my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Rank the various brands of splicing tape (Page 1)

This topic comprises 7 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

Author Topic: Rank the various brands of splicing tape Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-22-2008 03:35 AM                        How do you feel about certain brands/styles of splicing tape? I've always used Neumade Clear for just about everything. Nothing is as good. Nothing. Seriously. If you are a splicing tape manufacturer, this is the tape to beat (or at the very least equal). It leaves no residue when peeled off and doesn't gum up the splicer. It has a cardboard core so it is difficult to use with a Strong splicer. But you really shouldn't use a Strong of splicer since it is inferior (this is fact, not opinion). I use Neumade Yellow to break down prints mainly because we have so much of it and it beats wasting the clear tape. There is no reason to ever use it for any other reason. It seems to be of similar quality to the clear tape. It doesn't peel quite as easily as the clear tape, but you really should only use one-sided splices when breaking down a print, so that's not much of an issue. Neumade Zebra (aka Striped) seems to be a bit inferior in the quality department, as it gums up splicers a bit. There is no need to use zebra/striped tape for any reason unless you have extreme difficulties breaking down a print for some reason (in which case you are probably a manager). There is no reason for this to exist. Can leave residue when peeled off if it has been on the print for awhile. There was some other kind of zebra tape that Mann Theaters bought us when we opened up the Chinese 16 in Aurora Colorado about 40 years ago. The yellow stripes were very muted compared to the Neumade zebra and it gummed up the splicers BIG TIME. I don't remember the brand, but maybe it was CIR? Don't quote me on that. Leaves sticky residue pretty much immediately. I just got an order of clear tape in that is made by Jack Roe. I assume each individual roll is hand-inspected by Jack himself (if not, I want a refund). I ordered Neumade clear tape, but I can't be certain if my manager specified Neumade or not. I have not used it yet and am afraid of it, as it seems kind of cheap. It does have a plastic core, though. Yippee. I wonder if it will leave residue or gum up my splicer. There is also some weird kind of red striped tape that is similar to zebra tape, but is supposed to prevent digital sound from cutting out. I tested it and it did not live up to that promise, plus the quality was pretty bad (and gummy). This was a long time ago so things may have changed. Still, there is no need for this tape when all reel changes should be spliced with clear tape. I also hate white tape that leaves those four dots behind. What's up with that?  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-22-2008 03:47 AM                     quote: Joe Redifer But you really shouldn't use a Strong of splicer since it is inferior (this is fact, not opinion). True, that has to be the WORST splicer ever conceived - the SP35 from the "Wrong International Company." Where did they slip up on not having a roller to mount the tape on? Don't they know that it's pure hell to pull the tape across when the side goo from the roll of tape loves to adhere itself to those springey side supports of the tape holder?? ...and I thought Marble splicers tanked in the low column... I love the JackRoe stuff - easy to pull and cut. Does the job for us. The Neumade stuff is so tough to pull along with being more expensive. Granted, it holds the two films better and doesn't flex (hinge the splice) with time, but where we change out movies so much, Jack Roe does us fine. quote: Joe Redifer There is also some weird kind of red striped tape That's "Splicemark" tape - made in Gr.Britian. It really does the job well when splicing film used for Dolby Digital. Yet, sadly a lot of booth monkeys are not trained correctly on how to use the "Splicemark" tape - where the thin edge should be used soundtrack side, covering over the SDDS track, but not covering the Dolby information. There's even a trick that I do with Zebra: for FLAT - pull with the clear section and splice with the dotted section. for SCOPE - splice with the clear sections of the tape and pull with the dotted section.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 09-22-2008 03:55 AM                        I think Carmike subcribes to the tape of the month club. But I'm wondering about Joe's Zebra tape. We had a couple of tapes we called zebra. We had a magenta/clear tape, a white/clear tape, and a tape that was all clear except a yellow marking in the shape of an H across it. The latter I beleive is more properly called T-splice. Where do these guys fit in? I actually liked the T-Splice. It held up decent, was clear to the picture, but still visible to the projectionist.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 09-22-2008 04:01 AM                     thought Carmike went all digital - they still have "film" cinemas?  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 09-22-2008 04:18 AM                        This was when they were still film. Been away from carmike for a few years. But they do still have some film projectors in the rare event of a film only release.  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 09-22-2008 08:42 AM                        I've been using the Jack Roe "T-STRIPE" splicing tape for 4 years. Never had a problem with it. I tried using clear splicing tape and then applying a strip of the yellow edgemark tape to the film. It was too much of a pain in the butt to get the little strips of tape folded over the edge of the film. The T-Stripe stuff produces the same results in one application.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-22-2008 08:45 AM                        1. Neumade clear 2. Everything else  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 09-22-2008 09:45 AM                     Will never use Neumade again, had some splices come apart with the stuff a few years ago, it has a yellow tint, very visible on the screen, crap. Have used only Jack Roe except for a year or so when I tried Newmade. NEVER had a problem with Jack Roe tape in 20 years.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-22-2008 12:41 PM                     quote: Bill Enos Will never use Neumade again, had some splices come apart with the stuff a few years ago, it has a yellow tint, very visible on the screen, crap. Bullshit. That "yellow tint" has the same refractory index of the film. It is NOT visible on screen. I have also NEVER seen a properly made Neumade splice break.  |  IP: Logged Galen Murphy-Fahlgren Master Film Handler Posts: 405 From: Canton, MI, USA Registered: Oct 2007 posted 09-22-2008 01:40 PM                     I've always used what you guys are calling T-stripe, though I thought that was zebra tape. I'm pretty sure I've always used Neumade, and I've never had any problem with it. I briefly used clear tape because I was interested to see if there was any on screen difference, but a well placed stripe is virtually invisible even to my eye. I find using it has the dual advantage of helping other people break down as well as distinguishing between intentional, reel change splices and splices to repair damage or replace a lab splice, for which I've used Neumade clear. I've never had a problem with drops from digital on any tape splice.  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 09-22-2008 01:42 PM                     Tape didn't break, it came unstuck from clean non oily film. Two sleeves of the stuff were just barely sticky. It came from a reputable dealer, I have reason to question his saying the tape was not over age. Granted, I used two other sleeves of the Neumade without incident but three splices coming apart while running is all it took to make a disbeliever of me. Maybe it was made while the quality control inspector was taking a It was clear non perf.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 09-22-2008 02:02 PM                     What I'd really like to see is a review of CUE tape. Some is definiately better than others, in terms of overall quality and durability. What is cue tape made from anyway? Is that stuff really a thin stip of adheasive-backed metal, or some sort of 'metalized-paper-particle" compound? ALL of my booths are located only a few blocks from and within sight of either the Pacific Ocean or San Francisco Bay. (and in one case, both!) "Salt air" can take its' toll on mechanical and electronic equipment if one is not constantly vigilant. Cue tape is often one of the first casualties. I find some brands 'oxidize' easier than others, greatly shortening their useful lifspan once applied to a print. For maximum effectiveness, I find that I have to keep ALL brands of unused cue tape sealed in plastic bags or even better- old cat food cans- to keep it fresh. (sure, it smells like dead fish-guts - - but it doesn't oxidize!)  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 09-22-2008 02:38 PM                     I use 25mm red stripe from Jack Roe for reel splice and clear 15mm from Jack Roe for lab splice (we cut them away). There is no thanks to the "buffer" feature of SRD. About 15mm clear tape, if SRD around the splice is printed properly, there is no dropout. Marco  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-22-2008 06:00 PM                        So why do you guys use marked tape for reel splices? Are you incompetent? Can you not feel for the splice as you are breaking down, or are there just sooo many other splices in the film from bad handling?  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 09-22-2008 06:40 PM                     quote: Joe Redifer So why do you guys use marked tape for reel splices? Are you incompetent? I'm many cases I'm sure that it's because a lot of good projectionists are forced to work with people who are incompetent. I've been in this situation in the past. If it were up to me, < I > would have made up and broken down all the shows. But this was not always possible. So, it was necessary to "dumb down" the process so that less technically qualified staff could handle the task in between selling tickets, popping corn and putting new toilet paper in the restrooms. Oh, c'mon, edge-marked tape isn't all THAT bad, if applied properly so that it doesn't show up on screen. I remember back when platters first started appearing in booths (IMO, one of the first signs of the decline of the human race ) and it was not uncommon to get reels where head & tail ends of each reel were marked with white instant shoe polish to make them easy to find when breaking down. After a while, the shoe polish would start flaking off and, thanks to the superior static electric properties of acetate film, particles would stick all over the image area of the film, making it look like you were watching a movie during a snowstorm. Since I was working in a change-over house it was often a challange trying to figure out what exactly was a cue mark and what was just a piece of polish.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 7 pages: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.