John Walko, Scene Savers

 “No one told me…”  What prevents projects from getting done ◦ Apathy ◦ Obsolescence (Its too difficult) ◦ Degradation ◦ Labs going out of business

 What questions need to be answered when getting ready for an AV preservation project

 Inspect case ◦ Any unusual odors or anything appear broken  Inspect Cassette shell or flange (on open reels) ◦ Anything appear broken/crushed/bent  Inspect tape pack ◦ Even wind, stepped, mold/mildew  Open door, visually inspect tape surface

 Identifying different formats ◦ Most common in archives, ¾” U-Matic, VHS, Betacam family, DV family ◦ Less common, 2” Quad, ½” EIAJ (1/2” CV), 1”, MII  Running Times ◦ If not listed on the tape, how can you estimate total running time of tape?

 When all you have is a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail…  Necessary Transfer Equipment ◦ Time-base Corrector ◦ Waveform/Vector Scope ◦ Broadcast Quality Decks ◦ Calibrated TV monitors ◦ Professional Encoders

 Appalachian State University ◦ One of a kind oral histories ◦ Recorded in mid 1970’s ◦ Extinct (1/2” EIAJ) format ◦ Unknown storage history ◦ Multitude of problems

Before/after

 Standards…what standards?  How do we determine the best compression formats ◦ If unlimited funds, create an uncompressed file and various flavors of compressed files for use and access.

 Uncompressed ◦ QuickTime (most often requested) ◦ AVI ◦ 8-bit vs 10-bit  Compressed ◦ ProRes ◦ DV ◦ MPEG 2 at high data rate  Access ◦ MPEG 4 ◦ Flash (not requested as much)  What about JPEG 2000?  File Sizes

 MD5 Checksum – most requested  What is it? “A small data file (also called a hash) computed from digital data for the purpose of detecting errors which may have been introduced during transmission or storage.  Why use it  When to run a checksum  When to check a checksum

 Types of storage ◦ Cloud-based storage…still somewhat in infant stage – lots of conflicting reports of number of users…but growing ◦ Deep storage (i.e LTO must be recovered) ◦ On-line Storage (spinning disks)  Storage formats ◦ LTO data tape / LTFS (makes tape easier to use) ◦ Proprietary formats (T10000) ◦ Hard drives  RAID array  Multiple disks/multiple locations

 Technology is changing all the time ◦ The codecs (encoder/decoder) and computer systems you use today might not be available in the future  Digitizing requires on-going resources and cost ◦ Not a “once and done” proposition ◦ Even if you choose best option today, you will need to migrate in the future  Good news: Cost of storage continues to drop

John Walko Scene Savers 424 Scott Blvd Covington, KY