
CBC is destroying its broadcast archives after they’re digitized - chmaynard
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2018/04/19/cbc-is-destroying-its-broadcast-archives-after-theyre-digitized.html
======
cornholio
To play Devil's advocate, keeping the originals isn't just keeping, it means a
commitment to maintaining them in an environmentally controlled space,
following all fire prevention standards, in an organized fashion. It's easy to
see why they would be wanting to cut down those costs to zero, especially due
to forthcoming digitization and storage costs.

On the other hand, it's also clearly an issue of controlling who has access to
the material - I highly doubt it will be simply dumped online for free. So
once you take it out of the live, high maintenance archive, you will not throw
it in the rubbish or donate them to a friendly NGO, since that might limit
your ability to control it in the future.

~~~
cm2187
And why do they want to keep it? Even old film has a low resolution, let alone
magnetic media. Do they expect to be able to better digitalise the same media
that will be in worse state (more decay) in a distant future?

~~~
ixf
For some media, this is absolutely the case. Particularly films that are
slightly damaged, or seriously damaged, it's well worth holding onto the
material in order to wait for better techniques to become available.

Case in point, this recent restoration of Morecambe and Wise by BBC R&D:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2017-12-morecambe-wise-video-
fi...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2017-12-morecambe-wise-video-film-archive-
restoration)

They laser cut the film apart, then used X-ray microtomography to scan the
film and some very clever software to unwarp layers from the 3D data produced
by the X-ray microtomography process. Not exactly something we could've done 5
years ago.

~~~
eltoozero
Now that was an excellent read, quite astounding.

Please post to HN front page and re-post as updates occur!

~~~
jdietrich
BBC archivists also figured out how to recover colour information from black-
and-white film.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjK-b4x9ZmQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjK-b4x9ZmQ)

------
cjensen
[Edit: See comment for correction that explains that Radio-Canada includes TV.
I'll leave this here because some of the info is valid]

From the article: _It also questioned why Radio-Canada was preserving its
master recordings after making digital copies but CBC had opted to rely only
on digital copies_

This statement shows a lack of understanding of the problem. Old audio
recordings can still be played. Old video recordings from the early VTRs[1]
are going to be unplayable soon: the people who have the skill to refurbish an
old VTR are well into retirement age now. There are only a handful of the
original VTRs still operating.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruplex_videotape](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruplex_videotape)

~~~
ixf
Very old audio equipment is in a similar boat - I know archivists who are
prioritizing stuff for digitization based on the number of tape head hours
they think they've got left in older machines.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Is contact absolutely required in such old machines - I wonder if you could
float the tape using, say, air [1], ultrasound, or silicon spray, or even just
carefully fitted wheels in order to maximize life of the head itself.

I'm surprised generic non-contact magnetic readers haven't been developed for
retro tech given the prevalence of magnetic storage tech for HDDs.

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_bearing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_bearing)

~~~
fencepost
I'd wonder more if a newer more modern head could also be used on the same
tape at the same time (a few inches over on a slightly extended tape path),
with the output of the "original" used to train software to interpret the
higher resolution data coming from the new head.

Seems to me that might in some ways be similar to some things required for
software defined radio signal processing.

------
linsomniac
What was that book where they were digitizing books by shredding them and then
vacuuming them up and digitizing all the scraps as they passed through the
vacuum hose to reassemble digitally and then OCR?

~~~
sfifs
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

~~~
linsomniac
That sounds correct, thanks!

------
Runderwood
Destroying program originals or the most recent copy of those program
originals is in violation of international archive standards, and is a breach
of the Public Trust which had funded CBC to the extent of $50 billion from
public purse since exception. These archives are the property of the people of
Canada.

------
Runderwood
International Archival Standards call for preservation of analog originals, or
the most recent copy of those original programs.CBC's destruction of program
archives (following digitization) is a breach of the Public Trust.

------
trefoiled
This reminds me of Blade Runner 2049: "We had everything on drives,
everything."

~~~
cma
[https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1akw3o/could_an...](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1akw3o/could_an_emp_wipe_the_data_on_a_hard_drive/)

------
w8rbt
I'm concerned that the same thing will happen to libraries and books someday.
Books are a great technology. I hope we don't throw them out too.

~~~
krsdcbl
I wouldnt be too much. Books are a primary medium, they can be consumed
without the need of an interpreter or interface.

They dont face any threat of not beeing readable anymore and therefore storage
becoming a waste of money, gradually

------
8note
I'm sure somebody would buy at least some of them if they were on offer

~~~
CapacitorSet
I think there may be license issues, if the archives are not in the public
domains. Other than that, yes, they might as well sell them and "recover" some
money.

~~~
rfrey
Recordings that are not public domain are sold all the time... is there
something that makes these different?

~~~
PeterisP
Just as with any other recording, I can make a backup copy for archiving
purposes, but if I start selling those backup copies then that's a violation
of copyright laws.

~~~
rfrey
But this would be the copyright owner selling the recordings, just like a
commercial album or movie.

------
ksec
How do they digitize it? 8K RAW and no Compression?

~~~
pilsetnieks
There's nothing wrong with compression, data can be lossless and still
compressed. That's why a FLAC file can be three times smaller than an
otherwise identical WAV file.

~~~
Quwic
The problem is that the compression algorithm may disappear or be faulty

~~~
foxyv
Not if you store the algorithm alongside the media.

------
zokier
Assuming that the digitization is done diligently, committing to long-term
maintenance of the originals would be borderline hoarding.

~~~
ambentzen
If that is the case, lets take a picture of the Mona Lisa and shred the damn
thing. All that maintenance and security is just a waste, right?

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Well, ask the same question about a mediocre portrait picturing someone of no
[recorded/remembered] societal note by an artist no-one knows anything else
about and I'd say "absolutely". Take pictures, make them available to the
public, give the original away - use the remaining 99% of the upkeep costs for
something else.

When a robot/printer is able to make a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa down
to the brush strokes, and we can experience it in VR without even needing the
replica, the answer to your question might change for most works too.

~~~
lou1306
High-res scans of sculptures are already a thing [0]. Just send the polygon
mesh to a 3d printing and presto, you get your own David by Michelangelo.
However, painting would be waay more difficult, especially in cases (such as
Van Gogh) where the artist deliberately applies thick layers of paint.

(I find the idea of _intentionally_ destroying the originals to be ludicrous,
but hey, more future-proofing is always good)

[0]: [http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/dmich-
sig00/](http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/dmich-sig00/)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Polygon printed plastic is nothing like chiselled marble, and that's going to
be super hard to replicate because of the random variability.

What is it about original artwork that makes it so important as to need
eternal preservation?

~~~
lou1306
> What is it about original artwork that makes it so important as to need
> eternal preservation?

In David's case, maybe the fact that Michelangelo was able to carve it out of
a fragile and partially sculpted block that at least two other great artists
refused to use. It's an engineering feat at least as much as an artistic one.

------
pervycreeper
>He who controls the past controls the future.

Hard to see this as anything other than an attempt to minimize and erase
Canadian culture, such as it is. Nice A / B with the french counterpart, where
there is political will to bolster theirs.

~~~
patrickg_zill
Probably accurate, given the renaming of the British North America Act to the
fraud of a name, "Constitution Act of 1867".

