DIGITAL PRESERVATION: AUDIOVISUAL EDITION PART 1
ALCTS Webinar Series 2/27/2019
Facilitator Stefan Elnabli (UC San Diego)
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ABOUT ME
Stefan Elnabli UC San Diego
Media Curation Librarian \\ Manager, Digital Reformatting Operations
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
10 mins Introduction and Context of Part 1
10 mins Properties and Considerations of Analog AV
10 mins Inventories, Digitization, Viable Workstations
10 mins Properties and Considerations of Digital AV
5 mins Context in Digital Preservation and Conclusion
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services CONTEXT OF PART 1
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services INTRODUCTION TO PART I
Happy Quote: “Audiovisual materials are the fastest growing segment of our nation’s archives and special collections.” - Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Plan, page 6
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services INTRODUCTION TO PART I
Alarming Quote: “Experts… rank the lack of appropriate archival storage and conservation facilities…as their most challenging management issue, followed closely by the need to digitize”
-Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Plan, page 6
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services INTRODUCTION TO PART I
Call-to-Action Quote: “In the mid- to long-term there is a major risk that carrier degradation combined with playback obsolescence will defeat the efforts of archivists…”
- International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
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DIGITIZATION
• Formats • Care and handling • Reformatting • Sustainability • Metadata • Access needs
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services POLL
• Is digitally preserving AV a priority at your institution?
• Do you digitize AV materials?
• Do you engage in digital preservation activities?
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services RESULTS
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services PROPERTIES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ANALOG AV
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG FILM CHARACTERISTICS
Film gauges:
Physical property of photographic or motion picture film stock which defines its width.
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG FILM CHARACTERISTICS
• Black and white • Made from silver metal particles • Highly stable and unlikely to fade • Color • Typically made from three layers of dye (yellow, magenta, cyan) • Yellow is the least stable, so when it fades, film turns pink/magenta
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG FILM CHARACTERISTICS
• Reversal vs. Print vs. Negative • Vast majority of films that are amateur/independently produced are reversal stock (and virtually all 8mm/s8mm) • If it has black edges, likely reversal stock (unique) • Normal image without black edges, likely a print (duplicate) • If image seems like it has an orange hue or colors are inverted then negative (likely camera original)
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG FILM CHARACTERISTICS
• Soundtracks
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG FILM CHARACTERISTICS
• https://www.filmcare.org/visual_decay
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG VIDEO CHARACTERISTICS
• There is a visible spectrum of light • Analog visual input is recorded electronically and fixed in a magnetic medium • The signal that is captured can then be reproduced for visual output
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG VIDEO CHARACTERISTICS
• Thin layer capable of recording a magnetic signal • Magnetic pigment is suspended within a polymer binder • To reproduce the image, tape is read by a rotating magnetic drum and displayed on a monitor Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services ANALOG VIDEO CHARACTERISTICS
Open reel Cassette Cassette (analog) (analog) (digital)
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• Degradation • Hydrolysis (sticky shed syndrome) • Loss of lubricant • Particle instabilities • Substrate deformation • Chemical breakdown • Tape deformation • Oxide flaking Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services INVENTORIES, DIGITIZATION, AND VIABLE WORKSTATIONS
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services SETTING THE SCENE
Practical Quote: “Another misleading perception about digital preservation investments is that… choices are binary: either we implement intensive preservation… immediately and forever; or we do nothing… A relatively small investment may be enough to preserve the option of making larger commitments in the future.”
- Blue Ribbon Task Force, Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services INVENTORY
• Enable consistent inventory creation in preparation for digitization • If item level inventories do not exist, then creating one is useful for: • Gathering digitization quotes • Performing quality control on deliverables • Organizing metadata Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services PROCESS AND INVENTORY
• Key film characteristics • Key video characteristics • Gauge • Format • Emulsion/Color • Reel Size • Stock/Generation • Running time • Length (feet) • Recording standard • Speed • Sound • Edge Code
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Types of film digitization: • Film off a wall/screen • Film chain • Flying spot scanner (CRT) • Line array CCD • Frame by frame scanning • Pulsed LED/triggered system • Scanners Müller HM Data Framescanner
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services DIGITIZATION AND VIABLE WORKSTATIONS
Video digitization components: • Computer • Video decks • Analog-to-digital converter • Time Base Corrector • Capture software • Quality control software
Great Resource! - https://github.com/XFRCollective/WorkflowDocumentation
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Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services PROPERTIES/CONSIDERATIONS OF DIGITAL VIDEO
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services DIGITIZATION AND VIABLE WORKSTATIONS PROPERTIES/CONSIDERATIONS OF DIGITAL VIDEO
• Codec – a portmanteau of coder- decoder • For playback, must have proper codec to decode the data so it can be converted to audio and visual output • Examples • Video - h.264, mpeg-2, divx, ProRes • PCM, FLAC, RealAudio Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services PROPERTIES/CONSIDERATIONS OF DIGITAL VIDEO
• A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. • Some file formats associated with audiovisual data are called containers because they can hold separate streams of audio, video, and metadata • Video examples: .mov, .avi, .mp4, .flv, .rm, .wmv, .mkv
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services PROPERTIES/CONSIDERATIONS OF DIGITAL VIDEO
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services PROPERTIES/CONSIDERATIONS OF DIGITAL VIDEO
Video Audio • Video length • Bit-rate • Frames per second • Sampling frequency • Video dimensions • Number of channels • Bit-rate • Associated metadata • File size For both, know the formats and codecs present
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PROPERTIES/CONSIDERATIONS OF DIGITAL VIDEO
• Operating system • Microsoft Windows, Apple OS, and Linux • Media players • Common ones include Apple Quicktime Player, Windows Media Player, and VLC Player • Codec libraries • Collection of codecs that your media player can access to decode video for playback • libavcodec library comes free with VLC player
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services SELECTING FILE FORMATS FOR PRESERVATION
• Faithfully reproduce the original • Lossy • Lossless • Uncompressed • Seek to create files that are either lossless or uncompressed • v210 codec, 8-10bit, uncompressed (video) • FFV1 lossless codec (video) • 2k DPX file sequences (film)
Hosted by ALCTS, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services CONCLUSION OF PART 1
• Properties of analog AV that influence the digitization process • Properties of digital AV that influence the digital preservation process • Part 2, we will look closer at recommended file formats, the digital preservation process for AV, and common scenarios that all libraries face • e.g. VHS collections
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Stefan Elnabli Media Curation Librarian \\ Manager, Digital Reformatting Operations UC San Diego Library [email protected]
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