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CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

thestar.com

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Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#21

Post by jdietrich »

eltoozero wrote: post #13
ixf wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some media, this is absolutely the case. Particularly films that are slightly damaged, or seriously damaged, it's well worth holding onto the material in order to wait for better techniques to become available. Case in point, this recent restoration of Morecambe and Wise by BBC R&D: http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2017-12-morecambe-wise-video-fi... They laser cut the film apart, then used X-ray microtomography to sc…

Now that was an excellent read, quite astounding. Please post to HN front page and re-post as updates occur!

BBC archivists also figured out how to recover colour information from black-and-white film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjK-b4x9ZmQ

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#22

Post by rfrey »

CapacitorSet wrote: post #20
8note wrote: post #6

I'm sure somebody would buy at least some of them if they were on offer

I think there may be license issues, if the archives are not in the public domains. Other than that, yes, they might as well sell them and "recover" some money.

Recordings that are not public domain are sold all the time... is there something that makes these different?

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#23

Post by blattimwind »

raverbashing wrote: post #5
cornholio wrote: post #4

To play Devil's advocate, keeping the originals isn't just keeping, it means a commitment to maintaining them in an environmentally controlled space, following all fire prevention standards, in an organized fashion. It's easy to see why they would be wanting to cut down those costs to zero, especially due to forthcoming digitization and storage costs. On the other hand, it's also clearly an issue of controlling who h…

Yes. Magnetic tape is hard to keep. Film is even harder, it is flammable and decays as well. Needs controlled atmosphere to keep well.

Funny that you mention that. Polyester film is widely used for long-term archival, precisely because it so stable.

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#24

Post by [deleted] »

ixf wrote: post #11
cm2187 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why do they want to keep it? Even old film has a low resolution, let alone magnetic media. Do they expect to be able to better digitalise the same media that will be in worse state (more decay) in a distant future?

For some media, this is absolutely the case. Particularly films that are slightly damaged, or seriously damaged, it's well worth holding onto the material in order to wait for better techniques to become available. Case in point, this recent restoration of Morecambe and Wise by BBC R&D: http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2017-12-morecambe-wise-video-fi... They laser cut the film apart, then used X-ray microtomography to sc…

[deleted]

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#25

Post by snarfy »

cornholio wrote: post #4

To play Devil's advocate, keeping the originals isn't just keeping, it means a commitment to maintaining them in an environmentally controlled space, following all fire prevention standards, in an organized fashion. It's easy to see why they would be wanting to cut down those costs to zero, especially due to forthcoming digitization and storage costs. On the other hand, it's also clearly an issue of controlling who h…

"maintaining them in an environmentally controlled space, following all fire prevention standards, in an organized fashion" just means putting them into a storage unit. I'm pretty sure my cable bill is higher than those storage costs.

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#26

Post by dustycowboy »

zokier wrote: post #15

Assuming that the digitization is done diligently, committing to long-term maintenance of the originals would be borderline hoarding.

No, digital preservation is much harder than most people think. Digital media degrade too. Hard disks, optical media and magnetic tape all degrade over time.

Paper and film are fairly durable. They can be preserved without any maintenance for quite a long time.

Format obsolescence means that it can be hard to read old files. Sometimes, you need to track down a precise version of a program. The more tricky issue is that sometimes a file can render, but incorrectly on more modern versions.

Also, digital files require specialized software to read, whereas paper documents are immediately readable. Film is also readable to a certain extent without equipment.

Digital files might be deemed useless at some point in the future and dumped in the trash. Or there might not be enough money to transfer the files to a new medium.

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#27

Post by PeterisP »

rfrey wrote: post #22
CapacitorSet wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there may be license issues, if the archives are not in the public domains. Other than that, yes, they might as well sell them and "recover" some money.

Recordings that are not public domain are sold all the time... is there something that makes these different?

Just as with any other recording, I can make a backup copy for archiving purposes, but if I start selling those backup copies then that's a violation of copyright laws.

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#28

Post by raverbashing »

blattimwind wrote: post #23
raverbashing wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Magnetic tape is hard to keep. Film is even harder, it is flammable and decays as well. Needs controlled atmosphere to keep well.

Funny that you mention that. Polyester film is widely used for long-term archival, precisely because it so stable.

You're right, but analog signal degrades, and humidity can cause mould.

Digital data tapes have a nice layer of error correction on top.

Better than film, but still requires some care.

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#29

Post by gaius »

raverbashing wrote: post #5
cornholio wrote: post #4

To play Devil's advocate, keeping the originals isn't just keeping, it means a commitment to maintaining them in an environmentally controlled space, following all fire prevention standards, in an organized fashion. It's easy to see why they would be wanting to cut down those costs to zero, especially due to forthcoming digitization and storage costs. On the other hand, it's also clearly an issue of controlling who h…

Yes. Magnetic tape is hard to keep. Film is even harder, it is flammable and decays as well. Needs controlled atmosphere to keep well.

B&W film will live in a shoebox in the attic for 100 years and be retrievable just by shining a light through it. Digital media becomes inaccessible very quickly; I have floppy disks I can no longer easily or reliably read...

Re: CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized

#30

Post by rfrey »

PeterisP wrote: post #27
rfrey wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recordings that are not public domain are sold all the time... is there something that makes these different?

Just as with any other recording, I can make a backup copy for archiving purposes, but if I start selling those backup copies then that's a violation of copyright laws.

But this would be the copyright owner selling the recordings, just like a commercial album or movie.
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