Digital Services (DLC)
Smathers Libraries
University of Florida
P.O Box 117003
Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
P: 352.273.2900
F: 352.846.3702
UFDC@uflib.ufl.edu
Digital Library Center: Audio & Video
The following includes information on some of the equipment onsite. This information is not an endorsement of any manufacturer's product.
- Marantz PMD660 Professional Portable Digital Recorder for audio
Specifications
Sampling: Records uncompressed 16-bit PCM .wav files at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz
Connections: 2 built-in stereo condenser mics with Automatic Level Control (ALC), 2 XLR microphone connections with 48 volt phantom power, stereo line I/O
Price: approximately $430 (consult vendors for current pricing)
Deployment: one (1) units deployed within the Digital Library Center's offices
Staffing: used by both the Operations Manager and specially trained student assistants with extensive analog and digital processing experience. - Other equipment includes:
AMPEX CVR-70 Betacam Recorder
Sony Betacam SP Videocassette Player BVW-ZZ
Technics Stereo Graphic Equalizer
Sony U-Matic SP, VO-9600
TEAC stereo double cassette deck
Ion TTUSB05 USB Turntable
Sony SVHS
Reel to reel player
Audio
Standards for audio sampling/capture are:
- Current standard: 24-bit 96.0 kHz WAV
(An hour of audio at this standard is 1.98 GB.) - Old standard: 16-bit 44.1 kHz WAV
Video Standards for Encoding:
- Ideal: HD Standard (1080p preferred over 1080i)
- Acceptable: NTSC (525-line, 30 frames per second, interlaced)
Video Standards for File Formats:
- Ideal: MPEG-4
- Acceptable: MPEG-2
- Acceptable deriviatives are WMV, AVI, QT
Technology is moving toward 24-bit 192 kHz. For the moment, we do not to use this standard. While the technical capability is now available, it has not yet been adopted by the various audio engineering associations. Technology is also moving toward variable bit rate (VBR) encoding. For the moment, we have chosen to stay with the constant bit rate (CBR) encoding. VBR is reported to reproduce recorded sound more faithfully, but it introduces archive issues not yet addressed (to our knowledge) by digital library archives.
Motion JPEG 2000 is also under consideration.
DLC Current A/V Processing
Current video processing is done using:
- Standard Intel Core 2 Duo machine with 2 GiB of RAM base
- ATI All-in-Wonder 2006 Edition (Radeon X1300 GPU); PCI-e
- YPrPb adapter, TV-Tuning capabilities (and capture), HD-ready output.
We can capture video from a JVC SuperVHS unit and convert the analog signal to a usable, preservable digital signal with a minimum of interference (versus using an external decoder).
We encode in MPEG-2 and AVI (AVI used for downloading, MPEG-2 or 4 for preservation on optical media). Three resolutions standard: 320x240, 640x480, and 720x480. Depending on the source, we can’t always dictate whether something can transformed into HD. NTSC, 30fps is acceptable, mostly when it comes to objects drawn from video tape (especially amateur productions on consumer-grade cassettes). We use Adobe Premier Elements 2.0 for video encoding.
Current audio processing is done using the same computer with a specialized sound card, using the component audio software and Audacity freeware as a supplement. We also use a dual tape deck, depending on specific project needs.
Distribution Formats
Most audio players do not yet play either 24-bit or 96 kHz audio. Most players support 16-bit audio, some support 44.1 kHz while others only 28 kHz. For distribution, we down-sample the archived audio to the CD audio standard, 16-bit 44.1. The cleaned voice-audio signal should experience no degradation to lower than 28 kHz, per the research. The DLC plans to distribute the following formats:
- CD/DVD audio (for distribution to Special Collections and/or applicable department)
- Streaming MP3 (for Internet distribution) MP3 seems to be the prevailing Internet streaming and download format.
Resources
- CCAHA's AV resources
- Video format identification guide
- "Sound Directions: Best Practices for Audio Preservation" Sound Directions: Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage (overview with links to appendices), 2007.
- Brylawski, Samuel. Preservation of Digitally Recorded Sound. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub106/sound.html (April 2002, for CLIR)
- Conservation OnLine. Preservation of Audio Materials [bibliography with links].
- Fleischhauer, Carl. Audio and Video Preservation Reformatting: A Library of Congress Perspective. (March 2003)
- International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage. (2001)
- EVIADA Development Phase Proposal (page 13 on video standards)
| Prior Workflow | |||||
Save file in three formats:
|
Format | Output container | Output Video Codec | Output Audio Codec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AVI |
AVI |
MPEG-4 |
WAV |
||
MPG |
MPG |
MPEG-II |
MP3 |
||
WMV |
WMV |
WMV-7 |
WMA |
||
| Save each format without change |
|
||||
| Archive all | Retain/preserve all derivative files and the original source file in the final BibID package for archiving. | ||||
Printing
If image materials are to be printed at a large size using the Map Library's printer, the files need to be under a maximum of 180MB. Also, backgrounds should be white or light so as not to use too much ink.
Last modified: Monday March 05 2012 lnt
