Motion picture film scanner

[1] The scanner scans the film frames into a file sequence (using high-end computer data storage devices), whose single file contains a digital scan of each still frame; the preferred image file format used as output are usually Cineon, DPX or TIFF, because they can store color information as raw data, preserving the optical characteristics of the film stock.

These systems take a lot of storage area network (SAN) disk space.

Each year hard disks get larger and are able to hold more hours of movies on SAN systems.

[1] The scanned footage is edited and composited on work stations then mastered back on film, see film-out and digital intermediate.

The data film files may be converted to SDTV (NTSC or PAL) video TV systems.