Scottish Screen Archive moving image preservation strategy (PDF)

market develops and new formats become the industry standard. The only variable is
when, not if, collections require to be transferred.
The preservation of magnetic tape is best served by the monitoring of its condition and
transfer onto a new format before physical degradation renders it unplayable, or the
format becomes obsolete.
Due to the complex technical design of video equipment, once the recording equipment
becomes obsolete and parts become difficult to obtain, the transfer of large amounts of
tape will become very difficult if not impossible. When new digital formats appear, there
is a period of a few years before a decision can be made with regards to which format
the archive chooses for its master.
NLS should aim to transfer all obsolete video formats onto the current broadcast format,
which is currently Digital Betacam. This should be carried out as a matter of urgency.
When digital computer storage becomes cheaper and more reliable images recorded on
videotape should be transferred to computer files using a loss-less and error checking
transfer process.
Priorities for duplication will be:
Obsolete formats - collections on formats not currently commercially available:
1” C format, Sony 1/2” open reel, Betamax, U-Matic
C. Future digital formats and movie files
Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs), digital files, digital videotape formats, DVDs, Blu-ray
discs, digital memory cards and future digital formats.
When film and videotape has ceased production moving images and sound information
both professional and amateur will all be recorded on digital storage devices.
The strategy for current and future digital formats must be to migrate the digital
information whenever the digital format or playback software becomes obsolete. This
process must be loss-less with no digital compression or errors. Error checking systems
or software must be in place to make sure that all the data has been transferred
completely and correctly. This digital data must be securely stored and be recoverable.
Multiple back-ups must be stored on multiple sites. In the future all images recorded on
film and videotape will be transferred onto computer files and stored on digital storage
devices.
Alan Russell
Technical and Preservation Manager
Scottish Screen Archive, NLS
May 2013
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