Task 0001 - VHS Preservation Task-Final-20200820 .pdf

Task 0001: Digital Preservation of VHS and S-VHS Tapes

Preparation of Technical and Business Response

1. Technical

• Identify the proposed approach for completing the requirements of the task including the capacity to manage the volume of work specified by the task

• Identify the proposed schedule of performance and delivery

• Identify any subcontractors as necessary and specify the offerors approach for maintaining oversight and quality control of work performed by subcontractors

2. Price The Offerors pricing response should be divided into 2 sections

• Media Assessment and Condition Reporting (pricing must be firm, fixed price)

• Repair and preservation/digitization of media (pricing may be firm fixed price, Time and

Material, Labor Hour, or any combination)

Task 0001 – SOW Effective 8/20/2020

Task 0001: Digital Preservation of VHS and S-VHS Tapes Statement of Work

1.0 OVERVIEW

Each year the NIH Office of AIDS Research provides targeted funding for projects focused on AIDS and HIV. This VHS digitization initiative aims to convert/preserve up to 500 VHS and S-VHS tapes as part of that effort. Tapes require inspection, cleaning, treatment, and digital transfer according to specifications provided, with accompanying metadata generated.

1.1 SCOPE

Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the contractor will manually inspect, clean, treat, and repair as necessary each tape element prior to digital transfer, following best practices in the field.

The Contractor will use state-of-the-art equipment and processes to convert the original magnetic tape to a high-resolution digital master. The Contractor will also produce from the digital master a mezzanine file and an MP4 version for access purposes.

The NLM will provide the Contractor with shipments of up to 100 original titles for processing with each batch. NLM will prepare a manifest with unique IDs, titles, item barcodes, and other information so the contractor and client may accurately track material. The number and length of VHS tapes included in each shipment may vary. File-naming conventions for each digital file shall be specified by NLM and retained by Contractor.

The Contractor program/project manager will work collaboratively with the Government COR. The Contractor’s work-product shall be assigned, reviewed, inspected, and accepted by the COR. The COR will consult with the Contractor during all phases of the activities, reviewing plans prior to implementation, reviewing work for accuracy, and making recommendations as needed to ensure conformation to NLM specifications and timely completion of the work.

2.0 TASK ORDER REQUIRMENTS

2.1 Shipping and Receiving

NLM anticipates shipping tapes to contractor in batches of 100 each. NLM will prepare a manifest with unique IDs, titles, item barcodes, and other information so vendor and client may accurately track material. Contractor shall receive and check in each shipped batch of tapes according to manifests provided. The Contractor will produce and submit metadata as described in Section 2.3 below.

2.2 Video Handling

Record tabs, if present, must be removed prior to digitization.

All tapes shall be handled and stored in an appropriate temperature and humidity-controlled environment with temperatures that shall not exceed seventy (70) degrees Fahrenheit, and relative humidity (RH) that shall not exceed 55 percent (55%).

2.3 Video Cleaning & Baking

If professional-grade cleaning machines exist, they must be used, and the action noted in metadata digitization process notes. Cleaning machines should also undergo regular servicing to ensure that tapes will not be damaged during the cleaning process.

Video formats that regularly fall victim to sticky-shed or any other form of binder hydrolysis, should be baked to achieve optimal reformatting. local baking customs may be used, but the process must be approved by the COR prior to execution.

2.4 Video Repair and Rehousing

Treatments such as re-shelling or rehousing should be performed, when needed, by skilled technicians to achieve optimal reformatting.

2.5 Preservation Master Files

2.5.1 Guidelines

Characteristics intrinsic to the broadcast standard of the source material, including frame rate, pixel aspect ratio, interlacing, resolution, and recording standard (NTSC, PAL, SECAM, etc.) should be preserved.

Signal extraction must be optimal and carried out using equipment and accessories appropriate to original format characteristics.

The most direct and clean signal path must be used at all times from source to destination. There may be no devices inserted in the signal path that are not being used. If there are multiple destination formats used in the transfer, the signal path must be routed in parallel. No daisy-chaining of devices may occur.

The highest quality signal format (composite, S-Video, Component, SDI, etc.) available for the source media type must be used throughout the entirety of the signal path from source through destination.

Exceptions to this must be explained and requested prior to performing the transfer.

Luminance, black, and color levels should be adjusted to existing color bars if they are present on tape and look accurate. If color bars are not present or are clearly inaccurate, preview each tape in order to adjust levels according to the content of the tape using known references (such as blue sky, known blacks and whites, flesh tone, etc.). Luma should be adjusted to fall within broadcast range (100 IRE max) and must not exceed 110 IRE.

The transfer should capture all content recorded on the original object, including any bars and tone, slates, or other material coming before the start of the recorded program.

The recording should run until the end of the recorded content (picture and sound). If this endpoint cannot be unambiguously determined, the recording should run until the end of the original object.

If present on the source tape, closed captions must be captured.

2.5.2 Image and Audio Specifications

2.5.2.1 PRESERVATION MASTER FILES

Attribute Specification

Video codec FFv1 version 3

Data compression Lossless, Intra-frame (GOP-1) only

Chroma subsampling 4:2:2

Color Space YUV

Bit depth 10-bit

File wrapper Matroska (.mkv)

Frame rate Native- 30 or 29.97 fps (for NTSC)

Frame size 720x486 (SD)

Aspect Ration 4:3 (SD)

Scan Type Interlaced (SD)

Broadcast standard NTSC

Pixel aspect ratio D1 NTSC (.91)

Audio format PCM

Audio bit depth 24-bit

Audio sampling rate 48 kHz

Audio channels (Same as original media)

2.5.2.2 MEZZANINE FILES

Video codec ProRes 422

Data compression Lossy

Chroma subsampling 4:2:2 YUV

Color Space YUV

Bit depth 8-bit

File wrapper Quicktime (.mov)

Frame rate Native- 30 or 29.97 fps (for NTSC)

Frame size 720x480 (SD)

Aspect Ratio 4:3

Scan Type Interlaced (SD)

Broadcast standard NTSC

Pixel aspect ratio Square pixels

Audio format AAC (Low Complexity)

Audio bit depth 16-bit

Audio sampling rate 48 kHz

Audio channels (Same as original media)

2.5.2.3 ACCESS FILES

Video codec H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (ISO/IEC 14496-10 - MPEG4 Part 10, Advanced Video Coding)

Video bit rate 3.5 Mbit/second

Chroma subsampling 4:2:0

Color Space YUV

Bit depth 8-bit

File wrapper MP4

Frame rate Retain from Preservation master

Frame size Retain from Preservation master

Scan Type Progressive

Broadcast standard NTSC

Pixel aspect ratio Retain from Preservation master (see below for Anamorphic video)

Audio codec AAC

Audio bit rate 320 kbps

Audio sampling rate 48 kHz

Audio bit depth 16 bit

Audio channels 2

Closed captions* CEA-608 (*if applicable)

2.6 Metadata

The Contractor shall generate appropriate metadata using a predetermined metadata schema, to be shared after receipt of the order. NLM anticipates providing an Excel spreadsheet that includes bibliographic/descriptive data for each NLM collection object included in the project. Note that one collection object with a single unique ID may contain multiple physical objects (for example, a title that includes two tapes, Part 1 and Part 2). The spreadsheet also will contain additional columns specifying standard descriptive and technical metadata to be captured by the contractor. This metadata will be in line with current practices in the field of videotape preservation. In addition, the contractor will be asked to supply data integrity verification in the form of MD5 checksum, which will be added to the metadata spreadsheet.

2.7 Deliverables

1. Post-processing, the Contractor will return all hard drives with digital files for inspection by the

Government. Shipping shall be at Government expense via FedEx.

2. The Government will identify corrections to be made. Corrections will be reworked at the

Contractor’s expense and returned to the Government for additional inspection.

3. Provide metadata in spreadsheet form as described in Section 2.2 (template will be furnished, but is subject to revision following further discussion between vendor and government)

4. Return original tapes once digital work is accepted by the Government

5. Ship digital files on portable hard drives provided by the NLM.

The contractor shall be capable of, upon NLM request, rendering any communication and/or documents, e.g., emails, condition reports, manifests, invoices, produced as result of digitization workflow to be Section 508 compliant.