Telecine machines

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The inventor has appreciated that there are a number of improvements which can be made to the available telecine machines and these improvements are defined in the appended claims.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the scan rate of the line-array sensor is linked directly to the film speed.
Ways of measuring the film speed are already incorporated in a telecine as part of the film transport servo system.
Using the output from these measuring devices also to drive the sensor scanning circuits has the result that once the film framing information has been acquired (which can be achieved when the film is first run after being laced onto the machine and takes only a few film frames--a fraction of a second--to complete) any fluctuations in the film motion can be tracked by the sensor scanning system.
Thus any disturbance caused by starting, stopping and changing speed can be minimised; ideally the `run-up` time required by the telecine can be reduced to zero, that is the telecine can be started only when its output is required by the television system and not several seconds in advance, as at present.
It will be appreciated that various different outputs may be required for different purposes.
It may be simply that the film is being scanned for review purposes, e.
g.
for editing.
In this case the displayed quality need not be particularly high, but scene and shot changes should be fairly clearly defined.
Alternatively, it may be that a broadcast quality signal is needed, in which case a higher quality output without flicker or movement judder becomes important.