2025 at the Digitization Desk

 

 A Year in Review - Digitization Desk

We are delighted to announce our first ever end-of-year tally for the digitization desk. In sum, our volunteers digitized 414 videotapes constituting 410 hours of home movies and 9.1 terabytes of data.

That's a real cause for celebration for us! We are an entirely volunteer-run organization, without funding from any grants or large institutions. We crowdfund and we charge accessible prices for workshops ($20 - $100), screenings ($10), and digitization services ($5/hour of content).

With about 30 volunteers working at the digitization desk, we were able to accomplish so much. It's our first year that we are able to distribute surplus to our volunteers, who are shaping the worker-cooperative model that allows for sustainable service. 

The numbers don't even reflect how many times we've digitized tapes twice, three times, or more to get the best possible transfer. Nor do the reflect the hours baking, cleaning, and repairing damaged tapes to get tapes playable.

In addition to digitizing, we also trim, create lightweight MP4 files, and create digital preservation checksums using FFMPEG, an open source tool for making and changing video files using the command line. We catalog tapes in depth, created detailed spreadsheets with descriptive metadata (information written on the tape), technical metadata (information about the deck used, settings on the processing amplifier, and file size), and we robustly quality control each file. 

WHY DO WE DO THIS?

The level of care and labor we invest in home videos parallels the value they represent to communities, families, friends, and individuals. Home videos are living records of everyday life. The sound of someone's voice or their embodied mannerisms are so evocative, a simple error can interrupt the memory. Therefore, we want to make sure the record of that person's life is treated with care. That's why home video preservation is so important to us, and core to our work. 

Frankly, the consumer market for home video digitization is bleak! Primarily it's hugely expensive, often costing $30 / per tape. It is also quite factory style, with digitizations often running in the hundreds on cheap consumer VCRs in bulk. 

Literally a promo

I'm not necessarily disparaging scale, but I am suggesting that this costly yet large-scale model for digitization simply cannot address the unique issues each tape presents nor is capable of the level of care that small batch work enables. I mean how do you clean all the heads?? How do you deal with damage? Plus these consumer decks create a softer image than is inherent to the VHS. There is quality loss inherent in this setup. 

Additionally there is profound quality loss when digitizing straight to MP4 with high compression rates and digital artifacting. Literally the detail is lost and digital artifacts are permanently introduced when they don't have to be! 

I have also heard that some companies functionally hold your digital files hostage. The "Netflix" model where they offer streaming on your smart TV means that you have to keep paying for a subscription model to access the digitized videos each year. Frankly unethical. One of our volunteers even downloaded the files off the streamer from his MIL's subscription, making sure she had permanent access to them. 

A mean a million people have exposed on this on YouTube. Or even on network TV.

Do I dream of a TAPE with several parallel digitization stations? Yess! But it will still be under the same rigorous ideas of quality and care we maintain today. 

I also fundamentally am interested in the development and access to preservation knowledge for the public. I recognize the knowledge barriers inherent in building and maintaining a digitization station. But I also believe that these are entirely surmountable knowledge barriers. With support and access to greater documentation, so much more is possible. T.A.P.E. founder Jess often talks about this beautiful vision they have of sitting in traffic and imagining how each car represents a person and story, with videotapes sitting at home. The scale of that could be terrifying. And for many institutional archives, the scale of digitizing videotape is simply too large. But with technical training for the public and a broader access to equipment, people can build digitization racks everywhere, all over the city to help support the preservation of moving and emotional memories. 

PROJECTS OF NOTE

One of the most exciting and honoring projects we've been a part of has been our work with EZTV, Elizabeth Purchell, and Hollywood Entertainment. In March 2025, we were partners on 40 Years of EZTV, a retrospective of the remarkably dynamic video gallery, collective, DIY production space, home to performance art, video, and emergent digital technologies. EZTV has been at the cutting edge of media technologies and the fostering of an artist scene. 

Read more about EZTV at https://eztvmuseum.com/

I would also recommend https://eztv-beginnings.com/ and a great article  "Out to See Video": EZTV' Queer Microcinema in West Hollywood.

Over the past year, we've taken baby steps to assess and digitize tapes covering the broad universe of EZTV - from the camera tapes of various video makers to the exhibition tapes from the video gallery. Our first goal is to catalog existing tapes and identify unique and master material. From there, we are digitizing select materials and remastering what features we can from original camera tapes. 

A great example is the work Elizabeth Purchell is doing to exhibit Highway Hypnosis, and incredible SOV feature from Ken Camp. Ken, who held onto the original camera tapes, dug the original elements up for Liz. We've been able to digitize the original camera tapes as well as edited U-matic master copies to begin the larger remastering process. The improvement from the existing VHS dubs are astronomical, demonstrating the profound beauty and richness of videotape. 

In meeting Michael J. Masucci and the incredibly kind and talented video makers from EZTV, as well as numerous visits to the ONE Gay & Lesbian National Archives to see the paper collections, we've been able to see the innovation, care, and community at the heart of this expansive space. So much more to come.

We've also been so lucky to meet Jeaneen Lund, a photographer and filmmaker, and begin digitizing her collection of tapes. Jeaneen's mother, Sharon Lund, is an HIV/AIDS advocate, especially for women with HIV, fighting for care and against stigma. Jeaneen and her mother travelled around the world advocating for safe sex, support, and education around HIV/AIDS prevention. These tapes represent numerous lectures, television appearances, and panel conversations of Jeaneen and her mother. 

Jeaneen is making a film about her mother and generously shared a preview of her work. You can watch more and hear about their story here. https://vimeo.com/1152959501

EDUCATION & WORKSHOPS

In 2025, we quite aggressively ramped up our AV Preservation Workshop. I'm so glad Liz & Alex pushed me to do a Video Digitization Workshop as part of the EZTV Series. It has been one of the most rewarding and packed of all. 

We've also offered Audio Cassette Digitization, Audio Deck Maintenance, VCR Maintenance, Digital Preservation (FFmpeg, Intro to Digital Preservation) & Digital Autonomy (like Get Off Of iCloud & Message Mori), and Data Moshing Workshops! 

We've been so lucky to even offer these for free at the public library - Los Angeles Public Library's Central Branch. A literal literal dream come true for me to lug our digitization deck, computer, and analog to digital converter to set up for demonstration at the library.  

For volunteers, we also held our first ever DECK-A-THON! We repaired and cleaned close to 10 decks in one night!

FRAME SYNC/TBC INSTALL & REPAIR

Thanks to the incredible fundraising support we received last year (EOY 2024) we were able to make a big purchase that immediately upgraded our digitization capabilities. We purchased a Leitch 575 Frame Sync. We spent $1300 on the device, with a built in warranty.  

S/O to Sean McGuirk for this incredible promo for our fundraiser

We like to name our equipment after our favorite video artists, so we named the Frame Sync after Shigeko Kubota. Kubota was a prominent video and performance artist, whose expressive and political work with portable video was a revolutionary intervention into the formalist art world. She was also the first video curator at Anthology Film Archives, giving legitimacy and opening avenues for exhibition of video. 

This device can fix a number of issues like the frame falling out of sync, flashing / dropping frames, skew, and other stabilization issues. You can read more about a TBC in our blog on the topic.

However, haffway through the year we began noticing a cross hatching pattern in the image. There are two issues visible here. If you look closely, you can see a cross-hatching pattern visible in the image. 

If you look closely, you can see a cross-hatching pattern visible in the image. 

The pulsing bars running horizontally and vertically is the result of lack of black burst sync in the JVC VCR. By running the black burst generator directly into the deck, we fixed this issue. 

As the component continued to degrade, the issue got worse and worse. We tried to push through, but eventually I called it and pulled all the files that had this issue for re-digitization after the TBC was repaired. 

Additionally, the screen would work and then go black. And it would stop processing the black levels, so it would be crushing and the adjustments wouldn't work. 

When we bought the Leitch 575 we bought a warranty for an extra fee that was great. Southern Advantage was totally lovely to work with on this repair. 

While this put our digitization setup out of order for a few weeks, we notified patrons about this update and were able to get orders done for everyone as soon as the frame sync was returned.

PANASONIC REPAIR

Shortly after the return of the Frame Sync, I began noticing an issue with our main digitizing deck. For Standard Play tapes, we primarily use a Panasonic AG-7750, donated to us from Whammy! Analog Media. This thing is a workhorse! It has super high quality heads, an internal time base corrector, manual tracking, and so much more. One of the things I love most about this deck is the crispness of the image. I feel like this deck simply breathes life into videotape.

During transfers I began noticing the cross hatching reminiscent of the issues with the Frame Sync. Uh oh!

Well, the good news I could pretty much identify the issue immediately. When I spoke with the folks at Southern Advantage they said that a component went bad on the board. Well, crosshatching then = bad component.

The good news also was that the issue wasn't particular to the TBC that is built into this deck. The issue was present even with the TBC off (so none of those boards). It was visible when just running a composite signal passively through the machine via another deck (so not the video heads). That made the problem much much easier to locate.

Luckily, this model does have a free publicly accessible manual. I used it a bit to find the boards, but I also just broke the thing open. Adjacent to the chassis there are boards for the TBC and other parts, so I inspected each of those. I was looking specifically for any sign of burning. They all looked clear and I have all of them a quick dusting too. 

I unscrewed the bottom of the deck and found two boards affixed to the bottom. The Video PB board ( or the video playback board) - now that started to make sense. The issue was specific to playback.

Lo and behold - a burnt component! There was also this weird gooey strands of plastic almost like spider webs all over the board. I cleaned those off. 

See the brown bubbles! That is burnt!

Rather than try to find this obsolete part (although I did track down the part number and try). I thought it best to simply try to find a matching cheap replacement deck. I went on Ebay and found an exact copy with an unknown condition for only about $150. It was a bit of a risk that the board would be missing or broken, but at the very least I would have another deck that could be working or be used for other parts and boards. 

While the heads looked trashed and the motors were all disconnected in the chassis (not necessarily unfixable issues), the boards were in great condition. I simply replaced the Video PB board and reinstalled the old into the parts deck (just in case we need a single component from that board). Now we have back up TBC boards & other parts! Super exciting. 

EXPERIMENTS IN BAKING

This year we placed a greater emphasis on baking tapes, to significant results. Baking is process to remediate "sticky shed syndrome" or "binder hydrolosis." In this form of deterioration, the glue that holds the magnetic particles to the plastic tape swells upon exposure to moisture, causing the magnetic particles to shed from the surface of the plastic tape. 

Read more about sticky shed: 

• Magnetic Tape "Sticky Shed" Research Library of Congress
• A Sticky Situation: BakingD the Tapes NPR
• Magnetic Tape Binder Breakdown PSAP (Preservation Self Assessment Program) 
• The Great Tape Bake Off University of Bristol Theater Collection
• How Chemistry Can Save Sounds of the Past Chemical & Engineering News
  

Baking is a remediation process most commonly used with Umatic (3/4") video tapes of particular brands (Ampex) or polyester black reel-to-reel 1/4" audio tape. However, it can impact any black (polyester) tape, be it data, audio, or video. "Baking" is really dehydration, performed (with equal results) in a consumer dehydration or scientific oven.

Depending on climate the temperature can range from 55°C (131°F) all the way up to 70°C (160°F) in highly humid areas like Texas (s/o TAMI!) Minimum bake time is 12 hours, but standards today are 3 days, but I've seen it go for a week or longer. As tapes age and environmental conditions worsen, bake temperatures and times have increased steadily, with some believing there is a fast approaching timeline in which tapes will be unplayable. 

VHS tapes are highly understudied in the world of archival baking because 1) many collections attached to institutions work predominately with broadcast standard video (Umatic, BetacamSP, etc.) not consumer formats 2) VHS has posed significantly fewer shedding risks than Umatic. Today, Ampex brand Umatic tapes almost exclusively have to be baked. 

Sticky shed can be identified in the following ways:

1. Visible tape shed inside the cassette shell or in the VCR during playback (not ideal)

2. Tape refuses to advance, or does so slowly (stuck to itself) either manually or in the VCR (such as the timecode running in stops and starts, squealing noise)

3. During playback tape shows significant stabilization issues despite running through a line TBC and frame sync. 

It was that third category we really began researching, as we hoped that baking could be a solution to tapes that seemingly wouldn't play. With assistance from some of our friends with access to professional digitization labs, we began baking more tapes that had significant playback issues. 

Despite the physical damage to the tape : seen below, the image post bake was strong! In short - tape is more robust than we give it credit for. 

The results are clear: the capture on the left is the pre-bake, capture on the right is post-bake. We also adjusted settings on the Frame Sync to only address line level issues (TBC mode). 

Here's another great before and after demonstrating improved playback post bake. 

While not all issues were fixed, such as physical damage to the tape that produced errors present in both, we were able to get the tape looking significantly better. The left is functionally unwatchable, while the right captures the precious family memory as best as possible. 

We also collaborated with UCLA Library's Audio Visual Preservation Department to produce a zine introducing the public to baking concepts! You can read or print it out yourself via the Internet Archive!

CLEANING TAPES & CLEANING HEADS

 Head clog is a pervasive issue in digitizing tapes and can be hard to identify, especially in comparison to damaged tapes or head clog that is "baked into" the tape itself from a poor dub. 

Above is a clear example of head clog - you can see the bands of sync loss in the upper part of the image, which progressively turns into bands of static, with total static covering the image. 

If the static disappears quickly and doesn't return, likely it was damage to the tape or something baked into the transfer. But if the static persists, head clog can be diagnosed. From there, the transfer would be stopped, the tape taken out, the tape cleaned, and the deck cleaned too. 

Inside the drum are these small heads that read and write information. They are characterized by two iron bars with a gap between then, surrounded by coiled copper wires. The two iron bars/coiled wires setups create an electromagnet that can circulate magnetic fluxes. 

Blank video tape is made up of magnetic particles with a randomized polarity. When those randomized particles in front of a magnetic flux, they close the field, as it creates the path of least resistance (in contrast to air). Therefore, the magnetic particles get fixed into a pattern of polarity. 

When the tape is read back, those polarity patterns induce changes in the magnetic field, which can be read by the heads and decoded inside the machine's circuitry. 

Head Clog occurs when dirt, debris, or magnetic deposits shed from the tape into the very fine heads inside the video drum. That gunk impedes the heads' ability to read magnetic flux, weakening the signal, and leading to signal drop outs and information loss.

This problem can be quite easily fixed through a manual cleaning of the video heads using 99% Isopropyl alcohol and either blank white strips of paper OR TEK wipes. (nothing that is fibrous or foam as that will rip the delicate copper wires - if you feel resistance stop!)

While this is standard practice for us to not only regularly clean heads but to stop when we suspect head clog, cleaning tapes before playback is a more recent introduction. 

We had persistent issues with head clog for EP (Extended Play) tapes. The reason why is that Extended Play tapes move more slowly in the deck, giving more time for particles to shed and the slowness creates a rough texture against which particles grind. Additionally, the magnetic information is denser on the tape, meaning a smaller head clog could block the entirety of the image. 

Some professional labs have RTI tape cleaners, which use a specialized diamond tip and pellons to gently scrape microns off the surface of the tape. While fabulous - those cost thousands of dollars. 

One method of cleaning tapes has been to "Dry Clean" - remove shedding particles and dirt by playing a tape in the VCR all the way through before digitization. For this particular tape, I had to clean it in the VCR 3 times to get the image stable enough for playback. The left is the first digitization attempt. The top is the final product after several rounds of cleaning. The right is the final product after several rounds of cleaning.

CLEANING MOLDY TAPES

Another method is a wet clean, using 99% Isopropyl alcohol and a tape cleaner, which is needed for things like mold, but can also be useful for dirty tapes. 

Mold can also be brown!

As we have talked about in previous blogs, we use two different mold cleaners, which are essentially just motorized transport systems with pellons attached, like the RTI system. I haven't seen too much resulting damage to the image as the result of mold. 

One cleaner we use is the VHS Cleaner from 4Mob (shipped from Brazil) -  this one has a lot of different adapters for tape formats and I like the double pellon 

You can also DIY your own tape cleaner using a tape rewinder like Whammy! did last year. 

This year we really had a lot of moldy tapes come our way, so we borrowed Whammy' VHS is Life cleaner to do mold cleaning on dozens of tapes.

One critique I have of this device is the tape path is a little short. The alcohol should dry completely before the tape is wound onto the other spool, or it can cause sticking or warping. My solution is to do this cleaning outside in the bright sunlight so it dries quickly, but also that's good for the tape to be slightly warmed and my health to clean outside!

TRACKING

Another tool I began using more was the manual tracking on the Panasonic Pro Deck. I used this most for tapes for Liz Purchell from the EZTV collection, specifically the camera tapes for the Ken Camp feature films. Because these tapes were so old and had so many tapings over content, they often needed manual tracking to remove visual errors. In this example I introduce tracking errors by increasing and decreasing the tension excessively. 

A combination of good manual tracking and a time base corrector can also cause issue like skew, where the top portion of the video is flagging / being pulled. 

ONGOING MYSTERIES

The biggest ongoing mystery are these VHS-C tapes that were recorded in EP mode. During playback I couldn't get any image, but the sound was great. This is because the audio and video heads are separated and two different methods of encoding (linear versus helical respectively). To even get an image I had to run the entire signal chain in reverse! Going from the camcorder & deck with adapter (I tried both) into the Frame Sync and the into the Pansonic Pro Deck to use its line TBC then out to the analog to digital converter. Even then the image was so badly out of sync. 

I have never seen anything like this and still haven't been able to figure it out!

Thank you to everyone who has supported this work. We do it because of the generosity of everyday people who make this possible!!!

T.A.P.E. is a 501(c) 3 non-profit dedicated to facilitating access to analog media making, preservation, and exhibition. To support our work and access great benefits, join our patreon at just $5/month. You'll get access to exclusive rates for our rental equipment library, access to our digital and physical videotape library, and other member benefits like free workshops. 

If you'd like to help make essential digitization equipment purchases, you can donate directly our Go Fund Me (Ongoing!) to provide more archival transfer services for more tape formats. A donation will advance the work of people-oriented digitization services!

https://tapeanalog.org/

https://www.instagram.com/tape_losangeles/

info@tapeanalog.org

Blog is written by Jackie Forsyte, T.A.P.E.'s Technical Director, and an audio-visual archivist.