In Storage or On-Line?

Have you read that the thing to do is to digitize your videotapes to lossless FFV1 files and then put them on LTO magnetic tapes to store in a vault? Does that sound about right? It is what others are doing. But for you, perhaps doing that is expensive and obtaining the funding is not particularly easy. 

It is the year 2021 and the keyword for this century is accessibility, specifically online accessibility. The days of warehousing media are being supplanted with a need and desire to repurpose it and make it accessible. Creativity is coming into play where many are discovering ways to monetize their media through licensing, advertising and media repurposed as "information product".

Is it better to preserve or convert an old media archive to an accessible format for viewing and use on modern technology? Preserving an NTSC interlaced 525 line anamorphic image to playback on a cathode ray tube might be useful for an exhibit, but it is not useful to be used with today's technology. Today, media is being deinterlaced and scaled to playback on high-resolution monitors. Preserving it to play on obsolete technology seems ill-advised. 

All content has value and it becomes more valuable when it is accessible. Preservation is important, but it is hard to do when there is no funding to do it. It is time to be creative and prevent the permanent loss of a collection due to degradation. The time left to digitize is passing. Many videotapes can no longer be played. If that makes you anxious, it should. In many cases, the choice is to find a way to monetize the media collection or watch it deteriorate with its only pathway becoming the dumpster.

Vetting a transfer/digitizing company

Luckily there is an organization called The Association of Moving Image Archivists and they have a list of members that are a few steps above the standard run-of-the-mill companies offering digitizing services. Their website is here:

AMIA Website

They have a directory of members here:

AMIA Directory 

If you are trying to vet a company on your own, I suggest starting here. While there are non-member companies that could perform digitization work, unless you have solid references from people you trust I would be very skeptical. 

Another option is to have an independent consultant review your needs and then make recommendations. Of course, I prefer this method because it is something I do. As an independent consultant my only goal is to find the best solution. It is highly likely that any cost incurred paying a consultant is going to be offset by the savings associated with hiring the right company to do the work. The format, age and condition of an archive makes a big difference with regards to the company that will do the best job. Each tape format has its own set of quirks. 

Having a wall of machines with scopes, monitors, and patchbays looks impressive but it isn't the only criteria that should be used when selecting the right company for the job.

Monetizing On-Line Media Access

Some companies and institutions consider the digitization of hundreds or thousands of videotapes as a straight-up expense that is not affordable. The big picture is that under the right circumstances the digitization of a videotape archive can become recurring multiple direct and indirect sources of revenue. A consultant can help put together a business plan that even the most conservative CFO would notice. 

While it might cost over $100,000 to digitize an archive, licensing and royalties can generate revenue over time to cover that expense. Once the expense is covered, it then becomes a recurring revenue stream. When viewed in this light, the business paradigm is the same as any other investment. The opportunity is disappearing but with a small amount of "out-of-the-box" thinking it doesn't have to become a regretful loss. A digitized video file can't be licensed for use if it doesn't exist. 

Licensing is a profitable business. The proof is that there are so many companies engaged in the business. Who are some of the big companies? 

Take a look:    stock.adobe.com/video    ArtGrid.io    FilmPac.com    raw.film    FilmSupply.com    FilmHERO.com      Pond5.com    vimeo.com/stock    pexels.com/videos    shutterstock.com/video    yayimages.com    rocketstock.com    dissolve.com    storyandheart.com    istockphoto.com/footage    wedistill.io    pixabay.com/videos    videezy.com    imp.i308085.net/NrL1v    flickr.com/search    fxo.co/9fAf    motionelements.com    bigstockphoto.com/video/search    storyblocks.com/video    123rf.com/stock-footage    clipstill.com     (and many more...)

The list above demonstrates that a digitized video library can generate revenue and be a business. It doesn't guarantee anything, but the good news is that the internet facilitates searches for niche content. You could go through one of the many companies that offer licensing services, or you could set it up directly. Digitized footage is a product that has value and there are numerous ways to monetize it. 

Where licensing the footage may not be possible, there are other returns for the investment of digitization. For example, reclaimed storage space. Once the footage is properly cataloged and digitized (at the appropriate quality) then the tapes no longer need to be stored and can be recycled. 

Access Is Key

What is the value of a remote office having immediate access to online media? The act of finding and pulling a video from storage and putting it into a machine that may or may not play the tape... the reality is that this rarely happens. The logistics alone make that process prohibitive. Where content is digitized and made available online, a corporate executive could access and watch it on a smartphone while flying in a commercial airliner at 30,000 feet. That can have extraordinary value.

Interview Email

An Open Email To Televisionarchive.org 

**FROM: G. A. Green  4/10/2021

---------------------------------------------

I would like to know more about televisionarchive.org

I am a video archive consultant located in Boston with clients across the country. My mission is advising corporations and media centers regarding best practices for digitization of film, audio, and video archives. I am alarmed by the increasing amount of media that is disintegrating to non-playable condition. The machines to play back the media are steadily going out of service. The technicians who know how to operate the equipment are retiring, have retired, or have passed away. Much of the media that has been digitized is of substandard quality. It reminds me of 72dpi web imagery at computer screen resolution being used for printed publication because the original 600dpi version was no longer available. New technology is steadily making its way to market to upscale, detail enhance, color correct, and more. But this technology works a lot better on content that has been digitized at a level matching the quality of the original properly conserved tape.

I'm confident these issues are not new to you.

Would it be possible to do a zoom interview of someone from your organization for my new blog? https://tapetransfer.blogspot.com

It is challenging to build awareness for this growing problem and I would really appreciate knowing more about your efforts.

I am in the process of vetting engineers and transfer facilities and trying to build a community of professionals who can accelerate the digitization of important media. I've also been exploring a process of shared media logging, commentary and search information databasing. Specifically a video browsing tool for use with a smartphone. It is a similar idea to the leveraged use of Captcha to crowdsource verification of scanned text.

Thank you very much for any information you can provide and also let me know if someone would be willing to do a zoom interview for my blog.

Very kind regards,

G. Almont Green

The Cost

It's not easy to find out exactly how much it will cost to get a videotape archive digitized. That's because there are so many variables that can impact the cost. Armed with the right information about the archive before negotiating a price with a vendor can save a great deal of time, headaches, and unexpected charges. A visual inspection of the tapes can provide a clue, but nothing is completely certain until the tape passes a VTR play head. 

If there are more than a dozen tapes, there are two checklists that should be completed before and during a discussion with a vendor. I recommend using an independent consultant as part of the process who can speak to all of the issues related to cost and help you set the quality standard for digitization.

● Does the tape reel or cassette require repair or preparation?

● Does the tape itself require cleaning, baking, or other conservation methods?

● Is the videotape PAL or NTSC?

● Do the tapes need to be digitized for output to today's technology displays?
(Resolution scaling, de-interlacing, color/dynamic range correction)

● Do you need low-resolution and high-resolution versions?

● Do you require physical digital storage devices?

● How do you want the content curated? 

● Who is actually going to be doing the work (their credentials)?

● What equipment do they have (how many redundant machines)?

● Do they have/use Teranex Standards Converters/Processors? (If not, what are they using?)

● What methods do they use for conservation, cleaning, baking?

● What minimum hourly rate do they use to calculate their quotation?

● Who can be called as a reference?

● Can they provide a scope of work document along with a proposal?

● What is their standard level of quality?

● What guarantees do they provide?

● What surcharges are there?

● What are the options (noise reduction, sound sweetening, de-hum)?

Ballpark $

1" Type C NTSC videotapes ballpark cost falls between $75 and $150 per hour of tape

3/4" U-Matic ballpark cost falls between $0.60 and $2.00 per minute of tape. 

BetaSP ballpark cost falls between $0.30 and $2.00 per minute of tape. 

For an archive with 125 - 200 professional format tapes, a budget of $10,000+ can be appropriate and expected.

If you are thinking that over ten grand is simply out of the question, there are other components to this analysis. For example:

• Can the digitized archive have a value that exceeds the cost of digitization? 
• What about reclaiming the space now used as storage? 
• Is there a possibility to license footage directly or through a licensing entity like Shutterstock?
• What is the true liability of losing the archive for future generations? Who knows how important and valuable the archive will be 100 years from now?

One thing is certain, if the archive ends up in a dumpster then all is lost including the investment made storing it for years.

-G

Videotape Digitization

I was told back in the 1990s that I could expect BetaSP tapes to last for a hundred years. Much to my surprise, some tapes had problems well before the turn of the century. Now over twenty years have passed since the turn of the century and there are BetaSP tapes still sitting on shelves all over the country. I'm comfortable saying I believe that none of them recorded in the 1990s are in pristine condition. Some are not even playable without extraordinary measures (and with mixed results). 

But if you put a tape into a VTR and it doesn't play or plays, but with a lot of noise, all might not be lost. Sometimes the tape can be conserved and restored to a playable condition for immediate digitization that could be quite good. 

Take a look at this:

There is a conservation process called "baking" that can restore a tape for immediate digitization. It requires a precision scientific-grade oven and a tech who knows how to do it. Yes, there are some D-I-Y people who have gotten results but I can't recommend that. 

Here is a YouTube link to a video from The Museum of Classic Chicago Television

The before and after images are compelling and you will notice that over time (due to the tape pack) the image quality before baking varies and generally gets worse. 

My goal in providing this image and link is to suggest that before making any permanent decision about what to do with an archive of videotapes, it can be useful to get advice from a knowledgeable independent professional. It still might make sense to try to do digitization work yourself, but the key is making an informed decision. If you want to learn about tape formulations (top coating/back coating, substrate material) and have lots of time then a DIY solution might actually be appropriate for someone with a few tapes and spare money. 

While I have some interest in magnetic oxide and binder solutions and formulations that are susceptible to magnetic media's binder hydrolysis or "sticky-shed syndrome", studying those issues are not for everyone. 

I do find humor in the fact that many DIY people have gone into business offering digitization services. An old proverb from the 18th century comes to mind. Specifically, Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Criticism" from 1709 that reads: 

A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.

If a DIY-r does their homework and spends a few years in studying and working in an environment where they gain experience, they could provide adequate home-movie digitization services. I have no objection to those that meet these criteria who are providing home-movie digitization services. It's a different matter when considering a video archive. When there are numerous tapes, the challenges are different. The one person you are talking with isn't likely to be the one physically with hands on every tape and monitoring every digitization. Infrastructure and talent are very important. There are many hidden "gotcha's". 

-G

Welcome

The Alarm

Time has run out for videotape archives. My goal is to offer advice and help facilitate the best decisions for preserving old videotapes. Well, at least those that can still be preserved. To be sure, there are both horror stories and stories of joy. There are archives that have been successfully preserved through professional conservation, digitization, and curation. There are also archives destined for the dumpster. If a videotape archive can be preserved for future generations, my passion is to help facilitate that. Like the song says: "... you don't know what you've got till it's gone." Listen here:  Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi

I've had many discussions over the years about getting old videotape formats digitized and preserved. Those discussions have now become a prescient warning. It must be done now but it is complicated to decide the best way to make it happen. Should the work be done in-house or should it be outsourced? Should equipment be rented? If it is outsourced, where is the best place to have the work done? How much will it cost? Are there opportunities to amortize the cost through licensing the content through a stock supplier? What level of quality is appropriate?

For some who have chosen a do-it-yourself approach, accidents have happened where tapes have become unplayable. For others, a supplier was a hassle to deal with, mistakes were made, and the results were substandard. Those are obstacles I'd like to help prevent with this blog and meaningful consultation where appropriate. A videotape archive that's been stored for decades has value and sometimes that value is not apparent. I hope that I can help with the decision-making regarding what can and should be done. Perhaps the best place to start is an introduction.