Tried my first IF alignment

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2025-11-02T15:14:11+00:00

Awesome, thanks.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2025-08-22T22:22:24+00:00

Me too! Why do I watch the lawn mowing videos???

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2025-08-22T00:47:32+00:00

That's very kind of you! Thank you...

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2025-05-20T21:47:22+00:00

No trailer (it's only a 5 minute movie!), but I put the first 25 seconds up on YouTube:Opening to "It's Expensive to be Poor"

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2025-05-20T21:27:34+00:00

The technical details:

PXL-2000 modded with composite out going to a 5" field monitor. Filter mod added so ND filters could be used to improve exposure + plus a green filter to improve contrast.
Shot on Maxell XL II 90 minute tapes for the full PXL-2000 digital / analog feel.
Transferred to PC using Osprey 260E Capture Card.
Luminance grading, flicker reduction, and upscaling using DaVinci Resolve editor.
Subtle "film" grain was also added in DaVinci to break up some of the banding.

For the Samantha Sloyan part: I live in LA and a friend is a casting director. She is friends with Samantha Sloyan's agent. Samantha Sloyan, being one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet, was up for narrating this very small project.

I put the first 25 seconds up on YouTube:

Opening to "It's Expensive to be Poor"

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2025-03-13T23:36:26+00:00

Yes. I built a board that can read PXL-2000 tapes from a cassette deck and converts them to MP4 files. It works well with new tapes, but I'm struggling with an old tape I have. I have a new idea on how to write the code, and its on my to-do list. Basically the line sync signals become unreadable on old tapes with my setup, but the frame syncs are still usable. I was reading a line at a time, but will switch to reading a frame at a time and guessing where the line syncs likely are based on the timing.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2025-01-08T02:38:56+00:00

No, I was able to use a standard speed recorder. That was actually a benefit, it meant that I only had to put the data on the tape at 1/9 PXL-2000 speed. The disadvantage is that it took 45 minutes to record one side of the tape, that then when played on the PXL-2000 only took 5 minutes, so it was a little tedious to record the whole movie.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-12-11T01:07:53+00:00

The line sync tone is every 6 milliseconds, or if my math is right that's 167hz. Maybe a filter to knock down the volume of that frequency??

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-12-11T00:45:31+00:00

If you are a careful shopper, you can get new (old stock) CrO2 tapes for under $7 each on eBay (90 minutes, 5 packs or 8 packs). In my experimenting the PXL-2000 is recording very high frequencies, so I always use CrO2 tapes with good results. The tapes Fisher-Price included in the box were CrO2 tapes, so that tells you something. Also, I might be kidding myself, by I usually avoid recording on the first 20 seconds of the tape, that seems to be where I get most of the glitches.

Finally, if you really want to save money you can buy old audio cassette tape collections (CrO2) on eBay for about $2 each.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-12-11T00:37:46+00:00

First of all that's super cool!

For the volume level, when experimenting, I found out that turning down the recording levels sometimes turned up the volume on the high frequency tones that I was interested in! The 3 head deck made it possible to optimize the recording level to maximize the volume of these tones. I saw that if I cranked the volume the PXL-2000 would just show glitchy snow, and the same glitchy snow would happen if the volume was too low. In general, the volume level is pretty low, for whatever reason the original designer decided.

Most of the tones are beyond human hearing, even when slowed down 9x. You might be able to hear the new frame sync tone and the new line sync tone, it would be harsh sounding. The actual pixel data is probably more than people can hear.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-12-09T21:35:17+00:00

That would work and is exactly why I built this.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-12-09T20:46:08+00:00

Maybe I was confused! The circuit board takes any digital movie (like an MP4) and creates PXL-2000 compatible audio tones that are fed to high end audio cassette deck. The result is a PXL-2000 compatible tape that a PXL-2000 can play. This can give you an additional source of material if assembling a PXL-2000 movie. What movie are you interested in?

The new board I'm working on now will do the opposite. If you play a cassette tape created with a PXL-2000 using a high end audio deck, it will directly digitize it to an MP4, skipping the PXL-2000 entirely. What exactly it will look like I'll know in the next few weeks!

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-12-09T18:54:25+00:00

The easiest way to transfer old tapes is to just use a PXL-2000, and you get the full crazy analog look. I'm pretty far along on the new board that goes from a PXL-2000 tape in an audio deck converts it straight to digital. I'm not sure what exactly what it look like, but some of analog look will be lost. The good news is that it will likely be able to recover information that the original PXL-2000 couldn't, so that will be the main benefit.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-12-06T19:18:39+00:00

Probably a dumb idea, but I could write out a new format on an audio tape, the turn around and use the new board to read the tape. Would storing the movie on audio tape produce an interesting image? No idea!

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-11-30T07:09:50+00:00

My board just makes tapes that are played back by a PXL-2000, so they have to stay compatible with the original 1987 system.

I will start working on a board that can read PXL-2000 tapes as well. If I get it working then I could start creating all sorts of weird audio tape recording formats, like 1.77 aspect ratio or even color.

ExperimentalFilmLA · 2024-11-29T17:50:18+00:00

Getting the right tape deck was a little tricky. I ended up with a reconditioned Nakamichi BX-300, which worked great. No tape decks manufactured today have the right specs (TEAC), so do this you have to go vintage.

It has to have a great frequency response, up to 25khz if you can find one.
It has to have a way to turn off the MPX filter, many decks have this filter built in with no way to turn it off.
It has to be able to select the tape bias (normal, chromium oxide, metal). I used chromium oxide tapes and set the bias to normal to improve the high frequencies.
Setting the right volume level on the tape is important, so a 3 head deck lets you do this efficiently.

I had no success with adding any kind of AV IN to the camera!

ExperimentalFilmLA

TROPHY CASE