diff --git a/src/movie.cpp b/src/movie.cpp
index 9a84bc42..873fe552 100644
--- a/src/movie.cpp
+++ b/src/movie.cpp
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ using namespace std;
 
 //todo - handle case where read+write is requested, but the file is actually readonly (could be confusing)
 
+//todo - could we, given a field size, over-read from an inputstream and then parse out an integer?
+//that would be faster than several reads, perhaps.
+
 //sometimes we accidentally produce movie stop signals while we're trying to do other things with movies..
 bool suppressMovieStop=false;
 
@@ -143,7 +146,7 @@ void MovieRecord::parse(MovieData* md, std::istream* is)
 	//by the time we get in here, the initial pipe has already been extracted
 
 	//extract the commands
-	commands = uintDecFromIstream(is);
+	commands = uint32DecFromIstream(is);
 	//*is >> commands;
 	is->get(); //eat the pipe
 
@@ -165,13 +168,12 @@ void MovieRecord::parse(MovieData* md, std::istream* is)
 			{
 				int x,y,b,bogo;
 				uint64 zaphit;
-				*is >> x >> y >> b >> bogo >> zaphit;
-				//todo: test uintDecFromIstream
-				zappers[port].x = x;
-				zappers[port].y = y;
-				zappers[port].b = b;
-				zappers[port].bogo = bogo;
-				zappers[port].zaphit = zaphit;
+				//*is >> x >> y >> b >> bogo >> zaphit;
+				zappers[port].x = uint32DecFromIstream(is);
+				zappers[port].y = uint32DecFromIstream(is);
+				zappers[port].b = uint32DecFromIstream(is);
+				zappers[port].bogo = uint32DecFromIstream(is);
+				zappers[port].zaphit = uint64DecFromIstream(is);
 			}
 			
 			is->get(); //eat the pipe
@@ -192,7 +194,9 @@ void MovieRecord::dump(MovieData* md, std::ostream* os, int index)
 	//fprintf(fp,"%08d",index);
 
 	//dump the misc commands
-	*os << '|' << setw(1) << (int)commands;
+	//*os << '|' << setw(1) << (int)commands;
+	os->put('|');
+	putdec<uint8,1,true>(os,commands);
 
 	//a special case: if fourscore is enabled, dump four gamepads
 	if(md->fourscore)
@@ -211,7 +215,13 @@ void MovieRecord::dump(MovieData* md, std::ostream* os, int index)
 			if(md->ports[port] == SI_GAMEPAD)
 				dumpJoy(os, joysticks[port]);
 			else if(md->ports[port] == SI_ZAPPER)
-				*os << setw(3) << setfill('0') << (int)zappers[port].x << ' ' << setw(3) << setfill('0') << (int)zappers[port].y << setw(1) << ' ' << (int)zappers[port].b << ' ' << (int)zappers[port].bogo << ' ' << zappers[port].zaphit;
+			{
+				putdec<uint8,3,true>(os,zappers[port].x); os->put(' ');
+				putdec<uint8,3,true>(os,zappers[port].y); os->put(' ');
+				putdec<uint8,1,true>(os,zappers[port].b); os->put(' ');
+				putdec<uint8,1,true>(os,zappers[port].bogo); os->put(' ');
+				putdec<uint64,20,false>(os,zappers[port].zaphit);
+			}
 		}
 		os->put('|');
 	}
diff --git a/src/utils/xstring.cpp b/src/utils/xstring.cpp
index 18c41ef1..a2bd38a6 100644
--- a/src/utils/xstring.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/xstring.cpp
@@ -463,22 +463,6 @@ char *U8ToHexStr(uint8 a)
 	return TempArray;
 }
 
-unsigned int uintDecFromIstream(std::istream* is)
-{
-	unsigned int ret = 0;
-
-	for(;;)
-	{
-		int d = is->get() - '0';
-		if(d<0 || d>9)
-			break;
-		ret *= 10;
-		ret += d;
-	}
-	is->unget();
-	return ret;
-}
-
 std::string stditoa(int n)
 {
 	char tempbuf[16];
@@ -486,4 +470,3 @@ std::string stditoa(int n)
 	return tempbuf;
 }
 
-
diff --git a/src/utils/xstring.h b/src/utils/xstring.h
index 2a355885..0df73964 100644
--- a/src/utils/xstring.h
+++ b/src/utils/xstring.h
@@ -58,4 +58,51 @@ char *U16ToHexStr(uint16 a);
 std::string stditoa(int n);
 
 //extracts a decimal uint from an istream
-unsigned int uintDecFromIstream(std::istream* is);
+template<typename T> T templateIntegerDecFromIstream(std::istream* is)
+{
+	unsigned int ret = 0;
+	bool pre = true;
+
+	for(;;)
+	{
+		int d = is->get() - '0';
+		if((d<0 || d>9))
+		{
+			if(!pre)
+				break;
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			pre = false;
+			ret *= 10;
+			ret += d;
+		}
+	}
+	is->unget();
+	return ret;
+}
+
+inline uint32 uint32DecFromIstream(std::istream* is) { return templateIntegerDecFromIstream<uint32>(is); }
+inline uint64 uint64DecFromIstream(std::istream* is) { return templateIntegerDecFromIstream<uint64>(is); }
+
+//puts an optionally 0-padded decimal integer of type T into the ostream (0-padding is quicker)
+template<typename T, int DIGITS, bool PAD> void putdec(std::ostream* os, T dec)
+{
+	char temp[DIGITS];
+	int ctr = 0;
+	for(int i=0;i<DIGITS;i++)
+	{
+		int quot = dec/10;
+		int rem = dec%10;
+		temp[DIGITS-1-i] = '0' + rem;
+		if(!PAD)
+		{
+			if(rem != 0) ctr = i;
+		}
+		dec = quot;
+	}
+	if(!PAD)
+		os->write(temp+DIGITS-ctr-1,ctr+1);
+	else
+		os->write(temp,DIGITS);
+}
\ No newline at end of file