6 minute read
Vectracom
from PRO50 2017
PRESERVING AUDIOVISUAL ARCHIVES
Vectracom is a service company specialising in the preservation and valorisation of audiovisual archives (films, video and audio). Every year, it digitises between 100 000 hours to 200 000 hours of content for broadcasters, administrations, corporate houses, museums, associations and others. Vectracom is the leading mass digitisation company in Europe with proven expertise for critical and large projects. Founded in 1991, it is headquartered in Paris, France, and the company operates worldwide with offices in Europe, North Africa and the USA.
ACCELERATING DEMAND
There is a rise in demand for archives digitisation and Vectracom is working on more projects than ever before. Content owners see their material ageing and degrading and do not have the necessary equipment that can read through aging content. As a result the threat of losing valuable assets becomes more tangible together with the need for urgent action.
Nevertheless, costs are high and in order to digitise assets, companies look to external service providers for solutions with a low, guaranteed OPEX rather than a high, risky CAPEX.
EVIDENT CHOICE
Vectracom is the natural choice for many companies for their preservation projects as it offers first-class operations. Quality is key, and is not simply a marketing slogan at Vectracom. It is more an idea that runs through all operations and projects, in the machinery, in the processes and finally in its employees. By implementing total quality in all systems,
Audio restoration operations.
Very high quality scanning SD HD 2K 4K.
Parallelised video digitisation.
Parallelised audio digitisation.
Vectracom outdoes the competition each time.
Preserving audiovisual heritage is the company mission and in so doing it employs a scientific approach while identifying carriers (films, tapes, discs) and their potential issues. Then an industrial approach is applied to treat these tapes and deliver rejuvenated carriers and high quality media files as well as extended sets of technical and editorial metadata.
ON-SITE FACTORIES
Archives digitisation needs to be done onsite as they obviously cannot travel. When a broadcaster, association or an administration has decided to go for a preservation campaign, Vectracom comes on-site with the required equipment and people. The company takes care of all aspects of the project, covering every detail. The content owner needs only to provide access to his legacy audiovisual carriers. At the end of each project, Vectracom takes back all equipment and the content owner keeps his assets in a digital repository.
The treatment of carriers is always done in a professional manner. First, the carrier’s mechanical and chemical issues are identified and sorted. Next a factory is built and the required equipment and other related processes are put in place. Lastly, experts are brought in to manage and run operations.
Vectracom classically uses industrial project management and vocabulary. A system is designed and installed in a factory built by Vectracom. A detailed scope of work is shared with the customer explaining all project plans. Special attention is paid to production management to deliver a sustained throughput adhering to plan and deadlines.
Vectracom is the only service provider in the domain to display an ISO 9001:2015 certification. It is a significant differentiator.
TURNKEY SERVICES
Whatever the size of a project, Vectracom manages entire logistics with its own resources. The company also provides services that go beyond standard digitisation or preservation operations. It offers digital restoration as well as metadata enhancement and indexing services. Vectracom also proposes the implementation of MAM and storage systems in collaboration with its partners installing best-of-breed solutions all over the world.
METADATA ENHANCEMENT AND INDEXING SERVICES
Metadata are capital information required to index media files in order to retrieve their content. Preservation projects have been limited to digitisation during the last decade but today, more and more preservation projects include content indexing from the beginning. Content owners understand that they can benefit from the value of their contents only when they are properly registered and indexed.
Vectracom has put in place teams of metadata specialists to collect existing metadata from databases whatever their form (paper, electronics) and their standard (Oracle, SAL, Word, Excel, etc.). These specialists analyse the various databases that usually exist at the location of the archives. They then propose a new database structure to house all existing information and define rules to enter information. All existing information is transferred into the new database, cleaned and entry of additional data is allowed.
When such information is required, a team of professional librarians hired and trained by Vectracom executes the job. Librarians are usually locally hired staff as they must speak the local language and also need to recognise what they index (locations, people, events).
Indexing missions are performed at the preservation factory. For this task, an operator can spend more time than what is required or allowed; consequently, indexing management must be very precise. During
Vectracom is the expert of legacy formats. 3D design of an on-site preservation facility.
Clinic video digitisation.
projects, Vectracom monitors the efficiency of each operator so that it can share indexing tasks according to the preferences and performances of each librarian. The goal is to have the best possible indexing in a fixed budget and within a respected planning.
LARGE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Vectracom has been in charge of the largest projects of audio-visual archive digitisation during the 10 last years and has saved more than 1,000,000 hours of video and 25,000 hours of films. Several countries have trusted Vectracom for preserving their legacy content. Among these are several Arab-speaking countries, for example Saudi Arabia with (60,000 hours spread on 7600 films, 32,000
Indexing operations.
two-inch reels, 41,000 one-inch B reels and 1600 one-inch C reels) and Tunisia with (11,000 two-inch reels).
Vectracom is currently managing huge preservation campaigns for the following: Saudi Arabia: 110,000 hours of Beta tapes and metadata enhancement of 250 000 clips. Switzerland: More than 45,000 hours of audio tapes. France (INA): 350,000 hours of Beta tapes are currently digitised (50,000 each year). French territories: 120,000 hours of DV and Beta located in nine locations around the world (Polynesia, Caribbean, Indian
Ocean, etc.) are digitised on-site. The European Parliament: 120,000 hours of audio cassettes.
Vectracom also participates in the activities of various organisations including the FIAT/ IFTA, IASA, FIAF and the AMIA.
CONTACT
Vectracom
Celia Letienne
2, rue de la justice
93217 St denis La Plaine Cedex
Tel: +33 1 55 93 42 53
Email: letiennec@vectracom.fr
Website: www.vectracom.fr
Systems Integrators
Al Futtaim Technologies Aret Video and Audio Engineering BFE Studio und Medien Systeme GmbH Broadcast Systems Arabia INC System Integrations TVC
