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As one of the few IMAX recording facilities outside of the USA, RPS Film Imaging offers a highly specialised and unique service, capable of recording at levels up to 8K IMAX resolution.

So when the HDCAM SR tape of the latest Ford Focus commercial was sent to RPS for IMAX conversion and was found to be not up to scratch, RPS technical director Simon Burley knew he had a problem.

The copy, which featured an orchestra playing instruments constructed from Ford Focus components, was very soft and was smothered in film grain, recalls Burley, the result of a sub-standard conversion.

The answer was to create a new HDCAM SR master at On Sight's HD LAB, running it through one of its HDCAM SR decks and digitising the uncompressed files to drives before RPS set to work with its own in-house grain reduction system to sharpen up the picture.

On Sight's HD LAB is RPS’s first port of call, says Burley, because it offers the flexibility of HDCAM SR decks that you can use by the hour. “It’s a lot more cost effective than hiring a deck for the day and it avoids the issues of maintaining our own decks. It’s much easier to go to On Sight and we trust them to get it right.”