This article is inspired by a collection of DVCAM tapes sent in by London-based cultural heritage organisation Sweet Patootee. Below we will explore several issues that arise from the transfer of DVCAM tapes, one of the many Digital Video formats that emerged in the mid-1990s. A second article will follow soon which focuses on the content of… Continue reading DVCAM transfers, error correction coding & misaligned machines
Tag: error correction
Transferring Digital Audio Tapes (DATs) to digital audio files
At Greatbear, we carefully restore and transfer to digital file all types of content recorded to Digital Audio Tape (DAT), and can support all sample rate and bit depth variations. This post focuses on some of the problems that can arise with the transfer of DATs. An immature recording method (digital) on a mature recording… Continue reading Transferring Digital Audio Tapes (DATs) to digital audio files
Digitisation: methodologies, processing and archival practices
We work with a range of customers at Greatbear, digitising anything from personal collections to the content of institutional archives. Because of this, what customers need from a digitisation service can be very different. A key issue relates to the question of how much we process the digital file, both as part of the transfer… Continue reading Digitisation: methodologies, processing and archival practices
Early digital tape recordings on PCM/ U-matic and Betamax video tape
We are now used to living in a born-digital environment, but the transition from analogue to digital technologies did not happen overnight. In the late 1970s, early digital audio recordings were made possible by a hybrid analogue/digital system. It was composed by the humble transport and recording mechanisms of the video tape machine, and a… Continue reading Early digital tape recordings on PCM/ U-matic and Betamax video tape