– We are talking about 170,000 video cassettes in various formats. This corresponds to 500,000 hours of TV which will now be digitized. The whole project will take 13 years, if we don’t run into major problems, says Stian Rishaug, video technician at the National Library at Mo i Rana.
The National Library will soon start the biggest digitization project of all time within audio and video.
– Because many of the television programs on these cassettes are the only recordings left. This is an important part of our cultural heritage, says Svein Arne Solbakk, department director for cultural heritage and digitization at the National Library.
GULLKORN: – There is a lot of TV history that appears on our screens, says Stian Rishaug, video technician at the National Library at Mo i Rana. Photo: Robin Jensen / TV 2
The National Library has 16 video players ready to digitize the 500,000 hours of TV broadcasts, but a lot can go wrong.
– These machines are a bit moody. The equipment is old and vulnerable. In addition, the operators are young, so it’s not entirely easy, laughs Rishaug.
The Swedish button
He ignores his colleagues. One of the machines has stopped, but will start again soon.
– What did you do, asks Stian?
– I just turned it off and on again, then it worked. I just used the Swedish button, grins a colleague.
Nostalgic images appear on the screens. One of the clips is from a broadcast from Good Morning Norway with Øyvind Mund and Solveig Barstad as presenters.
The broadcast is from 2005 and will now be digitized for the future.
TV HISTORY: This is what God Morgen Norge looked like in 2005 with Solveig Barstad and Øyvind Mund as presenters. Photo: Roy-Arne Salater/ TV 2
Another important reason is that video tapes don’t last forever.
– The tapes can darken and crumble. We see that the material is vulnerable and that the video machines are becoming rarer and in increasingly poor condition. We have to think positively and believe that this will go well, he says.
And VHS players aren’t exactly off the shelf.
DEMANDING: 170,000 videotapes must be fed into 16 machines. There are over 500,000 hours of TV history that will now be digitized. Photo: Robin Jensen / TV 2
– This is equipment that is no longer produced, so we have to go to the open market and buy old equipment. We do lighter maintenance ourselves, but we depend on the equipment working, says Rishaug.
The National Library is constantly looking to buy used equipment.
– We have just made a purchase from the BBC of 80 video machines. It is good to have a stock of spare parts so that we can make repairs along the way, says Rishaug.
Important cultural heritage
From 1989, the national television companies TV 2, NRK, TV-Norge and TV 3 had an obligation to submit a physical copy of all broadcasts that were published to the National Library.
From around 2010, the broadcasts were delivered digitally, but before that everything was stored on videotape. These are located in a large mountain complex and are now to be retrieved from the past.
OBSOLETE: The National Library is constantly looking for equipment that is obsolete and no longer manufactured. Photo: Robin Jensen / TV 2
Familiar TV faces appear on the monitors, but in a somewhat younger version than what we are used to seeing today.
The content of the commercials was also slightly different before.
YOUNG EDITION: In 2005, TV2 presenter and reporter Siren Henschien looked like this. Photo: Roy-Arne Salater/ TV 2
Gold nuggets and nostalgia
From a TV 2 broadcast in November 2005, there is a lure with a mobile phone that has both a built-in radio and mp3 player. It costs “only” NOK 0.89 per minute to call with it.
– Some gold nuggets appear so that you get some nostalgic vibes. Especially from the 90s when I grew up, he chuckles.
Digitizing 500,000 hours of old TV broadcasts also requires a lot of digital storage space.
– There will be many Petabytes (one petabyte equals one thousand terabytes, journal note). We are talking about data volumes that people have not heard of before. We will store this as well as possible and identical to what is on the cassettes, says Rishaug.
ARCHIVE: The warehouses in the mountain in Mo i Rana are the size of Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Among other things, 170,000 videotapes are located here. Photo: Robin Jensen / TV 2
So far we are in a test phase, but we hope to be able to start the project before the summer.
From 2008 until today, three million hours of television recordings have already been stored digitally.
COMPREHENSIVE: – Such an extensive job of digitizing so much sound and image has never been done before at the National Library, says Svein Arne Solbakk, department director for cultural heritage and digitization at the National Library. Photo: Robin Jensen / TV 2
– There are slightly more channels now than in the period from 1989 to 2010, says Solbakk.
Stored for a thousand years
The digital recordings will probably not be available to most people yet.
– Many rights are attached to these television recordings, so they will first and foremost be available for research and documentation. Eventually this will become free of rights, so in the future perhaps the next generation will be able to see this in our online library, he says.
MANY FORMATS: The National Library receives an incredible number of cassettes and tapes in various variants, and it is then important to have the right playback devices available. Photo: Robin Jensen / TV 2
– How long is all this stored?
– We have a millennial perspective on this, so in reality it means for eternity, says Solbakk.
