Canberra, September 2011 – DAMsmart, Australia’s leading audiovisual digitisation agency and only MWA-NOVA (MWA) distributor in Australia, has been appointed by the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) to commission an MWA FlashscanHD, the world’s leading, archive specific small gauge film scanner.
The NFSA collects, preserves, interprets and shares Australia’s moving image history and, as part of their ongoing preservation strategy, have commissioned a film scanner to digitise their small gauge film collection with high definition video output. “The NFSA holds film in the highest regard and, in looking for a scanner, we wanted a system that would enable us to replicate the original film in a digital format with the highest integrity” said Steve Clark. Clark went on to say “In addition, we were looking for a system that enables high productivity and would afford us flexibility when it comes to the available range of small gauge formats. We chose the MWA FlashscanHD as it represents the benchmark in small gauge film scanning for archives. It was the ideal system for upholding the accuracy of a film transfer from its native form into a contemporary digital file.”
This is the first installation of the MWA FlashscanHD in Australia. The FlashscanHD is configured to transfer 8mm, super 8mm and 9.5mm film. It uses a film transport that is designed specifically for archives. The scanner facilitates scanning up to three times faster than real-time, with a clean, single progressive HD video frame from each film frame. Joe Kelly, DAMsmart’s Media and Preservation Manager, said “We are very excited to undertake the first FlashscanHD installation in Australia. Our team have all the expert training and knowledge to provide local installation and support service for all MWA products. They have been trained in Germany by the engineering team and are acutely aware of the precision and detail required to complete the install.”
The NFSA have constructed a purpose-built small gauge film suite, including a solid granite bench top to minimise any vibration. The NFSA will be using MWA Flash Suite colour grading software on a Windows 7 HPZ800 workstation with a Digital Rapids Flux HD encoder.
MWA products are versatile and flexible in order to meet the needs of the world’s leading moving image preservation agencies. All MWA machines are German-made and engineered, all the way down to the CNC machining of their precision parts. MWA products use state-of-the-art software, such as automated colour correction software and market leading innovations, such as Sprocketless Capstan Transports and laser shrinkage detectors.