The Story of Optical Sound Recording with 8mm – Type S (Super-8) Film

Obstacles to obtaining high-quality sound from 8mm – Type S (super-8) optical soundtracks include the lack of a high-resolution (50 lines/mm) 8mm – Type S sound film, an SNR problem due to the lack of color dye elements that are good absorbers of infrared radiation, variances in the quality of laboratory printers and waveform distortion and high-frequency cutoff due to misalignments and film weaving. Some of these problems are beginning to be recognized and confronted in the industry, but the author still sees a particular need for a high-quality sound film. The multilateral variable-area recording technique is considered superior to both the bilateral and the variable-density techniques for recording on 8mm – Type S. Another definite need is for an official optical sound test film to permit meaningful evaluations of various sound systems and films.

Print ISSN

0361-4573

Published

1974-02

Content type

Information

DOI

10.5594/J08828