UK Police Dangle $102 Million To Digitize Its VHS Tape Archives (theregister.com) 34
The UK police plan to spend up to 75 million pounds ($102 million) to digitize their vast archive of VHS tapes, aiming to preserve evidence by converting analog media into digital files integrated with evidence management systems. The procurement includes both in-house solutions and outsourced services, with additional funding earmarked for converting other legacy formats like microfiche and DVDs. The Register reports: According to a tender notice published last week, Bluelight Commercial - a not-for-profit buyer that acts on behalf of the emergency services - says the police force requires either in-house technology or outsourced services to convert the arcane magnetic tape format to digital storage. The notice, which sets out procurement plans, says the framework agreement will help forces with the "conversion of analog media to digital records, including metadata for integration with a digital evidence management system."
In the first lot of the framework, Bluelight asks for in-house VHS media digitization software, hardware, and training to "enable a Police Force to convert VHS tapes to digital files." This chunk of the arrangement could be worth 50 million pounds ($68 million) for four years, excluding VAT. The second lot asks for outsourced VHS media digitization "for the provision of conversion services delivered completely by a third party with electronic files being returned securely to the customer force." The output is also set to be ingested by a digital evidence management solution. It could be worth up to 25 million pounds ($34 million) over the same period. In addition, Bluelight Commercial is looking for a provider to help with more niche media digitization, including converting microfiche, CD, DVDs to an electronic file format, in an arrangement which could be worth a total of up to 25 million pounds ($34 million).
In the first lot of the framework, Bluelight asks for in-house VHS media digitization software, hardware, and training to "enable a Police Force to convert VHS tapes to digital files." This chunk of the arrangement could be worth 50 million pounds ($68 million) for four years, excluding VAT. The second lot asks for outsourced VHS media digitization "for the provision of conversion services delivered completely by a third party with electronic files being returned securely to the customer force." The output is also set to be ingested by a digital evidence management solution. It could be worth up to 25 million pounds ($34 million) over the same period. In addition, Bluelight Commercial is looking for a provider to help with more niche media digitization, including converting microfiche, CD, DVDs to an electronic file format, in an arrangement which could be worth a total of up to 25 million pounds ($34 million).
not arcane (Score:4, Insightful)
arcane:mysterious and known only by a few people
VHS may be archaic but surely not arcane yet.
Re:not arcane (Score:5, Informative)
VHS archival is kinda complicated and not widely understood.
First you need hardware, which isn't made anymore. It's all old and in need of maintenance. The tape contacts several parts of the machine, and it has motors and other moving bits, so they all wear out. The heads need cleaning too, and those crappy cleaning tapes don't do a very good job.
The tapes also degrade. They can get mould in them, which you really need to spot before putting it in the machine. They can be cleaned, but it's a bit of a process. Professional VCRs give the best video quality, but are rare and expensive now. Even PC capture hardware varies immensely in its quality and capabilities.
Even just running the tapes through a machine and hitting record on a computer is actually a quite involved process, it turns out. Whoever does it will need training in how to examine and clean tapes, and how to maintain the VCR. The video will need to be checked before the tape is destroyed.
The best option quality wise is to capture the raw RF signal off the VCR's heads, using hardware like a Domesday Duplicator or one of the newer dual channel devices designed specifically for VHS. You can then decode the signal in software for quality far exceeding what any VCR can do. It is slower than real time even on a very fast CPU though, and needs some experimentation to get the best results.
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The heads need cleaning too, and those crappy cleaning tapes don't do a very good job.
Fortunately, a variety of corner stores still mysteriously stock bottled tape head cleaners!
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First you need hardware, which isn't made anymore.
Are you sure?
There are dozens of models available on Amazon.
Several have USB to connect to a computer for conversion, starting at $19.
It looks like there are plenty of COTL solutions that do exactly what is needed.
You just need to train a monkey to load the tapes.
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My understanding is that they are using new-old-stock (NOS) mechanisms. It's the same with audio tape mechanisms. There was one company making them, which built up stock, and that's it.
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My understanding is that they are using new-old-stock (NOS) mechanisms.
Perhaps. But if the devices have never been used and are still sealed in the original packaging, then I don't see a problem. They aren't getting dusty, and no parts are wearing out.
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There is lubrication that does dry out, and belts that deteriorate, but the main thing is that they were just cheap crap to begin with. The same is true of the audio tape mechs, they are rubbish and it's worth repairing the older ones.
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Don't use cleaning tapes (Score:2)
Sure, they clean the heads - using friction. Unfortunately this also wears the head down and shortens its life. Take the lid off the machine and clean the head with a cotton wool bud and isopropyl alcohol.
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Cotton will isn't ideal either. The fibres can detach. I have found the best thing is actually paper. A bit of isopropyl alcohol on it, and gently rub it over the heads. The slight texture helps lift dirt away, but it's also soft. The IPA is both a solvent and helps prevent the paper releasing dust.
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The paper releases dust and fibers, which is why the correct tool is a foam swab.
That too has to be correct, though, or it will release dust. This is especially true if it is aged, so the foam swabs have to be fresh.
IPA is the correct solvent.
Re: Don't use cleaning tapes (Score:2)
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Don't forget to sprinkle that tail with pixie dust too!
Re: Don't use cleaning tapes (Score:2)
No. Never, ever use a cotton wool bud (Q-tip) to clean helical scan video heads!
The danger is more than fibers detaching. The likelihood is high that you'll snag the head and make a vertical up-and-down motion, detaching the fragile head from its substrate. It's to be cleaned only in a back-and -forth motion, never up-and-down.
They used to sell plastic head cleaning sticks covered with chamois on the end for the purpose. Not sure what you'd use today if you didn't have one.
Cleaning tapes aren't great, but t
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First you need hardware, which isn't made anymore. It's all old and in need of maintenance. The tape contacts several parts of the machine, and it has motors and other moving bits, so they all wear out. The heads need cleaning too, and those crappy cleaning tapes don't do a very good job.
Unfortunately, your first sentence is too vague, which somewhat detracts from what otherwise is really great post. It's already led one responder to misunderstand what you mean here.
What is meant by "hardware" is a VCR. Not a capture device. Yes, capture devices are plentiful. The last VCRs were made over a decade ago and eventually with a lot of archival use, the ones left will break down. There may still be some shops with old enough employees who have the ability to do repairs - if they c
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Actually, Funai (the last maker of VCRs) greatly simplified the VHS tape mechanism over the 30 years they made it. The last machines they made in the 2000s are extremely simple mechanically and since Funai was the only maker of them, they are practically all identical.
So if you gather a few of the new old stock players still available you have a collection of players with spare parts. And they are very mechanically simple - sure there's some oddball shaped cogs and sprockets and gears that perform the compl
How about their daguerreotypes? (Score:2)
Do they have these on glass negatives?
loss of fidelity (Score:2)
procurement what fun...
whats the fidelity tolerances ?
whats the containers and have they paid a license fee
feck it buy sony
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Pfft.
FTA: "The UK police service". Huh? (Score:3)
There is no single UK police force ... sorry "service", there are 45 separate forces. The procurement notice comes direct from the UK government, not the police. Would have been good if the author of the article had got these basic facts correct.
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Chain of custody (Score:4, Interesting)
The legal profession is going to have a field-day calling into question the evidentiary accuracy of the digitised content.
Just a single discovered anomaly - let alone outright error - will render the entire process suspect, and the scope for this to occur with a lowest-bid outsourcer is manifest.
I hope the budget includes secure archival storage - and retrieval - of the originals.
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The legal profession is going to have a field-day calling into question the evidentiary accuracy of the digitised content.
I'd hope that nothing involving VHS recordings would be relevant to a current case. Maybe there are rare cases where a crime could have been caught on VHS and the crime isn't past the statute of limitations. However, the UK government seems to think the data is important enough to preserve.
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The UK doesn't really have a "statute of limitations" for criminal cases, at least. If you killed someone in 1901, you're still on the hook for it now. VHS is probably from the 80s/90s, and whilst they're probably not actively investigating those crimes, this sort of evidence is still very useful.
In fact, once digitised, I'd imagine it would go into whatever automated detection systems the police have. That might turn up some "new evidence" which overturns or closes a few more recent cases.
Re:Chain of custody (Score:4, Insightful)
Just last week a "cold case" murder from 1967 was successfully prosecuted based on new forensic analysis of DNA evidence which had been retained at the time.
Who is to say that future forensic techniques of video analysis might not make the same possible? On the other hand, low-bitrate lossy compression would render that possibility moot.
All that aside, most of the video is going to be of interviews in police stations rather than crime scene CCTV.
Insider Deal (Score:1)
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This is a task that does not need to be done; how often is this ancient, blurry "evidence" actually useful? It sounds like someone wants to give his buddy a big juicy government contract to do nothing of value.
I've never heard of any government being corrupt! They're here to serve the citizens! /s
First, let's assume that TVs are spherical... (Score:2)
Backup system financing? (Score:2)
I wouldn't be surprised if no additional money has been planned for the proper data backup of these video evidence ONCE digitized.
Step 1: Digitize
Step 2: Discard analog source tapes
Step 3: Oops! No money for proper digital backup hardware and procedures. We lost everything.
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Years ago I had a combination VCR and DVD+RW. I would put a blank DVD+RW into the drive, insert a tape, press play on the tape and record on the DVD. It worked flawlessly. I purchased it for the sole purpose of converting all my home movie VHS tapes to DVD. When home NAS solutions became affordable I ripped the DVDs to a NAS. I'm glad I did because some of the 20+ year old DVD+RWs are no longer working. So yeah, you're either going to have to maintain digital storage on a NAS (or cloud) or recreate DVDs eve