April Meeting (in May!)
"Have You Migrated Your Analog Videotape Collection Yet?" Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The archival community has been slow in embracing digital video technology. Uncertainty and confusion regarding the technology cause archives to be hesitant about committing their resources to large-scale digitization projects. Unfortunately, videotape formats and the machines that play them back, are rapidly being discontinued and becoming extinct. Given the history and momentum of tape-to-tape migration for preservation, it is not surprising that archives cannot or will not plan for the future preservation of their collections. However, doing nothing, and “hoping for the best”, is not an option. The backlog of tapes will continue to degrade unless there is significant change. The move to digital is now a fact of life.
This talk will focus on the many factors to consider before deciding on a digital file format to meet the archive’s needs for preservation and access of a tape collection. SAMMA Systems’ Chief Technical Officer, Chi-Long Tsang, will discuss the diversity in use of the different file formats and the challenges archivists face when moving their video content to a digital domain. Jim Linder, the founder of SAMMA Systems, will discuss the company’s automated and semi-automated solution to migrate videotape to digital files. Mr. Linder will explain how the technical metadata generated on the tape signal will be an invaluable tool for monitoring the recoding for generations to come. Both SAMMA and SAMMA Solo are being used by the Library of Congress in migrating the hundreds of thousands of videotapes in their collection to digital files for preservation and access at the newly opened National Audio Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, VA.
Jim Lindner the founder and CEO of SAMMA Systems, is an internationally respected authority on the preservation and migration of electronic media. He has lectured widely and written about media preservation for the past fifteen years. Jim founded the videotape restoration company VidiPax and served as its executive director until selling the company in 2001. He was twice a member of the board of the directors for the Association of Moving Images and FIAT and currently serves on the Executive Board of SEAPAVAA.
Chi-Long Tsang has worked in the broadcast industry for over 16 years. He has been a consultant for the last 4 years to several UK and US companies. Previous to that, Chi worked for the UK based company Snell & Wilcox Limited and held the position of Chief Software Engineer. In 1997, Chi and his team won UK's prestigious Queen's Award for Innovation and Technology for the TPG20, the world's first fully digital video test signal generator capable of producing signals in all world standards and digital SD formats.
Sponsored by: SAMMA Systems and The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc.
Date: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Time: Social - 5:30 - 6:30 pm ; Program - 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Place: SAMMA Systems, 450 W. 31st St. (between 9th & Tenth Avenues), 4th Floor
Directions: By Subway: A,C,E, 1, 2 or 3 to Penn Station
Member fee: $5
Non-member fee: $7
RSVP: To Leilani Dawson by Thursday, May 2, 2008 ldawson@brooklynhistory.org (recommended) or telephone: (718) 222-4111 x295. Please be reasonably sure that you can attend before responding.
If you are person with a disability and need reasonable accommodations to attend this meeting, please contact Vanessa Cameron at veep@nycarchivists.org at least 7 days in advance so that we can make the appropriate arrangements.
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