RE: [AV Media Matters] Analogue vs digital tape stock

[ian_gilmour@screensound.gov.au]

Don't despair Jeff, modern technology is at hand!
For mono or stereo, much of the world has standardised on broadcast wave
format or BWF files which are an extension of the original riff, aiff and
wave formats. They're universally re-readable without any special software
or hardware, and hence eminently migratable, which is the  secret to
digital preservation. Now that data storage media are less than US$1 per GB
it's even worth converting some of the more problematic video formats.
Remember that the data is all that matters, your drives and media only have
to last for 3-5 years before they're replaced. As far as preserving
hard-drives and PCs, this is not the easy way to a future - personally I
would prefer to archive dead rats. BWF will support 24-bit quantising and
96kHz sampling, but these won't play back in any old sound editor or audio
driver. The current spec only supports 1 or 2 channel, although future
versions should cope with multitrack. I've had to salvage DASH and PD which
have not had a happy childhood - not a pretty sight [or sound].
In the meantime, there's nothing wrong with a good 35mm mag or 2". A
certain European manufacturer makes tapes which last for 40+ years. They've
also made a few tapes which don't last as long so beware - make sure of the
QC.
Ian

jeffkreines@mindspring.com on 19/12/2000 05:45:11

Please respond to AV-Media-Matters@topica.com

To:   AV Media Matters <AV-Media-Matters@topica.com>
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Subject:  RE: [AV Media Matters] Analogue vs digital tape stock

russm@idirect.com wrote:

>I would never use old tape for archiving either (then again, I wouldn't
use
>digital tape either...but now I'm starting an arguement).

So what is the best format for archiving multitrack 35mm mag recordings,
like mixes?  Another generation of mag?  Digital multitrack?  Analog
multitrack?

And what about mono or stereo mag?  DAT? CD-R? ;-)  1/4" Analog with
timecode or pilotone? Mag?  And if mag, who makes good mag stock these
days?

I recently duped a bunch of 1972 Nagra tapes to both TC DAT and CD-R for
easy access (because I was losing the Nagra-T that I had).  But I know
that the Nagra tapes will likely long outlast the digital dupes.

Larry Black, who writes about sound for MIX magazine, suggests archiving
the hard drives that contain the mix, as well as a computer with the
appropriate software to recover this information.  It can be cheaper than
maintaining mag stems for everything.  You can get 80 gig harddrives for
under $300 these days. But it does seem a bit excessive.

Jeff "wish I had an answer" Kreines