Videotape Going Away Fast...

[Jerry Jones]

...in the TV news industry:

http://www.tvtechnology.com/pages/s.0082/t.7132.html

At WRDW-TV, a Gray Television Group CBS affiliate in Augusta, Ga., Chief Engineer Edward Elser said the writing was on the wall at NAB when he looked for new ENG cameras. Tape is going away very fast. Whatever camera systems you buy, it’s all going to be tapeless. I would be surprised if by next NAB there’s even a tape option out there,” Elser said.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[paulw]

“Many stations are making the decision early on to just discard that raw footage before they fully realize how valuable it may be,” said Siegel. “But, by taking the time to preserve the metadata and archiving that footage, they can later find and monetize it by selling it to others, or using it in other venues, which can accelerate the return on investment to tapeless news.”

Sounds like the way print media went when digital still cameras replaced film. Pictures that may have been handy (Monica and Bill come to mind) in the future are deleted..

[wkulecz]

The existance of archival footage stands in the way of revisionist history and the brave new world order of 1984 that the forces of one world government are working towards.

The upside is that cheap digital video can put actual news reporting in the hands of average joe's who happen to be there. The "cop watch" project comes to mind.

--wally.

[Jerry Jones]

Newspapers have made the same mistake for years.

Try buying a back issue of a local newspaper and you'll often find out they don't have it.

Often you can find the old issues in the archives of a local library or historical society, but the quality isn't always very good.

There's a huge photo on the front page of a back issue of the Spokane, Washington newspaper that I wish I could get in pristine condition.

It's the story of the end of the Randy Weaver trial and the picture is quite dramatic -- taken on the front steps of the Boise, Idaho federal courthouse -- with me working as a TV reporter holding my microphone and famous attorney Gerry Spence walking out of the courthouse with one of the defendants following the verdict. It was a "snapshot in history" kind of front page photograph.

I'd like to buy an electronic .PDF copy of that, if it were available in that format.

I think many people who have clipped newspaper articles would rather have them in electronic format these days.

Some newspapers have done it, but not all of them.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

“Many stations are making the decision early on to just discard that raw footage before they fully realize how valuable it may be,” said Siegel.