Michel Merten; Digitaliseren van video

© Memnon Archiving Services 2011 – Memnon proprietary

Confidential

Digitaliseren van video

Michel Merten CEO


Confidential

Digitaliseren van video

Ensure the physical preservation of audiovisual archives has the same meaning as restore our cathedrals Emmanuel Hoog

(Pres. Fiat)

28/04/2011 3© Memnon Archiving Services 2011 – Memnon proprietary

Confidential

Overview of Memnon Archiving Services

• European leader in the mass digitization, migration, and semi-automated indexation and documentation of audiovisual archives, with facilities in:

• Belgium• Sweden

• Also providing “in house” services (set-up, media architecture, training, project-management, … on site)

• Involved in the digitization of more than 700,000 hours of audiovisual archives of most analog and digital formats.

• Large scale audiovisual digitization and migration at a very competitive price through strong project management and optimized workflows

• Expertise in database and metadata management• Outstanding client portfolio in Europe


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Digitisation equipment set-up

• Optimized set-up of large scale digitisation lines Over 50 video lines covering most formatsOver 90 audio lines covering most formatsRunning 16 hours a day / 7 days a week

• In most cases parallel digitization is more economical than robotic approach, even for large volumes

• Most lines equipped with automated QA data analysis

• All digitization lines are interconnected with our PAM (Production Asset Management) system and our calculation farm for post-processing so that QA, process control and management can easily be distributed and accessed


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Audiovisual archives in the

world


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Audiovisual archives in the world

• The European audiovisual archives represent 50 million hours on a global estimate of 200 million hours.

• An estimated 80% of these materials are in danger.


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Major audiovisual archives in Europe

• INA (France) more than 2 million hours AV Archives.In 2015, Ina should have digitized all its archives

• BBC has 1 million hours of audiovisual archives (4 million of physical items)

• Beeld & Geluid (Holland) has 700,000 hours of AV archives

• VRT has 330,000 hours of video and 90,000 hours of audio

• SONUMA - RTBF (Belgium) more than 100,000 hours of AV archives


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Video tape typical carriers


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Video tape typical carriers

• 2 inch Quadruplex• 1 inch• U-Matic• BETAMAX• VHS• BETACAM SP / SX • DIGITAL BETACAM• DV CAM• DVCPRO / DVCPRO HD• HD CAM• ... ... ... ... ... ...


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2 inch Quadruplex videotape

• It was developed and released for the broadcast television industry in 1956 by Ampex

• A typical 4,800-foot (1,500 m) reel of 2-inch quad tape holds approximately 1 hour of recorded material at 15 inches per second (381 mm/s or 1.37 km/h).


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1 inch Type C

• Co-developed and introduced by Ampex and Sony in 1976.

• It became the replacement in the professional video and television broadcast industries for the then-incumbent Quadruplex open-reel format, due to the smaller size


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U-matic ¾ inches

• It was developed by Sony in 1971.• It was among the first video formats to

contain the videotape inside a cassette.• known as 'three-quarter-inch‘


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Betamax

• It was developed by Sony in 1975.

• half-inch professional videotape products


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VHS (Video Home System)

• a consumer-level video standard developed by JVC released in 1976.

• Variation :– Super VHS– VHS C– D9


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Betacam

• It was developed by Sony in 1982.• half-inch professional videotape products. • Variants : Betacam SP / Betacam SX / Digital

Betacam / MPEG IMX / HDCAM


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DVCPRO

• developed by Panasonic and introduced in 1995

• DVCPRO uses locked audio and 4:1:1 chroma subsampling for both 50 Hz and 60 Hz variants to reduce generation loss. Audio is available only in the 16-bit/48 kHz variant.

• Variants:• DVCPRO50 (video data rate 50 Mbit/s)• DVCPRO Progressive• DVCPRO HD (up to 100 Mbit/s for 50/60 frame/s modes)


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DV CAM

• It was launched in 1996 with joint efforts of leading producers of video camera recorders.

• DV is a format for recording and playing back digital video.

Some video playback equipments


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Threats to the preservation of audiovisual heritage

• Deterioration of the carriers : chemical decomposition, physical deterioration

• No backup

• Obsolescence of formats and playback equipment

• Lack of information relating to the archives

• Loss of knowledge

• indifference: not cost effective, no interest in

• No budget


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Threats to the preservation of audiovisual heritage


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Most EndangeredAudiovisual Carriers

• They are all in danger if they are not stored in good condition

• It is clear that the most endangered carriers are not necessarily the oldest

• Magnetic digital tapes are similar in materials and construction to other magnetic tapes, and suffer from similar physical and chemical problems.

• Most endangered carriers : video -2”, 1”, U-Matic (1/2’’)

• Most endangered carriers : audio - Direct cut records (acetate)- DAT’s


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Specific preservation problems / recommendations for video (audio) carriers• Target digital format selection : no standard yet

– Audio : WAVE or BWF; 24bit/48 or 96 kHz– Video : JPEG2000 LossLess compression is getting momentum (LOC, INA)– Video : MXF IMX 50 (or 25) Mb/s OP 1A is much in use at broadcasters

• Quality A/D converters and encoders is key

• Cleaning of video tapes improve much playback quality

• Automated Quality Control : NOA/QUADRIGA for audio and Interra Baton for video (allow to monitor the digitization process)

• High quality equipment and experienced engineers are essential

• For outsourcing : try to regroup volumes to get lower prices

Memnon migration factory set-up Generic functional setup for audio & video


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Specific preservation problems / recommendations

• Digital files carriers selection– There are no “best” carrier for digital files preservation– CD-R, DVD-R, Blu-Ray… (whether standard, gold, platinum, glass, or

whatever) are marketing tools, not archiving standards; LTO tapes is the standard carrier for video files. But it has also limited life time.

– The solution is continuous migration and regular quality control. – If you cannot control the quality of your digital files (regular

professional quality checks on the carriers) and prepare new migrations, you are at major risk to lose your digital archives.

– Semi-automated solution exist (robotic library) • … or service providers


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Specific preservation problems / recommendations

• Metadata is the key in the digital world!

• Don’t transform your well documented analogue archive to a digital nightmare

• One of the keys of a preservation project is in the proper preparation / handling of the digital files database structure (UID, file structuring, …)

• Think about descriptive, administrative, technical metadata you will need in the future – think in term of OAIS model (Open Archival Information System)

• XML is a must to insure minimum interoperability;

• no standard metadata format yet in audiovisual. METS schema from the Library of Congress can be used as reference.


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DigitizationInhouse vs Outsourcing

Advantages : •Your archives stay at your premises•Cash out lower if you have the equipment and the people to make the digitization•Easier logistics

Disadvantages :•Large investment if you have to buy equipment, hire staff, train staff)•Once digitization is completed, equipment is useless•Maintenance of equipment (very difficult)

Advantages :•Cost effective (you don’t have to buy the equipment and train your staff)•Digitization is made by experts in this field•Archives are digitized faster (ingest walls)•Human and Automated Quality control•Expertise in metadata

Disadvantages :•Your archives leave your premises•Need close logistics control


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Some more recommendations

• Regroup the digitization and preservation of audiovisual archives

• Create specific competence center for audiovisual

• Insure global digital preservation

• Follow international guidelines (IASA TC04, PrestoCenter, ...)

• Involve the private sector – PPP/Outsourcing


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THANK YOU !

• http://www.iasa-web.org : International association of sound and audiovisual archives

• www.fiatifta.org : International federation of television archives

• http://www.prestocentre.eu

– [email protected]

http://www.iasa-web.org/



http://www.fiatifta.org/

http://www.prestocentre.eu/

http://www.prestocentre.eu/

mailto:[email protected]

Michel Merten; Digitaliseren van video

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