Now that TV stations are planning to go DTV in February 17, most TV news departments which have archival back when they had old film from the 50's to mid 70's or videotape from the late 70's to the 2000's will make the switch to a DVD archive collection, which their footage originally was on film or videotape at one time. I think most of the editors have made up their mind from switching it from the film & videotape into the new DVD collection of news footage from the past. Is it good for any of the stations to show the old footage back in it's original form of film & videotape convert into digital quality, now that most of the stations are planning to digital now. Any point to this? Tell us what you think.
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news archives question
- Thread starter dgendvil
- Start date
I'm not completely sure I understand the question, but let me take a stab at it.
The DTV conversion is a change of transmission standards. It does not require stations to change the way they produce programming internally. Stations that are still gathering news on analog videotape can keep doing so; the video would be played out of analog videotape machines and fed into the control room, then sent to master control (which can be either analog or digital, depending on the station). It can even be sent over an analog studio-transmitter link to the transmitter to be converted into digital standard-def for transmission.
There are no requirements that stations broadcasting digitally do so in high definition.
So for station archives, nothing really changes. Many stations that had news departments back in the film era (1950s-late 1970s) got rid of their film later on; some, like that from WGR-TV and WBEN-TV in Buffalo, ended up in good hands - the Buffalo Broadcasters, in this case, who are working to restore and digitize it. Others simply trashed their film, sadly. Most of the stations that still have their film in a basement or storage room no longer have the ability to view it in house. My local WROC-TV is an exception; it maintains a working film chain and continues to use excerpts from old film, as needed, simply by playing out from the film chain into whatever format they're currently using for news production. Most every station still has the ability to dub from older analog videotape formats (3/4" U-Matic, Betacam, even the older 1" reels) to current formats as well - although, ironically, the videotape from the start of the field-video era (late 1970s-80s) hasn't always held up as well as the film.
More recently, many stations have converted to various digital formats for shooting video in the field and editing it in-house. That's not even anything new. When I started doing TV here in Rochester (at R News, the cable news channel), they were in the process of moving from analog S-VHS to digital DVC Pro in the field - and that was way back in 1997! Today, I think three of the stations in town use DVC Pro, while others are using newer solid-state digital recorders.
If you're asking whether stations will convert their entire archives from film and analog videotape to digital formats, I'd say that's extremely unlikely - you're talking tens of thousands of hours of video at some stations, and as long as it's still playable in the original format, it can easily be transferred to newer formats (including upconversion to HD for stations that produce local material in HD) as it's needed.
The DTV conversion is a change of transmission standards. It does not require stations to change the way they produce programming internally. Stations that are still gathering news on analog videotape can keep doing so; the video would be played out of analog videotape machines and fed into the control room, then sent to master control (which can be either analog or digital, depending on the station). It can even be sent over an analog studio-transmitter link to the transmitter to be converted into digital standard-def for transmission.
There are no requirements that stations broadcasting digitally do so in high definition.
So for station archives, nothing really changes. Many stations that had news departments back in the film era (1950s-late 1970s) got rid of their film later on; some, like that from WGR-TV and WBEN-TV in Buffalo, ended up in good hands - the Buffalo Broadcasters, in this case, who are working to restore and digitize it. Others simply trashed their film, sadly. Most of the stations that still have their film in a basement or storage room no longer have the ability to view it in house. My local WROC-TV is an exception; it maintains a working film chain and continues to use excerpts from old film, as needed, simply by playing out from the film chain into whatever format they're currently using for news production. Most every station still has the ability to dub from older analog videotape formats (3/4" U-Matic, Betacam, even the older 1" reels) to current formats as well - although, ironically, the videotape from the start of the field-video era (late 1970s-80s) hasn't always held up as well as the film.
More recently, many stations have converted to various digital formats for shooting video in the field and editing it in-house. That's not even anything new. When I started doing TV here in Rochester (at R News, the cable news channel), they were in the process of moving from analog S-VHS to digital DVC Pro in the field - and that was way back in 1997! Today, I think three of the stations in town use DVC Pro, while others are using newer solid-state digital recorders.
If you're asking whether stations will convert their entire archives from film and analog videotape to digital formats, I'd say that's extremely unlikely - you're talking tens of thousands of hours of video at some stations, and as long as it's still playable in the original format, it can easily be transferred to newer formats (including upconversion to HD for stations that produce local material in HD) as it's needed.
Scott, the original question was poorly worded - at best. Your response was right on target.
It has always grieved me to hear how many stations simply sent their film archives to the landfill. In most cases it was shortsighted managers who couldn't imagine why they'd need a 50 year old reel of film about some event in their city. In some cases, the film had been poorly stored and was no longer useable. In other cases, the films were literally a fire hazard and had to be done away with before something really bad happend.
Without naming names or pointing fingers, I recall a story where a politician called a local station to see if they had film of some old event. (perhaps when he or his father was sworn in to office) He hit the roof when he was told it had been thrown away recently because they needed the space. The politician demanded answers and wanted to know why they couldn't have been given to a local college for safe keeping. Suffice to say, the amount of screaming and yelling over the event made the papers and gave the station a huge black eye. The news director departed not long after that.
Station owners and managers rarely seem to understand the value of these archives. They represent a chronicle of the history of the area. They are the accumulated works of all the journalists who have worked at the station. My belief is that they are the most valuable thing at a TV station. They should not be treated so lightly that some new manager trying to save money feels they have the right to just throw them away.
I hope that more stations will follow the example you cited in Buffalo and start to digitize these old films and videotapes. If they were smart, they'd figure out a way to make a buck on them by offering them online for a fee. (much like newspapers offer to sell old stories and front page downloads online)
It has always grieved me to hear how many stations simply sent their film archives to the landfill. In most cases it was shortsighted managers who couldn't imagine why they'd need a 50 year old reel of film about some event in their city. In some cases, the film had been poorly stored and was no longer useable. In other cases, the films were literally a fire hazard and had to be done away with before something really bad happend.
Without naming names or pointing fingers, I recall a story where a politician called a local station to see if they had film of some old event. (perhaps when he or his father was sworn in to office) He hit the roof when he was told it had been thrown away recently because they needed the space. The politician demanded answers and wanted to know why they couldn't have been given to a local college for safe keeping. Suffice to say, the amount of screaming and yelling over the event made the papers and gave the station a huge black eye. The news director departed not long after that.
Station owners and managers rarely seem to understand the value of these archives. They represent a chronicle of the history of the area. They are the accumulated works of all the journalists who have worked at the station. My belief is that they are the most valuable thing at a TV station. They should not be treated so lightly that some new manager trying to save money feels they have the right to just throw them away.
I hope that more stations will follow the example you cited in Buffalo and start to digitize these old films and videotapes. If they were smart, they'd figure out a way to make a buck on them by offering them online for a fee. (much like newspapers offer to sell old stories and front page downloads online)
tested said:
It wasn't the stations in Buffalo that did it - it was the Buffalo Broadcasters (www.buffalobroadcasters.com), a wonderful group of radio and TV people both past and present, and they're doing it all as volunteers. Great bunch of people.
On a related note, I wonder how long it'll be before a local station tries to use some of that old local footage for programming on digital subchannel. I'm sure folks at the station level must have thought of doing just that--but with profitablility and copyright questions.
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