PRO8 HD HAS ARRIVED!

Pro8mm Announces Their Purchase of a MMII HD SCANNER

After years of research and negotiations with several vendors, Pro8mm has just taken delivery on a High Definition Film Scanner. The brand new MILLENNIUM II was manufactured by Cintel International Ltd, in England, and arrived at Pro8mm in Burbank on December 22, 2007. We will be spending the next few weeks waiting for the custom gates to arrive, training the colorists, and doing a variety of tests so that we can optimize our end results. The MMII will scan Super 8, Regular 8, MAX 8, 16mm and Super 16mm. The first jobs are anticipated to be scheduled sometime in March, with several eager clients already in the wings working on notable commercial jobs.
One of the reasons we chose the MMII was that Cintel International was willing to build a custom MAX 8 gate for us. Since introducing the MAX 8 format in 2004, we have seen a tremendous growth in the number of clients who are shooting it to be HD READY. MAX 8 is the perfect Super 8 format for High Definition because it is widescreen. The format was designed to create 16 x 9 images from 8mm film. We will soon be introducing more models of MAX 8 cameras along with inexpensive gate only modifications. This will make shooting in 16 x 9 super8 more affordable to more people.

Another reason we chose the MMII is that a custom Regular 8 gate could be ordered. This option was not available from other HD vendors. Since such a significant amount of important historical and archival 8mm material is Regular 8 (from 1932 to late 1960's) we felt it was critical to have the capability to scan this material to High Definition. The MMII machine has a unique servo system which can be adjusted for individual film reels. This will allow us to scan film that has shrank, been damaged or is in general poor condition.

The MMII uses a tube referred to as CRT (high white) which produces a Classic Film look. Filmmakers who are searching for an aesthetic twist in Super 16mm commercial production will find that edge by scanning on the MMII as opposed to the CCD technology widely used by a majority of post houses.

In addition to the MMII, we have purchased a daVinci 2K color corrector. We can color correct in HD even if you want to have a standard definition output. A variety of outputs will be offered, including HD Cam (NTSC and PAL), various HD formats transferred to hard drive, and dual sync transfers to both standard definition and high definition simultaneously.

The Emmy Award winning 2K is a real-time, multi-standard, multi-resolution image processor, used by top video post production facilities worldwide. It can color enhance in standard definition, HDTV, and data up to 4000 x 4000 (data images greater than 2k are processed providing the colorist with real-time interactivity). Designed for the television and motion picture industries, and is perfect for film-to-tape, tape-to-tape and disk-to-disk.

Our investment in the preservation of shooting on small format film, and the crucial archiving of historical material will set the standard once again in keeping film viable in the HD digital domain. We continue to strive to create a hybrid of products and services in super 8 and 16mm, as we did with the introduction of Super 8 negative film in 1992. Our goal is to set a new standard for shooting super 8 in widescreen and scanning to high definition in order to move the technology forward, as we have for the past 35 years.

Everyone is welcome join us here in Burbank for our big MMII debut party this spring. Details coming soon!