Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
18/12/2009

San Diego Museums Deploy SAMMA Solo

The 17 cultural institutions in San Diego's Balboa Park together have deployed a single Front Porch Digital SAMMA Solo to migrate the content of their media collections from analog videotape to secure digital storage.
Ultimately, the project will not only preserve the media, but also enable the museums to open their unique and irreplaceable archives to virtual visitors via the Web. So far, some 700 of about 4,000 videotapes have been processed, with subject matter ranging from test flights filmed in the 1950s, to performances of African drumming, to Tony Hawks' feats of skateboard derring-do.
Packaged in a compact, turnkey, single-stream solution, the SAMMA Solo automatically migrates content from videotape into secure, readily accessible digital files, monitoring the process and implementing quality standards frame by frame.
Balboa Park's SAMMA Solo simultaneously digitises content at real-time speeds into five formats: MXF-wrapped JPEG2000, high and low resolution AVC, Adobe Flash and QuickTime.
The SAMMA Solo System is run as many as 16 hours a day by two interns and three members of the facilities' staff, none of them with technical backgrounds.
Rich Cherry, Director of the Balboa Park Online Collaborative, said: "We're pretty amazed at the speed and at how smoothly the process has gone. These are smaller institutions that are very cost-conscious, so we did a careful analysis of the ROI before we invested. What we found was that sharing the SAMMA Solo makes the price per tape extremely low in comparison to any other method we might have tried."
Overseen by the eight-month-old Online Collaborative, the project has resulted in some unanticipated benefits. For example, the museums' current archivists did not know exactly what was on every shelved tape because in some cases they lacked the appropriate playback device for viewing it. Thus, the digitisation project has not only made content available, but also made it identifiable.
Mike Knaisch, Front Porch Digital President, said: "It's not only large, well-heeled organisations such as broadcasters and name-brand museums that have media worth saving.
"All over the world, there are smaller cultural organisations with unique and valuable collections equally subject to the ravages of time. As the Balboa Park institutions have discovered, the SAMMA Solo is the most cost-effective means of preserving and making accessible this priceless cultural record."
(KMcA/BMcC)
Solidmate Ltd Memory Card Hire London

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

08/02/2024
Palmer Digital Group Wins Additional Digital Menu Board Business
Palmer Digital Group has won additional digital menu board business with iconic ice cream shop Rainbow Cone, a Chicagoland institution since 1926. Fol
17/08/2023
Palmer Digital Group Unveils New Line Of On-Wall Outdoor Digital Menu Boards
Palmer Digital Group has announced a new line of on-wall outdoor digital menu boards for the restaurant industry. The new series targets QSRs and fast
20/04/2023
RTS Unveils DSPK-4 Digital Speaker Station
RTS has announced the global introduction of the DSPK-4 Digital Speaker Station – the latest addition to the brand's breakthrough RTS Digital Partylin
14/03/2023
Visix Adds Digital Designs To Its epaper Product Line
Visix has added digital desk signs to its epaper line of products to further support hybrid workplaces. The new EPS 42 epaper desk sign is small, ligh
11/03/2024
PAKAM Radio Selects AEQ Forum IP Digital Console
PAKAM RADIO is an Australian radio station with coverage in one of the most remote regions of the world, the upper half of Western Australia, specific
04/03/2024
Triveni Digital To Display End-To-End, Fully Redundant ATSC 3.0 Offering
Triveni Digital is to showcase its end-to-end, fully redundant ATSC 3.0 offering for broadcasters at the 2024 NAB Show. As U.S. broadcasters ramp up t
20/10/2023
Cobalt Digital To Return To 2023 NAB New York
Cobalt Digital is returning to NAB NY with an award-winning lineup that includes its recently launched ultra-low latency PACIFIC encoder / decoder sol
19/10/2023
Actus Digital To Display Latest Innovations At NAB New York 2023
At NAB New York 2023, Actus Digital is to showcase its comprehensive product range and latest innovations. This includes a new browser-based multiview
17/10/2023
Digital Alert Systems Releases Version 5.2 Software
Digital Alert Systems has released its Version 5.2 software for compatible DASDEC™ and One-Net™ emergency messaging devices. Version 5.2 is another ad
20/04/2023
Actus Digital Unveils OTT StreamWatch
Actus Digital has unveiled OTT StreamWatch, its new SaaS/on-prem product that provides 24/7 quality assurance, compliance logging, OTT stream monitori
19/04/2023
Triveni Digital, PBS North Carolina And Device Solutions Win Prestigious Award
Triveni Digital has announced that the company, PBS North Carolina, and Device Solutions Inc. are the recipients of the 2023 NAB Technology Innovation
08/03/2023
Palmer Digital Group Partners With Samsung And IoTecha
Palmer Digital Group, Samsung, and IoTecha Corp. just released a new EV charging kiosk that combines Samsung's OH series displays, IoTecha's advanced
02/03/2023
The Patio Selects Palmer Digital Group
Palmer Digital Group, a full-service supplier and installer of custom indoor and outdoor digital kiosks, display enclosures and drive-thru digital men
01/03/2023
Carousel Digital Signage Bundles Two Primary Services
Carousel Digital Signage has bundled two of its primary services for new and long-term Carousel Cloud customers that provide a wealth of design and tr
03/04/2023
Sky Opens Digital Hub In Isleworth
In partnership with IvybridgeLink Charity, Sky opened a Digital Hub at The BridgeLink Community Centre, close to its group headquarters in Isleworth.