Interview with Bruno Burtre (VectraCom) (part 1/2)

PACKED: What is your professional background, and what did you do before coming to VectraCom?

Bruno Burtre: In 1990, I started my career with Sony as a support technician. For fifteen years I was in charge of customer support for magnetic tapes, and for professional formats in particular. I was also in charge of the packaging engineering, where we worked on the design and personalisation of cassettes whenever a customer made a specific request.

I was then Quality Manager Europe for Sony magnetic products, in Dax where the production unit manufacturing Betacam¹, Digital Betacam², VHS³, DV⁴ and 8 mm⁵ for the whole of Europe and part of the American market was situated.


PACKED: What formats were aimed at the American market?

Bruno Burtre: From 1991 onwards, all Betacam SP⁶ sold in Europe were produced in Dax, and part of the production went to the USA. Today, Digital Betacam cassettes sold in the USA are made in Japan.


PACKED: Why did you start working on the preservation of video material at Sony?

Bruno Burtre: To begin with, we set up a restoration lab for magnetic tapes, as more and more of our European clients were asking us for solutions for their archives. It is by working on their problems that Sony decided to launch a preservation lab. The idea of creating it came rather naturally, as we knew how the tapes were made and also the best ways to restore them.

Denis Mahé, the technician who worked with me at the time, is now the technical director of VectraCom. Our backgrounds are similar; we both had audiovisual training before working in broadcasting with Sony making magnetic tapes. At the time, companies such as VectraCom were competing with us in certain cases, and they were part of European projects such as PrestoSpace⁷.


PACKED: How has your work changed since you arrived at VectraCom?

Bruno Burtre:At Sony, our efforts were mainly focussed on preserving the document, that is to say the digitisation of tapes. We didn’t know how to do restoration and we dealt only with magnetic tapes. At VectraCom we transfer both audio and videotapes, but we also do Telecine transferring as well as all SD⁸, HD film media⁹ and 2K¹⁰. For certain clients, we also do calibration and colour-correction.

Then there is the whole restoration stage, which is done with tools such as Archangel¹¹, allowing real-time restoration, and also with software such as Revival¹² and Nucoda¹³.


PACKED: What formats are you capable of transferring?

Bruno Burtre:We are able to process any of the main professional or amateur formats produced in Europe: 2"¹⁴, 1" IVC¹⁵, 1"type A¹⁶, 1" type B¹⁷, 1" type C¹⁸, M2¹⁹, BETAMAX²⁰, U-MATIC²¹, BVU²², 1⁄2" EIAJ and pre-EIAJ²³, 1⁄4”²⁴, VCR²⁵, V2000²⁶, BETACAM, Betacam SP, Digital Betacam, DVCAM²⁷, DVC PRO²⁸, VHS, digital VHS²⁹, D1³⁰, D2³¹ and D3. For almost all of these formats, we also possess NTSC players³², as well as the Time-Base Correctors³³ from the time, which are essential to obtain a useable signal with 1” or U-matic formats.

We are also capable of digitising 16mm³⁴ and 35mm³⁵ film in High Definition, 2K, and in the future very soon in Motion JPEG2000³⁶ and DCP³⁷. We have an 819-line monitor that we use for the telerecording of certain archival footage.

We can then provide the material on any type of media the client wishes and we can also do tape-to-tape transfers on Digital Betacam, HDCAM³⁸, HDCAM SR³⁹, DVCPRO 25/50 etc. We are equipped with all of the necessary hardware. The only media we do not process for now is DVC Pro 100, also known as DVC Pro HD⁴⁰.


PACKED: Do you use tape-cleaning machines?

Bruno Burtre: Yes, we use an RTI machine⁴¹ for U-matic formats and we have Recortec machines⁴² for 2” tapes. However, we do not use cleaning machines for any other formats. The RTI machine works by running the tape over a fabric, or dusting paper as we call it, to remove the dust that is present. But often these machines are mechanically unreliable. If the machine is clogged and the dust sticks to the fabric, there is a high risk of scratching the tapes. This is why we use the cleaning machines here cautiously, and only under the supervision of experienced technicians, as they do not have the same mechanical precision as a videotape recorder. If they are not well maintained, we risk damaging the tape rather than cleaning it.

To clean other formats, we often use the videotape recorder itself, which is why we have two types of recorders: those used to transfer, and those used only to ventilate the tape by winding or rewinding it. In some cases, we will even play the tape in its entirety and the video head will act as a tape-cleaner, because when a video head rubs against a magnetic tape, the main advantage compared to fabric is that it sweeps the tape with an air-cushion at a pressure of a few grams, which will blow away any undesirable particles. Of course, these particles will then re-settle around the recorder, but without leaving marks on the tape. We possess so many recorders that we prefer to dedicate a machine to cleaning by fitting it with old video heads, which no longer have the necessary protuberance and can no longer be used for transferring because the image quality they produce is too poor. On the other hand, they prove to be very efficient for cleaning tapes.




PACKED: A video head on its own works almost as well as knives and fabric?

Bruno Burtre: Yes, quite often, and above all it is less of a risk for the tape. We processed part of the INA’s U-matic archives⁴³, and the procedure that was developed by the INA in collaboration with VectraCom was to pre-play the tape in a dedicated recorder. The ideal situation is therefore to have two machines, one to wind and another to transfer. In the worst-case scenario, we use the RTI cleaners, but only in certain cases, such as when the tapes are sticky, for example.


PACKED: Do the tapes need cleaning systematically?

Bruno Burtre: I would say that all recent formats can be digitised directly, and by recent I mean all tapes that date from 1996-1997 to the present. Beyond 15 years of age, ventilation is necessary.

We use this ventilation technique before playing the tape, for formats such as 1” type B for example. For 2” we possess very good cleaners that have been slightly modified so that the particles are sucked up and do not accumulate on the dusting papers. For U-matic cassettes, we use RTI cleaners or other videotape recorders. Apart from the Samma cleaner⁴⁴ – a very good product for the Betacam tapes family – RTI cleaners are, as I said, a little too violent from a mechanical point of view. Samma cleaners for the Betacam tapes family are really well designed, as they monitor the clogging of the fabric in real-time, allowing the speed of the reeling to be increased, or to tell the machine that more cleaning is necessary.


PACKED: Do you sometimes modify the players used for transfers?

Bruno Burtre: Yes, the erase heads have often been removed and fixed to the player’s chassis, so as not to create problems with static charge, and also simply to avoid erasing archives. This might seem silly but it is an additional safety factor. Sometimes we place little paper tabs instead to make a first cleaning.






We even had to rebuild the chassis of certain machines because they had been stored in attics and rather badly damaged. Sometimes we also modify a machine for a particular format. For example, at one point there was one model of 1” player that could read large spools. Now, this machine was very rare and we had to modify a standard machine by adjusting the axle so that the large spools could be read.






In any case, at VectraCom, all the machine’s covers have been removed. When you work in archiving, it is impossible to put a cassette into a recorder thinking that the transfer will work the first time round. There will always be a cassette that will stick, get damaged or the tape will get scratched, deposit magnetic residue and deteriorate the player and therefore all the following transfers. When working with old formats, all transfers are different and must be done on a case-by-case basis.




PACKED: Do you use an “oven” for particularly damaged tapes?

Bruno Burtre: At Sony, we used baking nine times out of ten for 2” and 1” type B, and less frequently for U-matic cassettes. The oven allows the magnetism to be stabilised, but this beneficial effect lasts only about five days and the tape must be transferred during this window. At VectraCom, we usually process the tape within two days of it coming out of the oven, because you must allow sufficient time for the tape to return to ambient temperature. Without revealing our precise protocol, the process is as follows: raising the temperature, stabilisation for a certain duration, and then we transfer the tape after a period of respite. At VectraCom, the cleaning stage is carried out after baking.


PACKED: Why does baking come before cleaning?

Bruno Burtre: Because when a tape is baked, its magnetic coating is regenerated, and it becomes more resistant, as it were. Therefore if a cleaning is done first, there is the risk that particles that could be useful after the baking might be lost. Baking is nothing other than a process that is used during the manufacturing of tapes. When you produce a tape, you apply a magnetic paint to a plastic carrier and once this has been done, the tape is left for two days at a temperature that corresponds to that which is used during baking. In industry, this baking time is necessary for the magnetic coating of the full jumbo roll – that is to say the twenty kilometre-long roll of magnetic tape – to be sufficiently robust. As the years go by, the binders, the glues and all the additives that are used in the production of the tape disintegrate. When the tape is brought to a high temperature two phenomena happen: the humidity present in the tape is withdrawn and the binders are regenerated somewhat. Therefore if the tape is cleaned beforehand, there is a risk of removing unstable particles from the magnetic coating that would have been more stable after baking.


PACKED: Is there not a risk of the dust present on the tape becoming ingrained if it is not removed beforehand?

Bruno Burtre: No. If the dust is volatile, it will not become ingrained, because during baking the temperature does not increase that much; it is close to the temperature used during the production of the tape.


PACKED: Is baking a process that can be repeated several times?

Bruno Burtre: I have never read or heard of any reason why it shouldn’t, and here we have had cases where it was repeated up to two or three times. However in our case, the idea is not to reuse the original tape at a later date, as our goal is to digitise and backup the material, and therefore we have no experience of what may happen over time; once the material is backed up, the long term effects on the tape are of no concern to us.


PACKED: Which type of oven do you use?

Bruno Burtre: It consists of a straightforward climatic chamber, which is also used by industrial quality control departments. They are adjustable in terms of temperature and humidity, and allow heating cycles to be performed. At Sony, they were used for testing with a chamber at 80% humidity and a temperature of 45 °C, and another chamber at 5 °C and 0% humidity for example, to see how the tapes would react.




PACKED: What other cleaning techniques do you use?

Bruno Burtre: For film, we use CTM Debrie cleaning systems and we have a Lipsner-Smith⁴⁵ machine that permits to immerse the film in an emulsion that cleans its surface. At VectraCom, three technicians know how to use the Lipsner-Smith cleaner, and to do this they must wear gloves and a facemask. This machine requires the use of gloves and a facemask, and an air extraction system for the vapours and smells of the solvents, as it works using rather toxic tetrachloroethylene. The procedure is rather complicated, as the solvents must be checked, and the guiding system cleaned, etc. The Telecine operators use it, because if the cleaning stage is not done properly, they will get a poor quality image during transfer.

When we worked for Sony, Denis Mahé had developed a machine that used solvents and ultrasounds to clean magnetic tapes. It was a prototype that used a similar method to that of Lipsner-Smith; the tape was dipped into a solution of solvents and then dried. We mainly used it to clean 2” tapes from the so-called “3M Great Years”, when 3M had the great idea of producing flanges with foam on the inside surface so as not to deteriorate the edges of the tape. The problem was that they stuck the foam with neoprene glue, which then got onto the tapes. In the prototype we had developed, the solvent broke down the glue without damaging the magnetic tape.

We had also developed a solution to lubricate the surface of the magnetic tape, and we mainly used this for ½” open reel formats.




PACKED: What is the theory behind this process?

Bruno Burtre: When you make a U-matic tape, for example, you insert lubricating agents into the magnetic paint and after a few years of storage, you will sometimes see white powder appear on the tape. This powder may come from two different origins. Firstly, it might be mould such as that which is found on audiotapes from the 1950s for example, where you may often find mould that appears as a white powder. Prior to 1985, certain formats were not treated with fungicides but from the mid-eighties, their use had become standard to tape production at Sony and most other manufacturers. That’s why from the mid-eighties onwards, tapes no longer have any problems with mould.

In recent tapes, this white powder is made up of lubricants that have solidified on the surface. This indicates that the tape’s lubrication has gone. Even with cleaning to remove the powder, the picture disappears after five minutes. The only solution then is to apply a thin film of lubricant on the tape with a rag.


PACKED: So this was a manual process?

Bruno Burtre: At Sony, we had developed a tool that deposited a thin layer of lubricant by tempography. At the time we were able to develop a machine to do this, but here it is something we do by hand with a rag directly onto the tape while it is on the machine.


PACKED: You were not able to bring this machine to VectraCom when you left Sony?

Bruno Burtre: Unfortunately not, as Sony did not want to sell the machines to us. Having said this, the machine in itself was nothing special, but the product we found was. It was a product that came into the manufacturing of the magnetic tape, and the proportions had been elaborated with Sony’s chemistry laboratory. At the time, we were able to carry out several tests, because for it to work, the proportions had to be rather precise. With the wrong proportions, the tape would stick even more and would no longer run through the videotape recorder at all. The major problem with lubricating surfaces is that when you apply a thin coat of a product, you must be able to dry it quickly and sufficiently, otherwise the tape gets damp and will no longer slip.


PACKED: Was the capability to develop this type of solution one of the advantages of working with a major company such as Sony?

Bruno Burtre: Yes, because there were more employees, and greater resources. We had four technicians, and this allowed us to do research and development as well as transferring. During this period, we made a huge amount of progress. We could produce prototypes thanks to the engineering workshop where parts could be manufactured on-site, and also thanks to the chemistry laboratory where solutions could be developed. For a company of the size of VectraCom, this is of course more complicated, but the advantage is that Denis Mahé and myself came to VectraCom with the knowledge acquired and developed at Sony.


PACKED: Does the sticky shed syndrome concern mainly U-matic tapes?

Bruno Burtre: It is a problem we also get with 1” type B, where we have disastrous experiences with certain brands. This is a paradox as I have seen the same brands in Spain and they work very well. Channel TVE has launched a major project to digitise 1” type B tapes; we carried out a case study for them and it was the first time I saw 1” type B tapes working that well. All the 1” type B tapes from Germany and England that I had previously had to transfer caused a lot of problems.


PACKED: Was this linked to climatic conditions?

Bruno Burtre: Yes, it is an essential factor. When we receive a batch of tapes, it doesn’t matter if we know that they are U-matic from such and such a year, or any other very precise information. The conditions under which the tapes were stored make all the difference. Out of two identical U-matic cassettes from two different clients, one may be very easy to transfer, whereas the other might pose huge problems.

We have just transferred some archives that came from Nigeria. They are the archives of an African art festival called Festac⁴⁶, which took place in 1977, and the failure rate here is more than 20%. The tapes are 2”, 1” and U-matic. For the U-matic, as the guides inside the cassette had rusted, we had to take apart each cassette and put the tape in a new cartridge in order to digitise it. Cleaning them or playing them as they were would have damaged the tapes irremediably. All the 2” Memorex tapes from this festival are sticky and stick when put into the machines, even after going through baking and cleaning.


PACKED: So certain tapes are identified as being more problematic than others?

Bruno Burtre: Yes, there are brands that, depending on the year, are known to be problematic. For example, 2”, Memorex tapes from certain years, even after going through the oven and being cleaned, cause problems with clogging where other tapes will work after just cleaning and without having to be baked. This varies depending on the brand and the year, but also depending on the format. Sometimes, for 2” for example, Agfa tapes will work very well, whereas the 1” tapes of the same brand will cause many problems.

At the moment we are transferring BASF 1” type B tapes from channel RFO for the INA and they also cause a lot of problems because of the climate. Out of one hundred tapes, we have a failure rate of 10% due to the tapes sticking despite having gone through the oven.

I do know that Fuji 1” format tapes are excellent, but each brand has had its ups and downs depending on the format and you cannot say that one is better than the others. It remains quite empirical. What’s more, the tapes of smaller brands were sometimes manufactured by major brands.


PACKED: And only the name and the packaging were different?

Bruno Burtre: Quite often, yes. There are partnerships between manufacturers and few production lines in the world.


PACKED: Do certain “sick” tapes have to be isolated from the others?

Bruno Burtre: Yes. I have quite often smelt vinegar upon entering the archives of certain clients. Now, in Dax we ran some tests by putting a Betacam cassette inside a climatic chamber with a jar of vinegar and the results were catastrophic. When a magnetic tape is stored in a vinegary environment, the magnetic coating is attacked and causes clogging very quickly. Based on this research, we always advise our clients to single out and isolate any vinegary film.

Click here to read part 2 of the interview


Notes