Using The Latest HD Imaging Processes on Classic Amateur Film Yields Stunning Results

June 28, 2010 - PRLog -- HomeDVD a division of Rumble House Media Group Inc., announces our roll-out of High Definition film to video conversion services for 8mm, Super8 and 16mm home movie films. With advancements underway for 35mm cinema size films.

Long a problem with smaller film gauges, Standard Definition video film transfer systems used over the last decade just didn't have the imaging resolutions necessary for proper digitization of those small film frames. Post processing tricks and well crafted anti-aliasing filters smoothed things over quite bit.  

Most small gauge amateur film stock manufactured from the 1950's until just recently, had resolutions in the order of between 80 lp/mm and 100 lp/mm (line pairs/mm) of resolution, mostly dictated to by the inherent grain structure of the films own emulsion layers - the actual photonic holding elements that makes motion picture film work. Of course the smaller film frame like 8mm would show more grain per unit size than the larger formats like 16mm, even though they share the same grain densities.  A natural effect based on the degree of magnification by the projection lens used.

With High Definition imaging systems now available, in concert with effective HD post production work flows, small gauge film can now be captured and processed beyond their native horizontal and vertical resolutions.  A truly archival process.

The first steps to ensure such results is to capture the film frames one at a time in an uncompressed form like 4:4:4 RGB.  Adding the extra facility for 10 bits per pixel or more would be an advantage to have, should the digitized frames undergo post processing processes like color correction, gamma adjustments, special effects, etc, which use floating point calculations. Rounding errors due to 8 bit per pixel restraints don't exist which could produce unnecessary visual aberrations like banding.

In order to keep costs in check and to help make sense of the alphabet world of HD terms and processes, HomeDVD offers a number of prepackaged HD conversion bundles which cater to a range of customer requests which could include standard film transfers to Blu-ray disk or for those who wish to edit and produce their own Blu-ray or AVCHD titles.

More information on our HD conversion bundles:
http://homedvd.ca/services/film/hd_bundles

HomeDVD has developed a custom HD imaging system which works in native 4:4:4 RGB 8 bit or 10 bit per pixel - with post workflows in YUV 4:2:2 10 bit.  A key feature of our system is the creation of down loadable LUTs to set any standard or custom gamma curves for the film type at hand.  Proper Gamma settings unique to the film emulsion's characteristics is a must for optimal digitization of film based frames. The results will yield an uncompromised image with proper pixel distribution.  Slight changes in shoulder and toe breakpoints could produce either a natural film look or that harsh edgy feel of DV digital video cameras.

Working in HD will create large files in the order of hundreds of gigabytes per film reel. One TB or greater SATA hard drives are a must for customers wanting to archive or work with our YUV files in either AVI or Quicktime format. There is no charge for hard disk uploads of these large files.

What's it all about:
http://www.homedvd.ca/services/film/hd_film_convert

Services available:
http://homedvd.ca/services/film/hd_media_services

We also offer degraining services that remove or diminish the natural grain aspects of the film frames and still keep the fine edges of the image contents intact.


Background
The home movie film transfer market boasts an estimated 100 billion plus, feet of 8mm and 16mm film manufactured mainly by Kodak.  Additional footage of Super 8 films ranging in the 20 billion foot level is on top of the 8mm numbers. Films transferred to digital media over the last two decades still only amounts to less than 15% of the outstanding film stock ever manufactured.  A real marketers challenge to capture that market.

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HomeDVD, a division of Rumble House Media Group inc., was founded in 2005. Our business model encompasses a wide variety of technical subjects that include the many facets of IT, namely web site design and associated applications, SEO/SEM work, digital video application development, vintage media conversion to DVD and Blu-ray disc and HD imaging applications.

We are currently in the process of developing a niche range of software products in support of the film telecine market. Coming - custom Video Gamma curve generator and Flat field imaging software tools.