Thank you Doug for your tutorial Magna sonic FS81 video. It's a gr8 help for not so techy ppl like me. Maybe find a way to make its screen seeable when recording.
Ok I just got one as of yesterday from my girlfriend as an anniversary present. Now it started off ok when I did a couple of 3" reels. but when I started working on the 5", well they were another story. A few of them stalled in the middle of scanning, one had its film break and another 1 I did today didn't go all the way to the end. Could it be because of how old they are? Because they date back to the late 1950's early 60s. And it looks exactly like yours.
I'd do that, but according to the manual, you're not supposed to use any kind of liquid which includes alcohol, gasoline or thinner. you're only supposed to use the dry cloth.@@MeandMyShadow-u3c
@@hannahfan511 well, then I can’t help you I can only tell you, but I did a little bit of alcohol on a Q-tip just to clean off the sliders. I found they got full of film after a couple of reels. Other than that I return it.
Nice video, but using Handbrake to correct the speed won't work. It does change the frame rate, but the run time will be exactly the same. I suppose there are some video editing programs that can do, a proper framerate conversion.
It did work but the machine is very sensitive to the material that comes off of the film. It required a lot of cleaning of the film advance mechanism . Use you straightest real as a take up real for the film as a bent real will throw the machine off. If your film is worn you will get a shutter or bounce in your recording. This usually happens in the first two minutes. I took screen shots in these parts during editing. I would stop the machine and advance the film past the next splice and start the recording again. This usually worked. To sum it up transferring films is a learning process. The condition of your films matters to how hard the project will be to complete. Cleaning the machine after each film is a must and if you are getting a shutter in your recording ,just stop the machine and reset the film. When it runs over splices this can mess it up. It does work and good luck.
@@MeandMyShadow-u3c If I'm reading your comment correction, this machine does use SPROCKETS to advance the film. Is that right? If so, then for the price of this machine, the Devs did a bad thing. Sprockets on old film is a very bad thing. I know! I have 3 machines. 1 of them, a very old projector, uses the toothed sprocket advance and I stopped using it because it would literally rip the film by gouging the holes. I bought a "like new" used machine that uses roller pads as the advance mechanism. WOW! What a difference. Beside NEVER chewing up the film at all, the movement of the film through the project is a lot smoother and none of that shutter jumping stuff that happens with toothed sprockets. It was so good, that I was able to find another project that was the same as this one I bought, but one model older. It still uses the pressure rollers to advance film. I bought this 2nd one, because if I EVER get off my butt and do it, I plant on converting it into a frame-by=frame scanner as well. I was planning on using Arduino as the engine, but I'm kind of looking at the ESP32 boards as they are a lot more powerful with more memory and more goodies on board... like WiFi, wired networks and blue tooth. Now, I'm thinking, perhaps I could build this to not only save the frames to an SD card, but perhaps send each frame, wirelessly, to the computer directly. I'm not sure yet how to build an app in Windows to capture this. But again, butt... in seat... need to move that. LOL
It s a complete piece of bullshit dedicated tobstupidbamateurs with money. Material is shaky, with big compression, a lotbof artifacts, narrow dynamic range and bad color reproduction. But you have no money to buy so so good scanner, it cost 30 000 at least.
@@BlondieSL ypu try to do things that are much above you. Please buy real new scanner for 30 000 and be happy. Judging by the your logo, you have or can have a lot of money.
This is a link to the manual www.magnasonic.com/downloads/dl/file/id/1695/product/1726/magnasonic_fs81_manual.pdf On page #17 it lists file format Mp4 with no other options. So my answer to your question is no ,but the format of the saved video can be change it handbrake for free. (many other programs can do it as well) Also the unit will according to the instructions on page #12 will play the scanned video through the provided RCA cables . This means you could use this feature to capture the video with your computer. You would need a usb video capture card. I hope this helps
@@MeandMyShadow-u3c Thank you for your quick response. As part of the workflow, I would prefer to have the option to change to a higher codec, like ProRes 4:2:2, at the capture stage. There's only a little benefit to converting a compressed MP4 file to a higher codec, except for further post-processing. For preservation and restoration purposes, the alternative to sending the analog signal via the RCA is a benefit because this allows us to choose the capture codec within the capture card. I hope the RCA is not only for a display format but a capture one. The RCA Out in other brands doesn't get recognized by capture cards. Thank you once again for the helpful response.
@@willianaleman6114 i have used the (Video DVR) capture card to transfer vhs tapes to my computer. Its on Amazon and worked will. I would say the RCA outputs on this unit are meant to go directly to a TV.(as stated in the instruction on page#12). In believe the MAGNASONIC FS81 is a budget unit that served me well for the job it was designed to do. If you would like more feature or do no like the mp4 out file format the it might not be a good fit. I did have family members who had trouble playing MP4 files on a mac. This can be done with a quick goggle search.
@@MeandMyShadow-u3c Thank you for the follow-up. I’m downloading the manual to explore the features the unit provides. I use Blackmagic Desing 4K capture and/or Atomos SUMO19 for direct SDI ProRes transfer.
Looks like your "handbrake" software was actually going through the whole file, doing frame interpolation, to get the new frame rate. It's far better (and of course much quicker) to use software that just fixes the file header, replacing 30 with 16 (not 20!); that way you aren't reprocessing the video _again_ (the magnasonic/wolverine/reflecta/whatever has done more than enough of that already).
You are absolute life saver!! I had been having major issues with mine and this showed me why. Cannot thank you enough
Thank you Doug for your tutorial Magna sonic FS81 video. It's a gr8 help for not so techy ppl like me. Maybe find a way to make its screen seeable when recording.
Glad it helped
I loved this... Thank You!
Ok I just got one as of yesterday from my girlfriend as an anniversary present. Now it started off ok when I did a couple of 3" reels. but when I started working on the 5", well they were another story. A few of them stalled in the middle of scanning, one had its film break and another 1 I did today didn't go all the way to the end. Could it be because of how old they are? Because they date back to the late 1950's early 60s. And it looks exactly like yours.
You need to clean the gears on either side of the scanner with isopropyl alcohol. This might help fix your problem.
I'd do that, but according to the manual, you're not supposed to use any kind of liquid which includes alcohol, gasoline or thinner. you're only supposed to use the dry cloth.@@MeandMyShadow-u3c
@@hannahfan511 well, then I can’t help you I can only tell you, but I did a little bit of alcohol on a Q-tip just to clean off the sliders. I found they got full of film after a couple of reels. Other than that I return it.
Nice video, but using Handbrake to correct the speed won't work. It does change the frame rate, but the run time will be exactly the same. I suppose there are some video editing programs that can do, a proper framerate conversion.
Please provide your review of this scanner. Are you happy with it? Any problems? Thanks.
It did work but the machine is very sensitive to the material that comes off of the film. It required a lot of cleaning of the film advance mechanism . Use you straightest real as a take up real for the film as a bent real will throw the machine off. If your film is worn you will get a shutter or bounce in your recording. This usually happens in the first two minutes. I took screen shots in these parts during editing. I would stop the machine and advance the film past the next splice and start the recording again. This usually worked. To sum it up transferring films is a learning process. The condition of your films matters to how hard the project will be to complete. Cleaning the machine after each film is a must and if you are getting a shutter in your recording ,just stop the machine and reset the film. When it runs over splices this can mess it up.
It does work and good luck.
@@MeandMyShadow-u3c Thank you.
@@MeandMyShadow-u3c If I'm reading your comment correction, this machine does use SPROCKETS to advance the film. Is that right?
If so, then for the price of this machine, the Devs did a bad thing.
Sprockets on old film is a very bad thing.
I know! I have 3 machines. 1 of them, a very old projector, uses the toothed sprocket advance and I stopped using it because it would literally rip the film by gouging the holes.
I bought a "like new" used machine that uses roller pads as the advance mechanism.
WOW! What a difference. Beside NEVER chewing up the film at all, the movement of the film through the project is a lot smoother and none of that shutter jumping stuff that happens with toothed sprockets.
It was so good, that I was able to find another project that was the same as this one I bought, but one model older.
It still uses the pressure rollers to advance film.
I bought this 2nd one, because if I EVER get off my butt and do it, I plant on converting it into a frame-by=frame scanner as well.
I was planning on using Arduino as the engine, but I'm kind of looking at the ESP32 boards as they are a lot more powerful with more memory and more goodies on board... like WiFi, wired networks and blue tooth.
Now, I'm thinking, perhaps I could build this to not only save the frames to an SD card, but perhaps send each frame, wirelessly, to the computer directly. I'm not sure yet how to build an app in Windows to capture this.
But again, butt... in seat... need to move that. LOL
It s a complete piece of bullshit dedicated tobstupidbamateurs with money. Material is shaky, with big compression, a lotbof artifacts, narrow dynamic range and bad color reproduction. But you have no money to buy so so good scanner, it cost 30 000 at least.
@@BlondieSL ypu try to do things that are much above you. Please buy real new scanner for 30 000 and be happy. Judging by the your logo, you have or can have a lot of money.
Thank you for the informative video.
Is MP4 the only codec allowed to record on the Magnasonic?
This is a link to the manual
www.magnasonic.com/downloads/dl/file/id/1695/product/1726/magnasonic_fs81_manual.pdf
On page #17 it lists file format Mp4 with no other options.
So my answer to your question is no ,but the format of the saved video can be change it handbrake for free. (many other programs can do it as well) Also the unit will according to the instructions on page #12 will play the scanned video through the provided RCA cables . This means you could use this feature to capture the video with your computer. You would need a usb video capture card. I hope this helps
@@MeandMyShadow-u3c Thank you for your quick response.
As part of the workflow, I would prefer to have the option to change to a higher codec, like ProRes 4:2:2, at the capture stage.
There's only a little benefit to converting a compressed MP4 file to a higher codec, except for further post-processing.
For preservation and restoration purposes, the alternative to sending the analog signal via the RCA is a benefit because this allows us to choose the capture codec within the capture card.
I hope the RCA is not only for a display format but a capture one. The RCA Out in other brands doesn't get recognized by capture cards.
Thank you once again for the helpful response.
@@willianaleman6114 i have used the (Video DVR) capture card to transfer vhs tapes to my computer. Its on Amazon and worked will. I would say the RCA outputs on this unit are meant to go directly to a TV.(as stated in the instruction on page#12). In believe the MAGNASONIC FS81 is a budget unit that served me well for the job it was designed to do. If you would like more feature or do no like the mp4 out file format the it might not be a good fit. I did have family members who had trouble playing MP4 files on a mac. This can be done with a quick goggle search.
@@MeandMyShadow-u3c Thank you for the follow-up. I’m downloading the manual to explore the features the unit provides.
I use Blackmagic Desing 4K capture and/or Atomos SUMO19 for direct SDI ProRes transfer.
How long did it take to convert that film you use in the video ?
A couple hours I think
Looks like your "handbrake" software was actually going through the whole file, doing frame interpolation, to get the new frame rate. It's far better (and of course much quicker) to use software that just fixes the file header, replacing 30 with 16 (not 20!); that way you aren't reprocessing the video _again_ (the magnasonic/wolverine/reflecta/whatever has done more than enough of that already).
Good if .I was just trying to do it for free.
Can you transfer nevative film with this unit?
If it's 8mm or Super 8, of course.
Then, you can use some video editing software that has the ability to convert Negative to positive.
Tyvm!!
16 FPS should be changed to 15 FPS.