Preservation in Television Archives

1
Preservation in Television Archives

• Catherine Lacken, SWR

2
Overview

• Broadcast archives Mandates
• Preservation management
• Formats in television archives
• Magnetic tapes
• DVDs
• Setting Preservation Priorities
• Preservation Projects
• Obsolescence
• Moving from the analogue to digital domain

3
Broadcast Archives

• 1. Department within broadcaster Service
  department to support Production (and preserve
  cultural heritage)
• Public service broadcasters
• Commercial broadcasters
• Small and or local community broadcasters
• 2. National audiovisual archives / National
  Broadcast Archives Preserve cultural Heritage
• (and support production for external
  broadcasters))
• May be part of national archive or national
  library

4
Television Archives within Broadcasting
Corporations

• Audiovisual archives
• One of many departments in a company
• often lack of awareness of archival needs within
  company, competition for resources
• House programmes produced by the company usually
  after transmission
• High percentage of holdings are unique and are
  not available elsewhere
• Rights held on high percentage of programmes
  Assets
• Professional tapes and recording equipment in
  house
• Technical infrastructure and know-how available

5
Mandates of Television Archives

• Preservation
• Safeguard company assets programmes produced by
  company
• Preserve audiovisual cultural heritage (important
  where no legal deposit laws exist e.g. Germany)
• Access
• Serve the needs of programme makers provision of
  resources (stock footage) and information
• Provide access to audiovisual cultural heritage

6
Aims of AV Preservation

• To ensure the long-term survival of audio-visual
  content and preserve its integrity
• To provide access to content in the present and
  in the future
• unknown factor access needs of the future
• Preservation and Access go hand in hand

7
Users of Television Archives

• In-house
• Programme planers
• Repeat broadcasts
• Re-versioning
• Programme Makers
• Stock Footage
• PR
• Other departments
• Financial, legal etc.

• External
• Programme exchange
• Partners, TV networks
• Programme Sales
• Cultural Organisations
• Academic research
• General Public (public service broadcasters)

8
Access

• Descriptive metadata as means to find content
  that is sought
• Technical metadata with information on storage
  format carrier
• Access to audiovisual content is only possible
  via replay equipment
• Logistics
• Traffic - loan management
• Copying facilities for external loans or where no
  access copy held
• Satellite links for fast delivery

9
Preservation Tasks

• Slow down natural processes of decomposition by
  keeping physical carriers in optimal storage
  conditions
• Eliminate environmental hazards
• Protect originals by providing access copies
• Monitor physical condition of holdings
• Restore damaged carriers
• Maintain replay equipment for all formats held
  (especially for obsolete formats in collection)
• Migrate obsolete formats to newer formats to
  ensure continued accessibility

10
Preservation

• Passive
• Preserving carriers for restoration/digitisation
  at a later stage
• Storing in ideal environment (controlled
  temperature, relative humidity) to prevent or
  slow down decay
• Active
• Transferring to newer formats
• Restoration of carriers
• When financial resources are limited, emphasis on
  passive preservation measures

11
Formats in Television Archives

• Broadcast Masters
• transmission tapes produced in advance of
  transmission (technical quality control), master
  for copies
• Production formats
• post-production, news, current affairs IT-sound
  track, clean feeds (important for stock footage)
• Viewing formats
• to select footage or for general viewing
  consumer formats

12
Common Formats in TV Archives

• 35mm Film (Negative and Positive)
• 16mm Film (Positive and Reversal)
• 16mm Negative Film
• 17,5 and 16mm separate magnetic sound tracks
• 16/35 mm Film with magnetic or optical sound
  track
• 2, 1 tapes (B or C Format)
• U-Matic Low or High Band
• Betacam, Beta SP, Betamax
• D1, D2, D3, D5
• DigiBeta
• Hi8
• DVCpro25, DVCpro 50
• IMX

13
History of TV Formats at SWR

• Broadcast Masters
• 1954- 1962 35mm Positive
• 1957 - 1962 16mm Positive
• 1961 - 1984 2 Quad tapes
• 1984 - 1996 1B-Format
• 1991 - 1998 Betacam SP
• 1996 - 2003 D5
• 1996 - DigiBeta
• 2003 - IMX
• 2005- Video Files

14
History of TV Formats at SWR

• Production Formats
• 1954 - 35mm Negative/Positive
• 1959 - 16mm Negative/Positive
• 1963 - 1987 16mm Reversal Film
• 1983 - 1991 U-Matic (3/4)
• 1991 - 2003 Betacam SP
• 1996 - DigiBeta
• 2001 - DVCpro25, DVCpro50
• 2002- IMX
• 2003- Video Files

15
History of TV Formats at SWR

• Viewing Formats
• 1954- 35mm Positive
• 1959- 16mm Positive
• 1963- 16mm reversal
• 1973-1979 VCR
• 1977-1990 VCC / V2000
• 1978 - 2006 VHS
• 1999 - mpeg1/real video files
• 2006 - DVD

16
Television Formats Carrier Categories

• Original recordings
• Raw material / rough cuts / camera tapes
• Off-air recordings of live broadcasts
• Transmission tapes
• Broadcast masters
• Different versions of programmes
• With / without captions
• With / without mixed commentary track (broadcast
  version)
• With / without credits, title
• Copies
• Loan for selection of footage or general viewing
• Loan for broadcast (external users)
• All categories except copies are covered by
  preservation management

17
Formats in TV archives today

• Vast majority Magnetic Tapes
• Studio productions
• Magazines
• Recordings of live events, off-air recordings
• Transmission tapes
• Film high end productions features,
  documentaries
• Newsreels - reversal
• Files news, current affairs files for
  transmission

18
Magnetic Tapes

• Audio, video, analogue, digital
• Various band widths (lt1/4 2)
• Reel to reel, cassette
• Different recording techniques helical scan,
  longitudinal scan
• Professional and consumer formats

19
Magnetic Tapes

• Physical composition
• Base layer
• Magnetic coating in which recorded signal is
  embedded
• Adhesive holds two layers together

20
Magnetic tapes storage

• Storage environment 15 20 C, low humidity (35
  55 RH)
• Production environment often 20,
  acclimatisation
• Cassette always rewind
• Store in upright position on shelf
• Keep away from magnets danger of signal loss (
  loss of content)
• Keep clean tiny particles on surface interfere
  with interaction with heads on replay equipment

21
Threats to magnetic tapes

• Wear and tear use in replay equiment, ejecting
  from player if not rewound
• Surface dirt / debris
• Binder degradition hydrolisis
• Sticky shed syndrom
• Magnetism
• Obsolesence
• Experience has shown that most magnetic tapes are
  obsolescent before the end of their natural life
  cycles (/- 30 years)

22
DVDs

• Consumer format designed for viewing
• Not archival format data reduction
• Instability of medium recording process
• Dyes
• Pressing
• Fragile layer structure
• Compatibility issues

23
Preservation Management

• Metadata
• Tracking
• Records of carrier loans to whom, for what
  purpose
• Records of transferral from one format to
  another
• Generation History New carrier is copy of which
  old carrier
• Technical data
• Machine / unit on which content recorded, used
  for transfers
• Condition monitoring
• Records of checks and findings
• Brand names
• Record with carrier information
• Digital tapes
• Monitoring of BER (block error rates)

24
Preservation Strategy

• First Step Assessment of Preservation Needs
• Gain knowledge of general condition of collection
  
• Define areas for active and passive preservation
• Establish priority areas for active preservation

25
Setting Preservation Priorities
A Carrier condition Chemical decay Physical
decay Obsolete
B Carrier status Original/Master
A
B
C
C Content Unique High demand High value
26
Television Archives SWR Stuttgart

• Format (approx. figures) Period of use
• 30,000 IMX tapes 2003 -
• 15,000 D5 tapes 1996 - 2004
• 10,000 Digi-Beta tapes 1998 -
• 5,000 DVDs 2005 -
• 200,000 Beta SP tapes 1990 - 2005
• 80,000 VHS tapes 1985 -
  2006
• 4,000 1 MAZ open reel 1984 - 1996
• 40,000 rolls 16mm Film sep mag 1954 - 1998
• 2,500 rolls 35mm Film sep mag 1954
  1995
• No 2 MAZ open reel (migrated) 1962 1986
• No U-Matic cassettes (migrated) 1981 - 1992

27
Assessment of Collection Problem areasSWR
Television Archives

• Reversal film (news/current affairs 1962 1983)
• original held only on film (no copies, no
  rushes)
• Degradation bad splices, sticky shed, colour
  fade, wear and tear
• Of long-term value/unique depicts all aspects of
  society/no commercial broadcasters in Germany
  until 1980
• Obsolescent format within broadcaster no
  duplication transfer facilities for short-term
  access needs
• Restoration highly labour intensive expensive

28
Assessment of Collection Problem areasSWR
Television Archives

• 35mm/16mm Film
• Older b/w film physical degradation wear and
  tear, scratches etc. (in past used as viewing
  format)
• Colour fading of earlier colour TV productions
• Some evidence of chemical decomposition Vinegar
  syndrome most noticeable for productions of
  1960s, separate sound track especially
  vulnerable not in danger zone yet
• Transmission tapes and access formats available
  for most 16mm/35mm positive film no more wear
  and tear of film likely

29
Assessment of Collection Condition Problem areas

• 1 tapes
• Degradation of certain tape brands (mainly Agfa),
  oldest tapes in poor condition (1980s)
• All tapes threatened by obsolescence replay
  equipment within company being phased out
• Part of collection original status live
  recordings, original recording no longer exists
• Inferior technical quality where 1 represents
  3rd archival generation (reflects technology
  limits of 60s/70s and not content integrity)

30
Implementation Steps

• Funding
• Create awareness of value of assets at top
  management level support money
• What are the expected benefits, return on
  investment?
• How much has to be invested?
• Proposed plan of action
• Lobby users
• Publicity
• Collection gems
• Service provided by archive

31
Business Plan

• Putting a figure on the costs
• Assessment of collection
• Volume
• Condition
• Content
• Assessment of Requisites for Project Realisation
• Technical Personnel
• Archival personnel (logistics, cataloguing
  backlog and deficits)
• Equipment
• Time
• Prioritisation
• Selection criteria

32
Preservation Strategy Concept

• Passive preservation where no immediate danger to
  content
• Transfer high priority film and 1 tapes to
  digital format
• Active transfer when there is access demand
• Provision of optimal storage conditions for film
  and tapes before and after transfer to digital
  access format

33
Implementation PrioritiesSWR Preservation
Project

• High priority
• Transfer 1 tapes with sticky shed to IMX tape
• Medium priority
• Transfer remaining 1 originals to IMX
• 1 will not be supported by broadcaster after
  2007
• 16mm newsreels that have not been transferred to
  tape
• Later
• Transfer remaining film to digital carrier
• Create browsing files for legacy holdings
• Transfer to high-res video mass storage system

34
Preservation and Digitisation Projects

• 2002 2003
• 1 tapes with sticky shed
• (approximately 1500 tapes)
• 2004 2012
• 28,000 1 tapes
• 5,200 hours of Film (newsreel features,
  documentaries on negative/positive)
• From 2008 files gradually to replace physical
  carriers as target format
• 2012 2018 ?
• 5,000 hours film (productions on
  negative/positive, remaining newsreel)
• 2012 - ?
• Content on other obsolete formats (D5, Beta SP)
  to be transferred to digital archival storage
  system

35
Preservation Project and Archival Personnel

• Logistics moving material, tracking records
  etc.
• Parallel to the transfer to new carrier
  cataloguing input
• technical metadata on carriers that was not
  recorded in database in the past
• Missing content description
• Updating, additional information, correction of
  entries etc.

36
Preservation strategy today

• Cost conscious
• Avoid large-scale format transfers
• Balance between active and passive preservation
  measures
• Application of selection criteria for active
  preservation
• Reflect digitisation policy of broadcaster
• Help archive meet new production requirements
  integration in digital workflows
• Lay foundation for video mass storage system

37
Criteria for digital archival preservation formats

• Uncompressed, no data reduction
• Standards based
• Independent of storage media
• Robust format
• Non-proprietary systems
• Affordable

38
Disdvantages of data reduction for archives

• Present day bandwidth constraints and prohibitive
  cost of uncompressed video storage likely to be
  resolved in not too distant future
• Todays limitations should not become tomorrows
  handicap
• Transfers involving different systems of encoding
  and decoding within the production workflow lead
  to artifacts
• Data reduction does not preserve content integrity

39
Preservation Formats Guidelines

• Broadcast archives must be involved in the
  decision-making process when new formats are
  being introduced
• Formats that do not meet the criteria of archival
  preservation formats should be avoided
• Loss of quality is the result of every transfer
  involving analogue recordings and when migrating
  from one digital encoding/decoding system and/or
  compression format to another
• Every format migration incurs enormous expense
  if unsure about format, wait!

40
Obsolesence

• When new technology for production, transmission
  is introduced
• Survival of content not necessarily endangered
• Access to content a problem when replay equipment
  becomes unavailable
• Access for production purposes problematical,
  especially for news and current affaires where
  there is demand for fast / instant access
  (copying takes time)
• Particular format information on carrier becomes
  important
• Old

41
Metadata TV formats - Film

• 35mm or 16mm
• Negative, Positive, Reversal
• Original, Copy
• Version Complete production with or without
  titles and credits short item for magazine
  programme, rushes, edited or unedited
• Separate sound track, optical or magnetic track
  on film, separate IT sound track

42
Metadata TV formats Video - magnetic video

• Tape width 2 inch, 1 inch, ¾ inch, ½ inch, ¼
  inch
• Type Quad, Betamax, U-Matic, Betacam Digibeta,
  VHS, V2000, IMX, DVCpro, D1, D2..
• Version Off-air recording, broadcast master,
  take
• Original, copy, telecine
• Sound track information

43
Milestones in Television Development

• Year SWR (approx.)
• 1962
• 1968
• 1983
• 2006
• 2006 2010
• 2006
• 2010

• Film -gt Magnetic tape
• B/w television -gt colour television
• Linear editing (film) -gt non-linear editing
• 43 aspect ratio -gt169 aspect ration
• Analogue -gt Digital broadcasting
• Content storage on physical carrier -gt file
• Standard Definition -gt High definition

44
TV Archives and New Formats 1967 1969
Introduction of colour TV

• In beginning colour productions denoted as such
  no information b/w production
• When b/w became the exception to the rule, no
  information colour
• Transfer of information in paper catalogues to
  electronic database information on all
  productions b/w or colour or colour with b/w

45
Attributes not recorded in earlier information
systems

• Black-and-white
• Mono
• Analogue
• Aspect ratio 43
• Standard definition
• As long as there is no alternative to such
  systems,
• this information of minor relevance

46
TV Archives and New Formats 2006 Introduction
of 169 aspect ration

• Standardisation with introduction of new format
• Regulation of Technical Department that all new
  tapes must be labelled as one of the following
• 43
• 43 letterbox
• 169 Full format
• 169 full format Letterbox
• This information entered in Archive Info System
• Tapes prior to 2006 are not labelled 43
• Some older carriers are labelled Letterbox,
  usually meaning 43 letterbox occasionally
  169 as additional carrier information in free
  text data field
• Next step High Definition TV
• Necessity to distinguish between 169 SD and
  169 HD

47
Parallels between introduction of colour TV and
169 aspect ratio

• Improved image quality immediately obvious to
  viewer with new technology TV set i.e. colour
  TV in late 1960s, widescreen TV set today
• In changeover period problems with re-use of
  recent archive footage in old format (b/w
  43)
• Necessity to distinguish between old and new
  formats in archive information systems
• Problem deficit in catalogue information for
  carriers deposited in archives before
  introduction of new technology
• Not of major relevance to present, possibly to
  future

48
Differences Colour TV / aspect ration

• B/w cannot be converted to colour
• Colour viewed on b/w TV set looks like b/w
  production no irritation on part of viewer
• 43 can be converted to 169
• 169 can be converted to 43
• However, the conversion methods entail loss of
  information (top, bottom or side of image),
  distortion of image (stretching, squeezing) or
  distracting black bars, non screen-filling image
• Conversion / reconversion increases the loss of
  picture quality

49
Metadata on TV formats in TV archive information
systems SWR

• Paper based catalogues
• free text, more or less standardised carrier
  descriptions
• Databases introduced in late 1970s, 1980s
• Standardised text fields, e.g. FESAD 1985 lists
  of carrier attributes to chose from, only listed
  terms allowed one text field for additional
  non-standardised information
• Database updates, new data bases 1990s, 2000s
• Increased standardisation e.g. New FESAD 2004
  enlarged list of carrier attributes to reflect
  new technology pop-up lists, tick-box options
• Databases with video files (content) and metadata
  on both content and file format
• Video files and metadata generated during
  production are linked with descriptive in
  archival cataloguing database

50
On the way from analogue to digital
TV-archives today
Bridge
Analogue World
Digital World
Tapes, Files Multiple, simultaneous and remote
Access reduced tape traffic, Lossless and
automatic migration
Film, Tapes, One item user at a time Heavy tape
traffic Lossy format migration
51
Expectations for digital archives

• No loss of information in copying/migration
  process
• Automatic migration to new format generations
• Automatic quality control
• No external loans of carriers
• wear and tear minimised
• no loss of carriers
• Savings in storage costs

52
Why digitise?

• To combat format obsolescence?
• For Access?
• To provide a better service?
• To meet new demands?
• To reach new user groups?
• To save costs in long run?
• Labour, storage, migration
• To make money?
• Exploit new digital dissemination possibilities
• For preservation?
• Combination of some or all of the above?

53
Going Digital

• Definition of Digitisation
• To transfer content from analogue formats to
  digital carriers?
• Access for viewing/selection purposes using
  browsing files?
• Integration of TV archives in tapeless production
  environment? (high resolution files)
• Long-term storage of content in video mass
  storage systems instead of on shelf?

54
Digitisation Policy

• Combine aims of provision of access with those of
  preservation
• Cost-conscious
• Avoid large-scale manual format transfers
• Balance between active and passive preservation
  measures
• Application of selection criteria for active
  preservation
• Reflect new production requirements
• Facilitate integration of archive within new
  digital production workflows
• Lay foundation for future digital archive system
• Long-term perspective now just the here and now

55
Thank you