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

This is topic Moviestuff Retro-8 and Retro-16 in forum 8mm Forum at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by John Saunders (Member # 302) on 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?

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on 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

Posted by David Singer (Member # 3953) on 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.

Posted by Paul Gaudiosi (Member # 4179) on 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

Posted by David Singer (Member # 3953) on March 01, 2014, 04:49 PM:

Paul, the delivery time is about 3 months.

Posted by Paul Gaudiosi (Member # 4179) on March 01, 2014, 04:52 PM:

Thank you for the reply..

Posted by John Saunders (Member # 302) on 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?

Posted by David Singer (Member # 3953) on 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.

Posted by Tom Fales (Member # 2618) on 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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