There are plenty of reflections on the Great Bear tape blog about the fragility of digital data, and the need to think about digitisation as part of a wider process of data migration your information will need to make in its lifetime. We have also explored how fast moving technological change can sometimes compromise our… Continue reading Digital Preservation – Planning for the Long Term
Tag: archive
8 track cartridges and museum tour
8 track cartridges were a very popular domestic audio format in the United States, although there were also sold in the UK and Europe. The growth of the 8 track was synonymous with its use in car industry, as it allowed people to listen to music on the move. Although phased out in the early… Continue reading 8 track cartridges and museum tour
Delivery formats – to compress or not compress
After we have migrated your analogue or digital tape to a digital file, we offer a range of delivery formats. For video, using the International Association of Sound & Audiovisual Archives Guidelines for the Preservation of Video Recordings, as our guide, we deliver FFV1 lossless files or 10-bit uncompressed video files in .mkv or QuickTime… Continue reading Delivery formats – to compress or not compress
digitising tape issues
The main work of Greatbear is to make analogue and digital tape-based media accessible for people living in a digital intensive environment. But once your tape-based media has been digitised, is that the end of the story? Do you never need to think about preservation again? What issues arise for information management in the future,… Continue reading digitising tape issues
Nakamichi 680 Discrete Head Cassette Deck and Music & Liberation
In 2012 Greatbear digitised a selection of audio and audio-visual tape for the Heritage Lottery Funded exhibition, Music & Liberation. The first job was to migrate a short film by a feminist film making collective called Women in Moving Pictures who were based in Bristol in the early 1980s. The film shows how the Bristol… Continue reading Nakamichi 680 Discrete Head Cassette Deck and Music & Liberation
Digitising Betacam SP video tapes
We have recently been digitising Betacam SP (‘superior performance’) video recordings, a cassette based component analogue format that is used extensively in the broadcast world. Betacam SP offered fantastic video and audio quality from its introduction in 1986, and a very similar digital cassette, Digital Betacam, is still used now. Betacam SP was commonly used throughout… Continue reading Digitising Betacam SP video tapes
Sony High Density V-60H video tape digitised for Comhaltas
We were recently contacted by Frank Whelan of the Comhaltas Regional Resource Centre who wanted us to digitise a recording of the Fleadh Cheoil traditional music festival in Buncranna, Co. Donegal in 1975. Frank sent us an EIAJ ½ inch video that was recorded on a Sony High Density V-60H video tape for Helican Scan… Continue reading Sony High Density V-60H video tape digitised for Comhaltas
Quarter inch reel to reel tape audio archiving
We’ve been a bit quiet since last year on our blog here primarily because we have been processing a large, ongoing audio archiving digital migration job for Mood Media Ltd In essence audio archiving, digital migration, transfer or digitisation, whatever term you prefer, is conceptually simple: one analogue or digital format is moved to another,… Continue reading Quarter inch reel to reel tape audio archiving
Quarter inch reel to reel tape transfer of Jack Hawkins band archive
We were contacted recently by Jack Hawkins, the renowned arranger and band leader to consult on and digitise personal quarter inch open reel recordings of his band. In case you don’t know, The Jack Hawkins band are probably best known for their performance of the track 30-60-90 made famous in a club sequence in the… Continue reading Quarter inch reel to reel tape transfer of Jack Hawkins band archive
U-matic transfer to DVD, Uncompressed Quicktime and Digi Beta
We’ve been honored recently to have won a large contract to help in the digital migration of an extensive educational video archive by the transfer from U-matic archive copies to uncompressed video files. While the archive had been stored in an suitable environment and rarely if at all played, they had not survived well. The… Continue reading U-matic transfer to DVD, Uncompressed Quicktime and Digi Beta
Video Tape Transfer, Copy to DVD, DV or uncompressed AVI
Over the last 12 months we’ve seen this side of our business grow and adapt to the range of transfer needs that individuals, businesses and media creation organisations have. We are able to support a wide range analogue and digital, consumer and professional video formats from the late 1970s onwards such as: Betamax, VHS, SVHS,… Continue reading Video Tape Transfer, Copy to DVD, DV or uncompressed AVI
Cassette tape, reel to reel and vinyl transfer support Bristol Archive Records
We’ve recently been proud to be regularly involved in the transfer of a range of rare and often unique recordings of great but often forgotten Bristol bands from the late 1970s onwards. Bristol Archive Records “… aims to showcase music from the diverse Bristol Music scene and provide a historical account / document of all… Continue reading Cassette tape, reel to reel and vinyl transfer support Bristol Archive Records
reel to reel transfer
Over the last few years we’ve gradually built up our equipment inventory so we can now offer a wide range of audio and video transfers. We’re very happy to offer all track formats and speeds of 1/4 inch reel to reel tape transfer, from mono / stereo tapes or multitrack recordings. 15 inches per second… Continue reading reel to reel transfer