Digitizing old videotapes is essential for preserving cultural heritage. Within the Netherlands, this is one of the core responsibilities of the Dutch Institute for Sound & Vision (NISV). The technical challenge in this task is that playing back a tape in an obsolete format usually requires the original playback equipment. These devices are no longer manufactured, but fortunately many spare parts are still available. From three defective machines, it is often possible to build one fully operational unit, and spare parts can still be found in various storage facilities.
To ensure that digitization can continue in the future despite ongoing wear and tear of components, NISV recently acquired a large number of additional devices to increase its own capacity. However, being able to play back an old medium is only the first challenge. Digitizing large volumes requires extensive automation.
The acquired equipment included so-called “Flexicarts”. These tape robots are capable of automatically picking up videotapes from a storage bin, inserting them into a playback machine, and playing them sequentially without manual intervention. Flexicarts are impressive devices, but they are also highly outdated. They are controlled through a serial connection to a PC, and several additional PCs are required throughout the entire process. During digitization, the analogue audio/video signal is converted into a digital signal, which is then encoded. These processes rely on PC-based systems, and all of these systems had become significantly outdated.
Connecting outdated PCs running operating systems and software that are no longer maintained to a network introduces serious security risks. For an institute with ISO 27001 certification, this is simply unacceptable.
North-Lite was therefore commissioned to upgrade the complete control system of the Flexicarts, enabling the entire setup to operate on modern PCs with up-to-date operating systems, databases, and software frameworks. We gladly accepted this challenge, allowing NISV to continue safeguarding Dutch cultural heritage at full capacity in the years ahead.
By applying our expertise in codecs, wrappers, and tape formats, we were able to make the entire system operational again within a short timeframe. We delivered the following key components:
- A new AV encoder capable of working with modern SDI capture cards, fully compliant with the strict requirements of the MXF D10-50 standard, and based on software components that can be maintained over the long term. The API also had to remain backwards compatible with the existing workflow system.
- An upgrade of the workflow system from PHP 3 to PHP 8.
- A database migration from MySQL to the latest version of MariaDB.
Curious about what we can do for other outdated systems? Get in touch with us!
