Transvideo 16 TRV-16

[Gareth Blackstock]

Hello,

Recently one of the above has been listed for sale, apparently in good order for around USD$370.  I did some quick research, 410,000 pixels or around 450 lines of resolution.  Now I realise that the resolution is woefully inadequate compared to modern scanners... However, could it be suitable for small screens? Would this type of scanner offer good results for small screens, computer screens for instance? Say 20 inch maximum? 

I watch a youtube video of a guy saving the scanned footage directly onto a laptop and saving it as Mpg-4.  A pretty handy feature.  As I have no intention of displaying on a large screen what I shoot, mostly its camera and footage testing15f_2920_Cabrio_a2_resized_y.pdf , I am curious if a scanner like this could suit my needs.

I have attached an article on the TRV below.

Any thoughts? 

[Gareth Blackstock]

I had a hard time attaching, so here is the pdf link:

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://miap.hosting.nyu.edu/program/student_work/2015fall/15f_2920_Cabrio_a2_resized_y.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi8ro2Au7P7AhWj7TgGHQWGCP0QFnoECBQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw26rkRshY5rOA_A3oSbOPXP

 

[Mark Dunn]

Seems to be a composite NTSC output so you would need to convert that to digital to get it onto a PC. In fact in Australia you couldn't even record it on a PAL VCR without standards conversion. If it's a PAL version that would be a bit easier but you'd still have to digitize the signal. otherwise you would be limited to viewing on a monitor with the correct inputs.

Manual here

https://issuu.com/cinema62/docs/pdf-elmo_trv-16_user_manual_23_page

Of course you can't project with it, the image goes straight into the camera. The resolution is pretty poor, lower even than SD. I would want to pay less than $370. About £200, right?

It's not a very good way of getting a decent 16mm. image onto a computer. Seems to me that for testing only, an actual projector might suit you better. But they seem to cost more.

There's one in NSW on ebay starting at $99 looks ok

item number

334626547722

Edited November 17, 2022 by Mark Dunn

[Don Cunningham]

I had one that came in a lot of projectors I bought at a university I used to work at. The image was decent for reviewing footage on a small monitor, but the camera had issues and didn't work properly. I ended up selling it for parts and that basically gave me some minor profit over what I paid for the lot of projectors. So, ensure the camera is in working order.

[Dan Baxter]

On 11/17/2022 at 1:19 PM, Gareth Blackstock said:

I watch a youtube video of a guy saving the scanned footage directly onto a laptop and saving it as Mpg-4.  A pretty handy feature.

I assume you mean something like this?

Just look at how he's handling the customer's film (running the film through his bare fingers while it's being transferred)!! What he's doing with the laptop is using it in place of a VCR or DVD recorder - that is he's taking s-video input and pressing "record" basically. He is right, most of them won't be in working condition especially for $400. Although that's about the only thing he's correct about, I definitely wouldn't be taking advice from someone doing commercial transfer work in 2022 using Elmos and Tobins! I seem to recall that this company (GotMemories) deletes comments that are critical about their services from their Youtube comments.

The CCD imagers will develop faults overtime, read this thread.

On 11/17/2022 at 1:19 PM, Gareth Blackstock said:

Now I realise that the resolution is woefully inadequate compared to modern scanners...

Resolution isn't even the main issue - although they only have a 250-line camcorder not 450 lines (unless it was replaced with an aftermarket camcorder). Some models have s-video output like in that video, but others are composite-only video. The ones sold in North America are NTSC, and the ones sold in Europe and Australia are PAL. If the camcorder works well (which it probably doesn't now after all this time) it'll still be crushing the blacks and getting poor colour reproduction as even if they have aftermarket ones they're ancient and some 10 years older than the tech inside the Tobin TVT-16 Telecine. It also doesn't appear to be designed to handle negatives at all so if you were doing negatives you'd likely have to work out the colour inversion yourself.

[Gareth Blackstock]

Wow, there is some really good info here.  I looked around the net to see if there was some footage that had been transferred with one, nothing came up.  The owner states that it works well, but at USD$370 it is a fair amount of money.  It is RCA output and a PAL system.  I thought it would be handy, and I already use a projector for viewing, and sometimes I use an old mini dv camera to record "off the wall" 

And I guess at the end of the day it's a fair amount of money for very obsolete equipment that if it gets quirky it will be impossible to repair... I'll ask if the guy will take a $100...

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think I'll avoid this one...

 

Thanks, Gareth

[Mark Dunn]

2 hours ago, Gareth Blackstock said:

I already use a projector for viewing, and sometimes I use an old mini dv camera to record "off the wall" 

I'm not sure the TRV will be a whole lot better than that, except for the convenience. For much less money you could probably rig a right-angle mirror and have the DV record the image directly. There used to be clip-on viewers for projectors that did this.

$100....if you can spare it, maybe.