newbie question

Seldon · December 31, 2005

Hello everyone,

I've been browsing this forum for a couple of days trying to get a handle on telecine and DI, but with no luck (the lingo is killing me!).

So here's my question: Suppose I have about 50 minutes of 16mm footage that I would like to be able to edit on my home computer, and then burn to a DVD. To what format should I have the film transfered???

Thanks a bunch,

A.

p.s. Why are there so many different formats? Also, could you point me to a decent webpage or book that explains the telecine/DI process in newbie language?

Mike Lary · December 31, 2005

So here's my question: Suppose I have about 50 minutes of 16mm footage that I would like to be able to edit on my home computer, and then burn to a DVD. To what format should I have the film transfered???

p.s. Why are there so many different formats? Also, could you point me to a decent webpage or book that explains the telecine/DI process in newbie language?

Forget about DI. If you're editing on your computer and outputting to DVD, all you need is a decent telecine. There's a thread here somewhere comparing Cintels and Spirits with sample images. You should find it and choose the system you like the best. Then decide if you want to pay for a best light transfer or a shot by shot adjusted transfer (or a supervised transfer if you have lots of $$). Get the files transferred to an uncompressed format (Quicktime, etc.). Direct to hard drive is the option I like because it's easy to retrieve the files, you can edit right from the drive, and the drive serves as the backup for the source files. MiniDV compresses the data, so I would avoid that. Some tape formats are industry standards, while others are suitable for HD transfers for systems that can edit HD files. If you don't have access to those tape decks or editing systems, there's no need to get bogged down with definitions. Uncompressed to hard drive will give you what you need.

People say again and again that you should direct questions to the telecine house, and it's true. Check out the bonolabs site. Tim Bono was very quick to respond to some questions I had about the process, much more so than most of the labs I contacted. There's a slew of information on his site as well that might help you understand telecine better.

P.S. This is the best site I've found for DI and telecine explanations. Posts by David Mullen and others have gone into great detail about shooting film for telecine.