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Solved Removing Strobe effect when transferring film to digital in Vegas Pro

When I took reel to reel film (8mm and Super 8), I converted it using a a converter that took it from film to VHS. VHS was recommended because it would be more forgiving on flicker than using a modern digital camera. From VHS I then converted it to DVD, which now allowed me to use on the DVD movies I'm currently making in Vegas Pro. The only problem was that the end result had a really bad flicker or strobe effect, which was really hard on the eye. I found an acceptable fix for this. If you have this fix on your site somewhere, I'm sorry I just didn't find it. This is what I did.


Get your media and put it into Vegas.


Right click the media and go to Properties


Make sure the following are checked under Video Event (First Tab):
Loop
Maintain Aspect Ratio
Reduce Interlace Flicker
Smart Resample


Then undersample rate needs to be changed from 1.000 to .500 fps


Hit OK.


That's it. Now the media went from strobe effect to a mild lighter/darker effect, which I can live with. Most of these films are from the 1940's, so they are very old. They kept breaking the in the projector, but it needed to be done so that my family doesn't lose the history. I had searched everywhere for a solution to this problem and this was the only thing I was able to come up with. If there is something better, please let me know. Thanks.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DoctorZen, Eagle Six

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Hi Nietzold and welcome to the Forum.

Thanks for copying your email message into the Forum.

Cheers :)
Derek
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Hi Nietzold: I started doing 8mm movie tranfers to video 25 years ago. I used a converter like you did and transferred to VHS. This was not a good system - at every stage of the conversion process Film to VHS to DVD there was a very noticeable loss of quality.
Flicker was another problem and can only be eliminated by having a projector with a variable speed controller. You just watch the flicker disappear on your TV monitor as you turn the variable speed knob.

These days I use a Telecine machine which in actual fact is a movie projector that has been converted and no longer projects movies but allows video capture at the movie projector gate. I use a HD camera to capture movie footage in 1080P format. The resulting files are then colour corrected and contrast adjusted in Vegas Pro.

All the above equipment can cost considerable money! I might suggest you approach a company that do transfers (using telecine and HD video). You could perhaps get them to just do the transfers while you do the editing (colour corrections) in Vegas Pro and do the DVD's yourself. Maybe you could arrive at a good price doing this!

Last year, a customer came to me with a DVD that had 2 wedding films (8mm) on them done in VHS and then put on DVD. He thought he would get good quality by just copying that DVD. In the end, it turned out that he still had the original 8mm movies which I re-captured with my setup. He was delighted with the new DVD I made out of it.

If you would like more information, I would be happy to help!
The following user(s) said Thank You: DoctorZen, Eagle Six

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Supplemental: Very old movies dry out and become brittle. This can make them break. You can get a solution called: "Solvon type 2". Not only does this clean old films, but lubricates them as well so that they run through the projector smoothly. Solvon contains dissolved particles of wax. You apply it with a soft cotton cloth.
Full application instructions are available at Urbanski.

You can get Solvon at Urbanski film (USA) - www.urbanskifilm.com
The following user(s) said Thank You: DoctorZen, Eagle Six

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