I must start by saying this is not about recording a soundtrack onto super 8 from a digital source such as a DVD / blu ray, but recording a digitally encoded soundtrack that could be played back in 5:1.
I recently pick up a Philips DCC recorder/player which was developed back in the 90s to rival Sony's DAT recorder.
This machine can play back standard analog compact cassettes, and output the source as analog via RCA sockets or as a digital output through optical. This option makes cassette tapes sound like you have never heard them before.
The main purpose of the deck is to be able to record and playback digital on newly designed cassette tapes. I beleave the reason was so nobody could playback a digitally encoded tape on a standard cassette deck.
After having this unit apart to see what is going on inside, it seems that it records the digital tracks exactly the same way as analog on the same linear moving tape. As there is no difference between the cassette tape and the magnetic track on film, in theory this could be done?
As encoded digital tracks are recorded and stored in blocks that are transferred to a memory buffer before being played back, this would mean that the sound track would have to be recorded double the amount of frames ahead of an analog track on the film. This is so it is possible to read it and then decode it, being digital this means it could have a delay so it is possible to sync the sound with the picture, in the same way that Dolby digital worked on 35mm.
There would be no need for any alterations on the projector, as you are just using the playback head to read the information. Yes a decoder box would be needed that could output the signal back to analog that could be plugged back into the projectors amp.
By doing this it would elevate any pop and crackles, dropouts and tape hiss from the soundtrack, and also could be possible to playback multitrack 5:1 all from super 8.
I would be interested on your thoughts, before I rip the unit apart to see if it is possible to be done by experimenting with it.
I recently pick up a Philips DCC recorder/player which was developed back in the 90s to rival Sony's DAT recorder.
This machine can play back standard analog compact cassettes, and output the source as analog via RCA sockets or as a digital output through optical. This option makes cassette tapes sound like you have never heard them before.
The main purpose of the deck is to be able to record and playback digital on newly designed cassette tapes. I beleave the reason was so nobody could playback a digitally encoded tape on a standard cassette deck.
After having this unit apart to see what is going on inside, it seems that it records the digital tracks exactly the same way as analog on the same linear moving tape. As there is no difference between the cassette tape and the magnetic track on film, in theory this could be done?
As encoded digital tracks are recorded and stored in blocks that are transferred to a memory buffer before being played back, this would mean that the sound track would have to be recorded double the amount of frames ahead of an analog track on the film. This is so it is possible to read it and then decode it, being digital this means it could have a delay so it is possible to sync the sound with the picture, in the same way that Dolby digital worked on 35mm.
There would be no need for any alterations on the projector, as you are just using the playback head to read the information. Yes a decoder box would be needed that could output the signal back to analog that could be plugged back into the projectors amp.
By doing this it would elevate any pop and crackles, dropouts and tape hiss from the soundtrack, and also could be possible to playback multitrack 5:1 all from super 8.
I would be interested on your thoughts, before I rip the unit apart to see if it is possible to be done by experimenting with it.
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