Interesting article relating to new media storage. at DVinfo.net

Gary Nattrass · April 26th, 2013, 01:49 AM

BBC's Thatcher coverage highlights problems with non-digital archives | Media | guardian.co.uk

Trevor Dennis · April 26th, 2013, 03:06 PM

It would be interesting to know what sort of capacity they have for all that material, and material yet to be shot. I'm thinking in terms of the 14Tb I'm up to at home, so the Beeb's capacity would have to be massive.

It is also a wee bit surprising that Maggie's passing caught them out. My understanding is that major broadcasters try to be well prepared for mega-famous people who are getting into their dotage.

Gary Nattrass · April 27th, 2013, 01:45 AM

They do need to be prepared but a lot of the problem is that the bean counters prevent a lot of it to save money.

When I was at The Bill ten years ago we had 200Tb of storage to cover standard def and it was always full I think the biggest problem will be that they will never have enough manpower to digitise all the old material and even then by the time most of it is done new technology will take over and mean a further transfer.

At least I think they have standardised on AVC Intra as the archive format at the BBC.

Jim Andrada · April 27th, 2013, 09:30 PM

I'm aware of some media archives that are currently measured in the hundreds of petabytes and growing fast!

I'm sure we'll soon see some company pass the exabyte boundary.

Big concern with a lot of these archives beyond the complexity of keeping them intact is the question of how they'll be accessible in a couple of hundred years as technology shifts underneath them. As museums and libraries digitize all their collections, questions about multi-century future proofing are serious.

Brian Drysdale · April 28th, 2013, 02:01 AM

Given the amount of older kit the BBC had, it's surprising (although knowing the Beeb, not really) that they hadn't maintained an infrastructure to allow access to material that they've always traditionally used on fast turnaround programmes.

They also used to have a network of lines/links that connected parts of the BBC, I assume the tube must be a cheaper alternative.

Steve Game · April 28th, 2013, 03:32 AM

The BBC 'obits' department must have had Thatcher's story at a fairly advanced stage so I'm surprised that there was such a mad rush for new footage. Maybe it was a Freudian slip as I'm sure that there were plenty of viewers who would have gladly missed all those broadcasts regurgitating old news about her.

April 26th, 2013, 01:49 AM	#1
Gary Nattrass Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cornsay Durham UK Posts: 1,992	Interesting article relating to new media storage. BBC's Thatcher coverage highlights problems with non-digital archives \| Media \| guardian.co.uk __________________ Over 15 minutes in Broadcast Film and TV production: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1044352/

April 26th, 2013, 03:06 PM	#2
Trevor Dennis Major Player Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: New Zealand, Rapaura (near Blenheim) Posts: 434	Re: Interesting article relating to new media storage. It would be interesting to know what sort of capacity they have for all that material, and material yet to be shot. I'm thinking in terms of the 14Tb I'm up to at home, so the Beeb's capacity would have to be massive. It is also a wee bit surprising that Maggie's passing caught them out. My understanding is that major broadcasters try to be well prepared for mega-famous people who are getting into their dotage. __________________ Stills at: www.flickr.com/photos/trevor-dennis/

April 27th, 2013, 01:45 AM	#3
Gary Nattrass Trustee Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cornsay Durham UK Posts: 1,992	Re: Interesting article relating to new media storage. They do need to be prepared but a lot of the problem is that the bean counters prevent a lot of it to save money. When I was at The Bill ten years ago we had 200Tb of storage to cover standard def and it was always full I think the biggest problem will be that they will never have enough manpower to digitise all the old material and even then by the time most of it is done new technology will take over and mean a further transfer. At least I think they have standardised on AVC Intra as the archive format at the BBC. __________________ Over 15 minutes in Broadcast Film and TV production: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1044352/

April 27th, 2013, 09:30 PM	#4
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	Re: Interesting article relating to new media storage. I'm aware of some media archives that are currently measured in the hundreds of petabytes and growing fast! I'm sure we'll soon see some company pass the exabyte boundary. Big concern with a lot of these archives beyond the complexity of keeping them intact is the question of how they'll be accessible in a couple of hundred years as technology shifts underneath them. As museums and libraries digitize all their collections, questions about multi-century future proofing are serious.

April 28th, 2013, 02:01 AM	#5
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Interesting article relating to new media storage. Given the amount of older kit the BBC had, it's surprising (although knowing the Beeb, not really) that they hadn't maintained an infrastructure to allow access to material that they've always traditionally used on fast turnaround programmes. They also used to have a network of lines/links that connected parts of the BBC, I assume the tube must be a cheaper alternative.

April 28th, 2013, 03:32 AM	#6
Steve Game Major Player Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: London, UK Posts: 353	Re: Interesting article relating to new media storage. The BBC 'obits' department must have had Thatcher's story at a fairly advanced stage so I'm surprised that there was such a mad rush for new footage. Maybe it was a Freudian slip as I'm sure that there were plenty of viewers who would have gladly missed all those broadcasts regurgitating old news about her.