dec 09 newsletter

Welcome to the second of my monthly newsletters. Time has crept up on me and so this is a little later than I had intended. Part of the reason for the delay is that I have been working on a major review of my services and planning for future improvements.

In the next few weeks if you check out the pages on my website for film, video, photos and sound copying and restoration you will see improved information and clearer options and pricing for copying different types of media and in different ways.

In the new year I will be working towards offering even more options of how to recover, restore and recreate your recorded memories into more accessible mediums. But there is more.... lots of original audio visual material, some nostalgic, some special interest, that I will be able to offer to you. Now if that description sounds a little evasive I must apologise, but I cannot say too much more until plans are finalised and a launch date is set. So watch this space for exciting news and for you my special friends there will be something extra special.

In the mean time I wish for you a very special Christmas. May you be able to look past the glitter and tinsel to the real meaning, the original reason for this celebration season and be able to enter the new year refreshed and renewed.

Paul Perry

What is a CD, DVD, HD DVD or BluRay disc?

All of these are based upon the same sort of 10cm/4 inch plastic disc which will have on the (mostly) one side a series of fine pits in a spiral which carries the information, either pressed or burnt into the surface and on the other side a reflective surface to aid the reading laser topped off with a seal layer and printing.

CD or compact disc was first and comes in two main forms, one for the playing of music and the other for keeping computer data. Technology of the time only allowed for either up to 74 minutes of stereo music or 740 Mega Bytes of data.

DVD arrived in Australia in about 1999 and quickly took over as the choice for distribution of up to about 2 hours of quite decent standard definition video or about 4.5 Giga Bytes of data. This mostly on one side of the disc but both sides can be used.

HD DVD and BluRay much more recently fought for supremacy to be the format of choice for the delivery of high definition video content. A contest which was finally won by BluRay. This is a vast improvement in video quality and extra interactive features or as a way to store up to about 50 Mega Bytes of data. So far BluRay has been slow in take up and DVD will probably be around for some time yet. It is generally held that high definition recording mediums will not take off until high definition television becomes more prevalent, but then that is another story.

High Definition Television

So you have heard the powers will be turning off our television broadcast system in the not too distant future, but what is this high definition television all about and will I have to throw my TV away? Unless your powers of understanding are on the level of knowing how superannuation and retirement funds work you probably have little idea of what is decreed will happen to broadcast television.

The official starting place for information is www.digitalready.gov.au the Australian Government website set up for that purpose. The nutshell summary is that our present television system will be switched off for good somewhere between 2010 and 2013 depending on your area. (The deadline dates have changed over time for many reasons so it is even possible it may change again.) After that you will only be able watch broadcast television if you have a set that will receive the new high definition channels OR you buy a Set Top Box to convert the signal for your present TV set.

If you are shopping for a set top box then there are two basic types. One will convert the signal for use on a "high definition ready" TV set which in its manual will usually be quoted as being capable of around 720 or 1080 horizontal lines on the screen. The other converts the high definition channels to any older standard definition TV set, which would probably be about 90% of the TVs presently in use.

The basic reason for the change is so that the frequency spectrum now used for broadcast television can be better used for other services and the new service actually takes up less of that valuable space. Oh, and as a bonus you do get better looking pictures and access to more channels and extras.

Photo Album Damage

I was recently shown some black and white prints with pink stains and marks on them, which had been stored in a common type of album. The type with sticky cardboard pages and a peel back plastic cover sheet. I am aware this type of album is not suitable for long term storage, but as I researched further I was shocked to find a veritable slowly emerging national disaster.

Any bargain priced album is very likely to contain paper, glue and plastic which far from protecting your photographs are probably causing them to deteriorate more quickly. Some of the protagonists are gases given off by plastics and glues, acid left over in the paper and cardboard used in the manufacturing process and the conditions in which the albums are stored, heat and humidity being the arch enemy of any photographic medium. The end result is often coloured stains, mould marks and fading of the image.

It will probably be not possible to remove the pink stains on the photos I was shown, but the good news is that it will be possible to repair the images in the computer with electronic clean up tools. The only way to avoid having to do this though is to spend more on archival quality photo albums and keep them in cool dry places.

One more step, to have good quality digital copies made of your photos and pass on copies to other family members is good insurance. If something does happen to your albums copies of the photos will still survive. If you are concerned about any of this I am happy to chat about the options for restoration and preservation of your photos.

Early Sound Tape Recording

Jack Mullin was in the US Signal Corps in Germany in WW2 and when the war ended he was given the task of finding out all he could about German electronics. In his travels He chanced upon a radio station that held the key to why the Germans were able to rebroadcast quality recordings of music and speeches over their propaganda radio network. The Germans had been developing audio tape recording during the war and Mullins now saw the potential for commercial development.

Back in USA with 2 AEG Magnetophon tape recorders and 50 reels of tape he set about refining the system and trying to interest the film industry in its potential. Prior to this when recording sound direct cut records or film was used, neither being particularly high quality. It wasn't until demonstrating the tape recorders to Bing Crosby and the potential he saw in high quality delayed radio broadcasting and the ability to edit the recordings that the idea took off.

Bing Crosby was shortly to invest $50,000 in a fledgling company that became the Ampex Corporation and with Mullins experience and technical expertise a new industry was born.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions and comments on this newsletter and suggestions of what you would like me to cover in future issues.