Converting Super8 Cine film reels to DVD

[Wills]

Hi all,

I have 14 x 400 feet (130m) reels of Super8 Cine film, which my Dad painstakingly put together during my childhood (with my siblings).
I've just left the 1st one with a conversion company to do a test convert.
They're doing it with a scanner, rather than a telecine process, which they say is immeasurably better (they do offer both processes). That does make sense, as a scanner can of course capture far more data than a telecine conversion could (logically, that is - I'm no expert).

My question to everyone here is: are there degrees of scanner conversion which I should be aware of? Obviously I'm not expecting a smallish conversion lab in Barcelona to have access to the resources of a Hollywood studio, but if there's something I should be aware of and check that they have, I'd be hugely grateful to know about it.

We're only going to pay to convert these 14 reels once, so I'm keen to get it right!

Also, another question: I've seen some companies online offer a Cine film to BluRay conversion. Surely even the best quality Cine can't hope to gain by virtue of simply being BluRay data rather than DVD data? Or would one see a marked difference in quality? As far as logic tells me, there simply isn't enough data on a scanned Super8 frame to make it SD let alone HD 720 or 1080. Or am I utterly wrong?

I might ask the lab to allow me to have the uncompressed scanner data, rather than the final compressed DVD data that they'd then author to DVD. This would allow me to add menu items and a highlights reel per DVD. I'm not sure however how much data one might reasonably expect a scanner to dump from a 400 feet / 133 metre 30 minute cine film reel.

Any ideas?
If they won't or can't allow me to have the uncompressed data, is there a way to rip the DVD back to my computer to add menu + highlights and then re-author completely lossless-y?

Many thanks to all.

[DB83]

I would hardly expect any lab, small or large, to use a scanner in the typical use of that word. Just do the maths. One second of 8mm film = 18 frames. So you are talking 000's for a 400 ft reel.

They probably use an adapted projector that has a camera focused on the film gate. Each frame is then 'filmed' or 'scanned' by the camera and a PC captures that frame with sofware that assembles the video.

The 'telecine' method probably again uses a camera but some form of mirror box so the film is projected in to the mirror box and the camera films that in the normal way.

In neither way is there uncompressed scanner data and even if there was you would be totally lost trying to handle those 000's of images. At best there could be a DV video which the lab could suplly at an extra cost whcih you would still have to find some way of capturing in to a PC and make your own dvd from that.

You can always rip the dvd if you want to add your own menus etc. As long as you do not re-edit the actual film there should be no re-encoding and loss of quality.

[smrpix]

logic tells me, there simply isn't enough data on a scanned Super8 frame to make it SD let alone HD 720 or 1080. Or am I utterly wrong?

Film, even small film, has potentially far more detail than vhs or even dvd.

It's very possible the lab will deliver a high quality file on a drive if you request it (probably not uncompressed). You will be responsible for buying the drive of course.

If they do deliver thousands of still images (highly unlikely) any serious NLE --Avid, Premiere Pro, Vegas Pro can import them as a sequence.

[Wills]

Many thanks for your prompt and highly informative replies, guys.
I thought as I typed it that any anologue source would of course in theory have far more detail than any digital version apart from HD and higher, so thanks for confirming that. I shall call the lab on Monday and see if they can let me have the higher quality scanned data. I have Premiere Pro but it remains woefully underused; perhaps this will give me an opportunity to explore it further.
Cheers all,
Will