8mm Forum: My Review of Grease Scope + Pearl Harbor cutdown

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Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 11, 2004, 08:24 PM:

I have to say that the New Derann Scope print of Grease is now the best Scope print I own. Maybe the best print period! The sharpness and the colors are superb! One of the few scope prints where the sharpness goes from edge to edge. Really fantastic! Super 8 at its best. This one I will NEVER sell!
Seeing Grease 10ft wide...I can never watch it on TV again!
Pearl Harbor-stunning print as well. If the general public could only see the quality of these films. And the content is great too!
Screening these 2 films....today I am a happy man! I love this hobby!

Posted by Chip Gelmini (Member # 44) on September 11, 2004, 09:29 PM:

Yes Alan, I agree with you 100% on Grease. The scope print is beautiful. If it's not to late, if you are going to splice it to 1200 foot reels, you will find reels 1-2-3-4 on the first big reel and 5-6-7 on the second big reel will be just right. And your print should have the original cues at the end of each reel for changeovers to boot! :-)

Chip G

Posted by Heinz-Juergen Schachner (Member # 32) on September 12, 2004, 02:12 AM:

Hi Alan,

is the sound stripe faultless? I had the scope full feature of GREASE 4 times in my hands and the sound stripe has been faulty on all 4 prints. It was not possible to record the German sound track on these bad stipes. Sometimes there were even places without any sound stripe applied. Despite the wonderful picture i had to return all prints to England.

Best Wishes

Heinz-Juergen Schachner
Germany

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 12, 2004, 07:28 AM:

Hello Heinz,

The first time I screened the print reels 2, 4-7 had wow and flutter. I remembered that you had mentioned the sound problems. So I went and cleaned the spotty reels. The second time I played them they were perfect. However i didn't try recording on them. Maybe then i would have some problems. I am having a problem with my copy of Gladiator. This is the second time and their is still a problem with the last 30 seconds. Its all garbled.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on September 12, 2004, 08:31 AM:

Hi Alan,
Yes I agree with you 100% on how stunning Derann's Scope print of Grease is. I am amazed every time I watch it on my 10ft scope screen. To anyone who thinks projected DVD is better than super 8, let them see this film and they will quickly change their minds. Alan, I would strongly encourage you to re-record the film in stereo from the DVD or VHS tape. Grease has a terrific musical track, and to see it in Scope and hear it in stereo is amazing. I re-recorded my print of Grease a couple of years ago, and the sound quality I get off the film is incredible, with superb stereo separation and rich musical rendition. Yes, this film is at the top of my list of all time best Super 8 prints. To anyone who has not purchased it, I would say get it now while it's still available. GREASE IS THE WORD!!

Posted by Chip Gelmini (Member # 44) on September 12, 2004, 09:16 AM:

Does anyone know why Derann released this beauty in dead mono anyway and not stereo to begin with?

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on September 12, 2004, 10:22 AM:

I have a feeling that Derann imported 'Grease' and it wasn't one of their prints, not sure if that's right but it might explain why it has mono sound. I still plan to re-record my copy into stereo at some point.......

On the subject of DVD projection and it's comparison to super, I got to see a demonstration of a friends DVD projection set-up last night, the sound was phenomanol [sp?], far better than I could expect with super 8 but the picture definatly wasn't as crisp and sharp as a good super 8 print. I guess it's a case of six and two threes?!

Mike [Cool]

Posted by Heinz-Juergen Schachner (Member # 32) on September 12, 2004, 12:12 PM:

Hi,

it really is not fair to compare super8mm with DVD playback on a good video projector. Super8mm will nearly always be the loser. Sometimes even 16mm is beaten.

The problems with DVD on video beamer are only visible, if you get a bad DVD (for example XANADU is really bad). This is the problem with super8mm, too. If you get a print with the bad focus of Disney's "The Little Mermaid", super8mm is no fun at all. If you take top quality super8mm prints such as PREDATOR, GREASE or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, super8mm is really a pleasure to watch.

I am using a SANYO PLV-Z2 video beamer with a MARANTZ DV-4300 progressive DVD player on a 3m wide movie screen and the results are astonishing. Yesterday I just watched the DVD of "Doctor Zhivago" and this is one of the best pictures I ever saw. This can not be compared with the super8mm print, which is of much lesser quality, regarding colours and focus. I do not compare the sound quality because there is no 5.1 sound available on super8mm and thus super8mm must be inferior.

On the other side, if you take the super8mm print of "Romancing the Stone" and compare it with the super8mm print, the super8mm print is much, much better. This is due to the bad quality of the DVD release.

In summary: I do not think that DVD can ever replace the fun, that the screening of super8mm (and generally all printed films) makes. So what is the problem to do both formats? I can not understand many of my former super8mm fellows, who have sold their complete super8mm collection and switched completly to DVD. I would be extremly sad if I would never hear the rattling of an ELMO or a BAUER machine any more.

Best Wishes

Heinz-Juergen Schachner
Germany

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 12, 2004, 12:26 PM:

My Elmo may rattle...but the Bauer? Those beauties purr....

Posted by Heinz-Juergen Schachner (Member # 32) on September 12, 2004, 12:31 PM:

Hi,

take a BAUER with a worn claw and it rattles louder than an ELMO GS-1200 [Wink]

Best

Heinz-Juergen Schachner
Germany

Posted by John Hourigan (Member # 111) on September 12, 2004, 05:05 PM:

Good grief -- call me crazy but for the kind of money you have to spend on a feature, I would expect damn near perfect sound (without having to go through the hassle of re-recording it)!!!

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 12, 2004, 07:34 PM:

Yes, I think so too! But then again, I am just glad that Derann and Classic are releasing. So, if I have to rerecord my features and have it be off because of the 29.97 Frame rate in the US, then so be it! [Smile]

Posted by Heinz-Juergen Schachner (Member # 32) on September 13, 2004, 01:20 AM:

Hi,

yes, when spending so much money it would be nice to get a perfect sound recording on the prints. This has always been the problem with Derann's full features. The english soundtrack is often very poor. Luckily I have to dub the prints in German language and the sound recording from DVD, Laserdisc or even VHS HiFi tape is much better than the original sound.

The only problem I have is a faulty sound stripe. This is really annoying because the sound is very often interrupted or sounds "blubbering". Sometimes the second track is recording much louder than the first track and vice versa and there have been some prints which did not record at all. It is really a pity that KODAK does not produce pre-striped polyester film stock any more. I have never had any problems with the old pre-striped film stock. I think the liquid sound track which Derann applies needs very much attention. I had a print of "Terminator" once, which had the sound fluid very often in the middle of the picture.

If I shall spend so much money on a brand new super8mm full feature, I expect top quality. This is very often not the case.

On the other hand I am very happy that Derann and the German source still publish super8mm full features. From Germany are coming really nice titles, for example ICE AGE.

Best Wishes

Heinz-Juergen Schachner

Posted by Steven Sigel (Member # 21) on September 13, 2004, 02:32 PM:

I would have to agree with Heinz-Juergen --

A well mastered DVD played on a high quality DLP projector looks better than Super 8. Also the picture brightness on a good DLP puts even the Xenon GS-1200 to shame. My DLP machine puts out 1900 lumens. I'm not sure what the xenon GS does - but I doubt it's more than 1000.

However, there are a LOT of bad DVD pressings, and a lot of really pretty lousy DLP/LCD projectors. If you get either or both of these, then Super 8 will look better.

The best way to judge is to run them side by side and see what you think.

One last thought -- DLP/DVD projection is for watching movies. Film (whether 16mm or super 8) is for collecting

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 13, 2004, 02:56 PM:

So what are some good DLP projectors and their respective prices?
Curious as I want both! I shoot in Super 8 so as long as their is raw film stock I will not abandon the format.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on September 13, 2004, 02:57 PM:

Steven,

That last thought is absolutely perfect! I'm calling up Bartlett's to make sure there's room in the next edition!

Doug

Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on September 13, 2004, 03:39 PM:

Why is it that we collect films I wonder- Mike P does it for the nice boxes but I sometimes wonder what I am doing with it all (That nice Mr O'Reilly is just waiting for me to snuff it...)

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 13, 2004, 04:19 PM:

I dont have any nice boxes. [Frown]

All my boxes are white. Lonely. But the stuff inside....!

Posted by Heinz-Juergen Schachner (Member # 32) on September 14, 2004, 12:50 AM:

Hello,

I am shooting super8mm, too, as long as KODAK keeps producing the excellent K40. I have a really good MiniDV video camera, which I hardly ever use. If you are used to the colours of the K40 you will never be satisfied with the colours of a MiniDV camcorder. It always looks like a faded K40. Maybe the new HDTV camcorders are better but the prices are much too high at the moment. I have seen that Sony builts a HDTV camcorder (Sony HDR-FX1) which will be available at the end of 2004 / beginning 2005 at a price of about 5000 EURO. Let us see how this compares with super8mm...

Unfortunately I do not have many boxes for my super8mm full feature prints. I keep them in metal boxes. If I buy used super8mm prints, the boxes are mostly not included. Maybe I shall start looking for the boxes, only [Wink]

Best Wishes

Heinz-Juergen Schachner
Germany

Posted by Chip Gelmini (Member # 44) on September 14, 2004, 07:02 PM:

Everything I own on super 8 is now on 1200 foot reels. That's for features. All of my short type films are on 800 foot reels running less than 30 minutes per reel (as openers at the start of a show instead of "feature only"). But even Shorty would be interested in this. I have saved, all of the boxes of my very early stage of the collection, when it all came on 400 foot reels. Like Hoppity Goes To Town, It's A Wonderful Life, Way Out West, Sons of the Desert. Many Niles and Blackhawk boxes. Remember them! Yikes!

[Eek!]

Chip G

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