Fast Forward: The Future of Moving Image Collections

Besser, Howard. "Fast Forward: The Future of Moving Image Collections", in Gary Handman (ed.), Video Collection Development in Multi-Type Libraries (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994): 411-26.

VCR
U-Matic

Howard Besser is one of the top minds in the field of film and video preservationnn, heading New York University's Moving Image Archiving & Preservation Program. In 1994, he wrote a chapter in Handman's Video Collection Development in Multi-Type Libraries. It's interesting to read about what the future was supposed to be back in 1994. Back then, VCRs were in the mainstream, even up till a few years ago. Now, I think it's fair to say that VCR sales and sales of VHS tapes are in decline. Sure people still have VCRs and will continue to rent movies, as long as Blockbluster rents them. But that's the point--the market is moving forward and leaving VHS behind, as surely as they left Beta and U-Matic tapes. Remember when Mini-Discs and laserdiscs were going to change everything! So Besser's article is interesting for what's not true anymore, and the principles that continue to be relevant.

Minidisc & recorder
Laser Disc

In Besser's 1994 article, high speed networks for video streaming were envisioned by the end of the decade. Later in the article, he does say that this probably is unlikely unless a scheme of compression-decompression is invented that will be high in quality and low in cost. Many of these changes often take place because of applications within the professional television and video world. Some of the formats Besser mentioned that seem to be left behind include:

CD-I (1986, relesaed 1991; Sony & Philips) which was supposed to be able to hold 72
minutes of 1/4 screen, full-color, full-motion video


CDTV (Commodore/Amiga)
CD-ROM XA (Microsoft, Sony, Philips) with FM-quality audio, full-motion video, but won't play audio CDs.
DVI (MS-DOS)- A proprietary video compression algorithim. Invented by David Sarnoff Laboratories
IBM M-Motion

Some that did make it include HDTV. Mini-discs have a limited use still, unfortunately.

Besser said that one of the lessons that U-Matic taught the library community that any storage format will be superseded by another format in less than 20 years. LOL! 20 years--that seems like forever today. I'd say 2-5 years now if you're lucky. Maybe 10-15 if your format has gained commercial viability.

Some of the principles that endure which Besser mentions is that: 1) libraries have to cope with format changes, 2) the continuing convergence of computer and video technologies, and 3) the ability to seamlessly alter images will lead to authorship and copyright problems. One digital format that has endured since 1994 is Apple's Quicktime.

Compressions take algorithims to work; and while use of these formats for access copies is necessary, it's no way to do long-term digital preservation of moving images. Optical carriers continue to be brought before the public, like DVD- Blueray, DVD-R, DVD+, etc. I guess this is because people still like to browse and buy items from the shelf of a book/music/video store and take it home with them. Television and video adhere to certain technical standards: NTSC, PAL, or SECAM. One of the chapter headings probably says it all about the future of my career:

Blurring the lines betwen Content Developers as Libraries and Libraries as Content Providers.