Tons of content

Millions of video-cassettes are still stored in shelves carrying valuable content waiting to be transferred into files before decomposing. Time is running short, not only tape stock decays but also video tape recorder (VTR) availability gets critical and VTR service experts are becoming rare. As it is the final transfer, a technology for highly automated large-scale and lossless transfer which recovers and retains the original signal on tape is required.

Innovative technique

RF Direct Transfer™ is a new technology which directly converts the off-tape signal from analogue video tapes into digital files without passing through conventional playback circuits and its quality degrading multiple A/D- and D/A-conversions of standard video playback equipment.

By digitising the radio frequency (RF) signal stored on the video tape directly, all subsequent signal processes can be done by Digital signal Processing in software with a much higher resolution than any conventional VTR allows. Intelligent signal regeneration by smart dropout prevention and digital concealment algorithms allow signal recovery far beyond the possibilities of traditional dropout compensation circuitry.

This major invention in video technology was developed in a joint research project by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and Cube-Tec International.

Find detailed information on QUADRIGA•Video RF technology for the large-scale digitisation of analog video tapes collections here. For the digitation of large collections of digital video tapes details are here.