VECTRACOM, services for preserving and maximizing the potential of audiovisual heritage

Expert in mass digitisation, sub-titling and audiodescription, VECTRACOM will present its new services at CABSAT 2014, which will be held at Dubai on 12 - 14 March.

Owners of audio-visual contents need to be able to preserve, archive and have access to their contents to browse, sell and distribute them. Digitisation provides a solution to this problem.

VECTRACOM proposes its services to digitise all types of audiovisual content, regardless of physical media (tapes, cassettes, films). The physical medium poses a real problem since the audio-visual industry has used many recording standards on tapes and cassettes. And, for the great majority, there is no longer any player able to read them.

VECTRACOM is the worldwide leader of such transfers, and the company is structured around this activity.

It proposes solutions designed on a case-by-case basis to get the best possible quality out of each element. For films, the company handles the mechanical restoration, including the elimination of defects caused by breaks, damaged perforations, poor-quality splicing, dust or glue deposits. This operation produces cleaned films ready for high quality transfers done with telecine or scanners and further enhanced with the digital restoration that the company also proposes.

For magnetic tapes, the company also carries out all the cleaning and preparation work that’s required. Digitisation is then performed using transfer lines consisting of products and software specifically designed to handle the case of legacy contents.

Quality assurance is one of the top priorities of Vectracom. Everything is tested before delivery. Automated checks prepare the work of the technicians, whose eye guarantees the validation of the results.

VECTRACOM, a French company, is now looking to develop its offer and expand its markets. It is therefore proposing new services allowing the potential of archives to be maximised by storing them and managing their broadcast to all types of users. It also proposes its services on-site.Thus, in Saudi Arabia VECTRACOM took part in preserving the country's audio-visual memory. USD 30 Million were invested into this project, which concerned 270,000 tapes and films, and 500,000 ¼" audio tapes. VECTRACOM provided the required legacy equipment: Telecine with 2inch and 1inch VCRs. It was responsible for their maintenance and for managing the digitisation process. The project lasted 18 months.