8mm Forum: Star Wars Derann Print dilemma etc

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Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on December 07, 2013, 06:04 AM:

I have recently redubbed a print of the above title for an Italian collector and I saw its quality is pretty much the same as mine, included the fact the last reel seems a tad or so downgraded i.e. it is underexposed (colors are lighter and overall the images are less saturated).

At the time I bought mine in 1995 I considered it a minor flaw and something I could easily live with but now I am wondering how the heck this was possible on two different prints which presumably have been struck at very different times. nAnd how many are there with this flaw.

Finally I'd like to share a doubt of mine with you: almost 20 years ago I redubbed my print in Italian and I did it with the limited equipement I had: a hi-fi VHS, a mixer, an equalizer and a Eumig S 926. No quartz sync system whatsoever: just my eyes, the two images going side by side and a videocamera set at 1/1000" to strobe-check the speed of the rear sprocket drum. Indeed the sync is (almost) perfect, even by today's standards of mine, but after redubbing the other fellow's print with my quartz-synced GS 1200, I am cherishing the idea to do the same with my print although it is arranged in a different way than the original 4x600 and the start leaders are different because I added my screening room jingle (so I'd have to rework on the sound masters on my NLE prior to do this). So it's not a straightforward process to carry on using the same masters I have just used for this collector. If I have to do this on my print, I'd have to spend some more 2 hours at least in addition to the film duration for all the masters' prep. This morning I checked the 1995 re-recording and it doesn't leave anything to desire in comparison to a GS 1200-made recording. So now I am a bit reluctant to start the process. Perhaps I shoud take into account the VHS audio was not that great (the Italian version had some flaws which are not present on the DVD: one section had even mono sound for a few seconds and only on one channel).

All in all the recording is very good not to say excellent but the two channels are not perfectly consistent to each other as regards level output (track 2 is strangely higher).

So what would you do in my shoes?n Thanx for any feedback...

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on December 07, 2013, 07:54 AM:

Hi Maurizio,
The best re-recording I have ever done was the Derann feature length print of Grease. My source was the VHS stereo tape, and the stereo quality that I got on the S8 tracks is amazing, the best I have ever obtained. I also did a manual sync re-recording and it is spot on sync for most of the film, a little off in places, but it does not bother me. So I am not sure that if you went to all the trouble of doing another re-record from DVD that it would be any better. In fact you could make the argument that analog VHS stereo is superior to a compressed DVD audio source.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on December 07, 2013, 08:31 AM:

Leave it alone. If it ain't broken don't fit it!

Posted by Mark Mander (Member # 340) on December 07, 2013, 11:55 AM:

I agree with Paul when it comes to using a stereo vhs tape,I used to have The World is not Enough feature and re-recorded that off a video and the sound was brilliant,i then recorded it(first reel) with the dvd and it just wasn't the same with lower recording levels and not as clear,I then used the video again and left it there. I've just done my Showboat feature off a video and again sounds great,Mark.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 07, 2013, 12:29 PM:

I agree as well.

Besides, it's my understanding that every time you record on magnetic sound, the audio quality takes the slightest jump. I could be wrong, and quite possibly an audio technician could verify if my ears are inaccurate?

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 892) on December 09, 2013, 11:22 AM:

Mark, in spite of the data compression, a DVD soundtrack should be better in quality than VHS, which uses severe noise reduction tactics to get the HiFi tracks to sound as good as they do (which really, are quite good). I'd venture that the tape mastering was done more effectively than the DVD mastering, or the latter used a poorer source.

Osi, are you referring to the downward jump in quality for every generation sound is recorded on analog magnetic tape? Of course, digital data on tape bypasses that, as does VHS Hi-Fi stereo (which uses FM modulation on a carrier, so bypasses tape noise that way).

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on December 10, 2013, 10:58 AM:

Thanks everybody for the feedback.

Posted by Pete Richards (Member # 2203) on December 10, 2013, 05:14 PM:

Interesting, the last reel on my Derann Star Wars is the best image quality of all the reels!

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