memepool
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2004
- Posts
- 2,690
- Likes
- 19
Quote:
For archiving analogue tape is a pretty robust format tried and trusted for 60+ years so long as it's stored properly as is the case with any magnetic media.
The machines are so well built that they last indefinitely again so long as they are maintained and they are far less complex to maintain than digital formats like DAT for instance where things like 20 year old chips are often no longer available.
Many studios find themselves in the position where they have large libraries on DAT and the machines are becomming harder and harder to maintain if you are lucky enough to have one that still works. At least with Open Reel they were in use for so long that the machines are very common and they are pretty cheap 2nd hand if you need to strip one for parts. DAT machines were not as well made on the whole apart from a few top models and haven't lasted as well. I know studios that are sitting on dozens of partially working machines not really knowing what to do with them.
Put it all on HD? or Blu-Ray? or whatever this years hype format is?
Absolutely you can afford to keep all your back catalogue on RAID arrays as hard drives are so cheap these days but life expectancy is 2-5 years so this means you have to spend many more man hours maintaining them.
Optical Discs like DVD are far from bullet proof as the life expectancy is again thought to be around 5 years. Digital tape streamers? same problems as DAT.
and then some as with all digital media you either have a perfect archive or you have a bunch of corrupted machine code which can't be resurrected so easily if at all.
So for serious archiving analogue tape has many benefits, you can put it in a box in a warehouse and forget about it for 50 years.
Originally Posted by Girlsound /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is a rising number of studios that are using the 1" two track format...including JVC and Sony. Ironic. There are so many problems with using analog tapes that the digital "revolution" solved that it's just not realistic to see them (VERY expensive 1" two track) too often. |
For archiving analogue tape is a pretty robust format tried and trusted for 60+ years so long as it's stored properly as is the case with any magnetic media.
The machines are so well built that they last indefinitely again so long as they are maintained and they are far less complex to maintain than digital formats like DAT for instance where things like 20 year old chips are often no longer available.
Many studios find themselves in the position where they have large libraries on DAT and the machines are becomming harder and harder to maintain if you are lucky enough to have one that still works. At least with Open Reel they were in use for so long that the machines are very common and they are pretty cheap 2nd hand if you need to strip one for parts. DAT machines were not as well made on the whole apart from a few top models and haven't lasted as well. I know studios that are sitting on dozens of partially working machines not really knowing what to do with them.
Put it all on HD? or Blu-Ray? or whatever this years hype format is?
Absolutely you can afford to keep all your back catalogue on RAID arrays as hard drives are so cheap these days but life expectancy is 2-5 years so this means you have to spend many more man hours maintaining them.
Optical Discs like DVD are far from bullet proof as the life expectancy is again thought to be around 5 years. Digital tape streamers? same problems as DAT.
and then some as with all digital media you either have a perfect archive or you have a bunch of corrupted machine code which can't be resurrected so easily if at all.
So for serious archiving analogue tape has many benefits, you can put it in a box in a warehouse and forget about it for 50 years.