user6880: Our company has approximately 27,000 hours of video stored on 3/4" video tapes. We have begun the process of converting the video digitally with the current setup:

Sony U-MATIC VO-5850 & Sony UVW-1800 Betacam
AJA FS1 & AJA Io XT
Macbook Pro

We are going through the process tape by tape and need to choose a vendor to assist us in the digital conversion process. 
My questions are

Does anyone have experience with or can recommend a service provider in the New York Metro area? 
Are there any recommended steps / equipment we should consider incorporating into our current and future process?
Is there additional information we should incorporate that would help with selecting a Media Asset Management system?
How should we go about storing the digital files inexpensively?

Any help is appreciated.
All the best,
Kevin

user2836: For that kind of quantity, you probably want to look in to a robotic solution that can load and transfer tapes unattended in to a cataloged system.  Doing a quick search showed SAMMA as one promising option.  
I don't have any direct experience with this particular kind of problem, but I can't imagine that manual tape loading or buying an entire robotic system could be cheaper than hiring someone with a robot to handle it.  SAMMA does appear to have U-MATIC support.

user1950: There are lots of things to consider before committing to an operation of this size, but there is also an imperative to act quickly.  Given that it's SP Betacam and Umatic the tapes are probably beginning to reach the end of their playable life. In a decade they may all be paperweights.
A good place to start is the U.S. Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative in particular this report on Digital File Formats for Videotape Reformatting
In N.Y. I know of a consultancy called Media Matters. We haven't used them, but we have used a report they produced as a guide in our digitisation process.

user6915: Assuming DVD quality would be enough, you may consider archiving 720p mpeg-4 files with a bitrate of 2 Mbits, which would equate roughly to 1 hour = 1 GB data.
That would mean 27,000 hours = 27,000 GB = 27 Terabytes.
So you need to consider a 50 TB storage system (including redundancy and overhead) and a tape backup system as well (LTO-6 has an uncompressed capacity of 2.4 TB per tape, so that would be relatively easy and cheap, the entire archive would fit into 13-14 tapes).
Higher quality requirements would increase the bitrate, hence the GB/hour ratio, and all values should be adjusted accordingly.
The tough part is the actual acquisition... analog video tapes have to be read at normal speed so 27,000 tapes, assuming 1 hour each, means 27,000 hours = 675 weeks = almost 10 YEARS... !!! To hope finishing this in a reasonable time (say 2 years), your company would need to set up at least 5 acquisition stations each with its own tape unit and computer (and operator). The operators, while saving, should monitor that there are not problems with the cassette and fill the metadata into the DAM system.
DAM systems, there are many, also open source, the choice depends on the use that will be made of the resulting digital video archive.

6880: <p>Our company has approximately 27,000 hours of video stored on 3/4" video tapes. We have begun the process of converting the video digitally with the current setup:</p>

<ul>
<li>Sony U-MATIC VO-5850 &amp; Sony UVW-1800 Betacam</li>
<li>AJA FS1 &amp; AJA Io XT</li>
<li>Macbook Pro</li>
</ul>

<p>We are going through the process tape by tape and need to choose a vendor to assist us in the digital conversion process. </p>

<p>My questions are</p>

<ol>
<li>Does anyone have experience with or can recommend a service provider in the New York Metro area? </li>
<li>Are there any recommended steps / equipment we should consider incorporating into our current and future process?</li>
<li>Is there additional information we should incorporate that would help with selecting a Media Asset Management system?</li>
<li>How should we go about storing the digital files inexpensively?</li>
</ol>

<p>Any help is appreciated.</p>

<p>All the best,</p>

<p>Kevin</p>
 2836: <p>For that kind of quantity, you probably want to look in to a robotic solution that can load and transfer tapes unattended in to a cataloged system.  Doing a quick search showed <a href="http://www.fpdigital.com/solutions/samma/sammarobot" rel="nofollow">SAMMA</a> as one promising option.  </p>

<p>I don't have any direct experience with this particular kind of problem, but I can't imagine that manual tape loading or buying an entire robotic system could be cheaper than hiring someone with a robot to handle it.  SAMMA does appear to have U-MATIC support.</p>
 1950: <p>There are lots of things to consider before committing to an operation of this size, but there is also an imperative to act quickly.  Given that it's SP Betacam and Umatic the tapes are probably beginning to reach the end of their playable life. In a decade they may all be paperweights.</p>

<p>A good place to start is the U.S. <a href="http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/" rel="nofollow">Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative</a> in particular this report on <a href="http://www.digitizationguidelines.gov/guidelines/video_reformatting_compare.html" rel="nofollow">Digital File Formats for Videotape Reformatting</a></p>

<p>In N.Y. I know of a consultancy called <a href="http://www.media-matters.net/" rel="nofollow">Media Matters</a>. We haven't used them, but we have used a report they produced as a guide in our digitisation process.</p>
 6915: <p>Assuming DVD quality would be enough, you may consider archiving 720p mpeg-4 files with a bitrate of 2 Mbits, which would equate roughly to 1 hour = 1 GB data.</p>

<p>That would mean 27,000 hours = 27,000 GB = 27 Terabytes.
So you need to consider a 50 TB storage system (including redundancy and overhead) and a tape backup system as well (LTO-6 has an uncompressed capacity of 2.4 TB per tape, so that would be relatively easy and cheap, the entire archive would fit into 13-14 tapes).</p>

<p>Higher quality requirements would increase the bitrate, hence the GB/hour ratio, and all values should be adjusted accordingly.</p>

<p>The tough part is the actual acquisition... analog video tapes have to be read at normal speed so 27,000 tapes, assuming 1 hour each, means 27,000 hours = 675 weeks = almost 10 YEARS... !!! To hope finishing this in a reasonable time (say 2 years), your company would need to set up at least 5 acquisition stations each with its own tape unit and computer (and operator). The operators, while saving, should monitor that there are not problems with the cassette and fill the metadata into the DAM system.</p>

<p>DAM systems, there are many, also open source, the choice depends on the use that will be made of the resulting digital video archive.</p>
