Spirit DataCine

Spirit DataCine is a telecine and a motion picture film scanner. This device is able to transfer 16mm and 35mm motion picture film to NTSC or PAL television standards or one of many High-definition television standards. With the data transfer option a Spirit DataCine can output DPX data files. The Spirit DataCine is made by DFT Digital Film Technology GmbH in Darmstadt, Germany.

The operator of the unit is called a Colorist or Colorist Assistant. The Spirit DataCine has become the standard for high-end real-time film transfer and scanning. Over 370 units are used in post-production facilities around the world. Most current film productions are transferred on Spirit DataCines for television, digital television, cable television, satellite television, direct-to-video, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, pay-per-view, in-flight entertainment, stock footage, dailies, film preservation, digital intermediates, and digital cinema.

The Spirit DataCine opened the door to the technology of digital intermediates, wherein telecine tools were not just used for video outputs, but could now be used for high-resolution data that would later be recorded back out to film. The DFT Digital Film Technology, formerly Grass Valley Spirit 4K/2K/HD (2004) replaced the Spirit 2000 Datacine and uses both 2K and 4k line array CCDs. The SDC 2000 did not use a color prisms and/or dichroic mirrors, color separation was done in the CCD. DFT revealed its newest scanner at the 2009 NAB Show, Scanity.

A Spirit DataCine outputting DPX files was used in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The DPX files were color corrected with a VDC-2000 and a Pandora Int. Pogle Color Corrector with MegaDEF. A Kodak Lightning II film recorder was used to put the data output to back to film. To output the movie the Spirit Datacine's Phantom Transfer Engine software running on an SGI computer is used to record the DPX files from the Spirit DataCine. These files are stored in the virtual telecine or on a SAN hard disk storage array. The Phantom Transfer Engine has been replaced with Bones software running on a Linux-based PC. First generation of DPX interface for data files was the optical fiber HIPPI cables (up to 6 frame/s at 2K), the next generation interface is GSN-Gigabit Ethernet fiber Optic (up to 30 frame/s at 2K). GSN is also called HIPPI-6400 and was later renamed GSN (for Gigabyte System Network). The SAN hard disks are interfaces to by dual FC-Fibre Channel, cables. The newest DPX output interface is infiniband.

Most Spirit DataCines are controlled by a Da Vinci Systems color corrector, 2K or 2K Plus. Some are controlled by Pandora International Pogle, some with a their MegaDEF or a Pixi color grading system. A Spirit DataCine comes with a full function control panel that can be used for control and color grade.

Ken Burns created The Civil War, a short documentary film included in the DVD release, on how he used the Spirit DataCine to transfer and remaster the film.

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