OT: Elmo TRV-16 Repair

Butch Moore wrote on 10/10/2011, 10:46 PM
We have an Elmo TRV-16 (16mm film to video transfer) whose video output has failed. The prominent repair service for this unit in the web is Denevi Digital Imaging Services, Hayward, CA. They offer a video upgrade package starting at $750 that appears to include replacement of our defective parts.

Does anyone have experience with this company or can offer another/better recommendation for repairs.

Thanks!

Comments

farss wrote on 10/11/2011, 6:51 AM
No experience with that company at all, I used to use the Elmo telecines including that 16mm one. Not surprised the "camera" has failed.
All of them in the 3 units I used to use were loosing sensitivity and I had to compensate by forcing more light through the film.
Question I would ask is what exactly do you get in the upgrade, does it give you a HD transfer?

Also before parting with your money to repair this unit have a look at the modern offerings from Moviestuff: http://www.moviestuff.tv/moviestuff_home.html

Bob.
johnmeyer wrote on 10/11/2011, 10:08 AM
I second the MovieStuff recommendation.

The Elmo telecines are a very simple-minded transfer approach that uses a modified projector that has a five-bladed shutter to minimize flicker. However, the resulting transfer is not "frame-accurate" which significantly limits the quality of the resulting transfer when compared with the ultimate film-to-video benchmark, namely a transfer done by a Cintel scanner.

Also, that TRV-16 was a great camera in its day, but it is a single-chip SD camcorder. Modern cameras can produce a far better result.

So, at the very least, you should upgrade the camera in your existing transfer system, if you are happy with the results you have been getting and don't want to make any major changes at this point. A newer camera, if chosen properly, should give you the ability to "see" better into the shadows, the bane of film transfer using video cameras as the "scanning" unit. A new camera would also give you the ability to do HD transfers, something that is useful for 16mm (not worth it IMHO for 8mm and Super 8).

If you want to look at Roger Evan's products, Moviestuff's CineMate line is similar to what you have now, but the Sniper line will give you real-time frame-accurate transfer and is what I would get if I were doing this full time (although I built my own frame-accurate 16mm transfer system that can give the Sniper a run for its money).

Speaking of 16mm frame-accurate transfers, it is time for me to set up my own 16mm frame-accurate transfer unit and transfer some 16mm Kinescope sound film from a 1963 Chicago broadcast about a famous Chicago radio pioneer. I grew up with his son and have been looking forward to doing this project since the film arrived last week.

Butch Moore wrote on 10/11/2011, 11:41 AM
We have several hundred reels of high school footbal games from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. This is NOT high quality film. Although there is a demand, were not going to own the bank when its over. Our Elmo went south a few years back and we simply put it and the reels on the shelf. We'd like to transfer the film, as well as retain the ability to do more in the future (in other words, have our machine working). Transferring film is not a primary business for us, but having the Elmo repaired in the process would be a plus.

I'm going to further investigate the "upgrade " and will let you know what I find out.

Thanks!
johnmeyer wrote on 10/11/2011, 11:59 AM
Ah yes, the football films. I've done several hundred reels. They are always in pretty bad shape, and often stored in terrible conditions. This school had about 500 reels stored in a furnace room, some on shelves, but many on the floor:



I end up doing a lot of restoration, but as you can see, the film is still in rough shape:



bsuratt wrote on 10/13/2011, 10:14 AM
Looks really good, John!