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Since most data tape formats are no longer used (with the exception of LTO), specialty reading software for these formats have mostly been abandoned. 2 The specifications of the digital formats written on digital tape play a central role in the design and features of this type of software. Both DAT and DV tape utilize parity data that may be used by software to assess the accuracy of the data migration. This type of software often provides significant efficiencies for the preservation of certain forms of digital tape by focusing on verifiable migration of data rather than digitization.
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Examples of this software include Live Capture Plus and dvgrab, used for migrating data from DV tape via FireWire, as well as DATXtract, readdat, and ReadDAT X, used for migrating encapsulated PCM audio data from DAT tape via SCSI. This category includes both proprietary and open source software designed to migrate data from specific digital tape formats. Specialty Software for Specific Tape Formats Naturally there is overlap between these categories, but in general these categories affect software obsolescence in distinct ways. Software that facilitates migration of audiovisual data from tape to file is developed under a variety of circumstances: some by hardware developers to demonstrate the value and function of their products some for a more comprehensive set of functions targeted at content creators and editors some to facilitate the migration of data from a particular type of digital tape to a file and some within the context of an open source project. Open source digitization at BAVC Digitization Software Options for AV 1 Despite impending software obsolescence issues, the digitization of archival audiovisual material is increasingly more approachable now than before as digitization systems may now be built without requiring the highest end of dedicated computers. Today’s faster connections such as Thunderbolt and USB3 have no trouble transporting uncompressed video at the playback speed, and more modern computers are capable of supporting audiovisual digitization. The high data rates of uncompressed video and audio limited what types of connectivity could be used with videotape digitization. Until recently, capturing high quality video required specialized hardware and computers. Just as archivists are challenged to cope with hardware where limited and lessening support is available, this is increasingly true of software.Īlthough videotape digitization software options may dwindle, other technological advances make other aspects of videotape digitization much more efficient and flexible. This downtrend in the market for digitization software for videotape foretells the obsolescence of digitization software at a rate comparable to videotape itself. As developers of video digitization software follow their larger user communities away from videotape workflows, archivists encounter obsolescence risks approaching from both sides as the machines, skills, and services for video hardware become less available, digitization software also deprecates. With a few exceptions, digitization software is streamlined for production use but cumbersome for preservation use. The objectives, methods, and challenges faced by an audiovisual archivist working with deteriorated videotape content are significantly different than the objectives of the production assistant digitizing segments from tape to use in an edit. Audiovisual archivists have often adopted such software despite the limitations these present within an archival context. The obsolescence of videotape digitization software itself is a secondary technological challenge.ĭigitization software, like most video hardware, is designed for and marketed to the larger communities that produce or broadcast audiovisual content. Although the obsolescence of hardware has been a primary concern, videotape digitization is also dependent on software to facilitate a migration or transformation of data from a videotape to a digital file. Archives are increasingly challenged to sustain local means to access and preserve videotape collections. The machines, skills, and technological environments that support tape-based video formats evaporate as the larger communities of video broadcasting and production move on to file-based digital environments. Digitization Software Obsolescence, Too? IntroductionĪudiovisual archivists have long been aware of the impending obsolescence issues surrounding videotape and its associated hardware. This article was authored by Dave Rice and initially published in the IASA Journal number 45 under a CC-BY license.
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