...As for your software question, the program does allow you to export either as an image sequence or as a Quicktime MOV file, so if you are just looking for transfers of your movies you will have a straight movie files that you could then put on a DVD, etc....The 8mm units do not do sound as that would have increased the cost, and his goal with these were to make them more affordable, so if you are transferring 8mm films with sound, yes you would need an editing program to composite the sound and picture together..

That being said they are extremely easy to use, get great results, and best of all do not take up much space since they are essentially the size of an Elmo projector...A word of affice though, the units are software driven so you must make sure you calibrate them exactly the way they say when you first put them into use otherwise you will get all sorts of weird results

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"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"

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David Singer
Film Handler

Posts: 39
From: Sedona, AZ, USA
Registered: Sep 2013

posted February 28, 2014 07:11 PM

I received my Retro 8 in January this year and have captured approx. 6,000 feet now and am well pleased with the device. As Dino said, calibration is critical but certainly not difficult at all. I did have some issues with my computer initially that Roger Evans of Moviestuff helped me resolve quickly. The capture is slow, 4 frames per second, but you can make adjustments to color, exposure and grain while capturing. I export the captures to Windows Movie Maker that came with my computer and do all necessary editing there. Movie Maker allows you to add audio with a microphone so perhaps you add a sound track in some way.

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David Singer

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Paul Gaudiosi
Junior
Posts: 3
From: Danbury, CT, USA
Registered: Mar 2014

posted March 01, 2014 02:10 PM

Hi David, I ordered my Retro 8 from Moviestuff on December 26, 2013. I wanted to ask you how long it took for you to receive yours. Thanks. Paul

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David Singer
Film Handler

Posts: 39
From: Sedona, AZ, USA
Registered: Sep 2013

posted March 01, 2014 04:49 PM

Paul, the delivery time is about 3 months.

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David Singer

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Paul Gaudiosi
Junior
Posts: 3
From: Danbury, CT, USA
Registered: Mar 2014

posted March 01, 2014 04:52 PM

Thank you for the reply..

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John Saunders
Film Handler

Posts: 32
From: Canada
Registered: Nov 2004

posted March 01, 2014 06:53 PM

Hi guys, sounds like they are decent units and ideal for transferring silent film. Not sure what type of film you've transferred with your units, but i'm looking at the Retro-8 for some old silent standard 8 prints I have here...old westerns, comedies etc. that i've never come across on any other film format. I've had lots of 8mm transferred over the years using various telecines and have never been satisfied with the results, but this unit looks promising. I had a lot of 16mm transferred years ago to 3/4 inch tape and SVHS (via a Bosch telecine) which look decent, but i'm guessing new digital transfers scanned on one of these units would be an improvement? Which video editing software are you using for editing and creating MPEG files for dvd?

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David Singer
Film Handler

Posts: 39
From: Sedona, AZ, USA
Registered: Sep 2013

posted March 02, 2014 04:01 PM

Hi John, the movies I have transferred are Reg 8 and Super 8 "home movies". I edit them in Windows Movie Maker which has many options for saving the movie, including BURN TO DVD which is a Windows Media Video file or .wmv as well as an MP4 file.

Hope this helps.

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David Singer

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Tom Fales
Junior
Posts: 25
From: McCormick, SC
Registered: Jun 2011

posted March 26, 2019 08:36 AM

I have been using Moviestuff products for about six years and have been very happy with the results. One thing I can attest to is that Roger may be the most responsive vendor on earth. He always seems to get back to you - most often via telephone - and works through any issue with you. I honestly don't understand how he finds the time to do this.

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Tom
MovieStuff Retro-8 Pro
MovieStuff Retro-16
Intel i7 5820k 64GB
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition
Studio 22 Ultimate

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