Appendix D: Guide to Equipment Needed for Audiovisual Digitization
Appendix D: Guide to Equipment Needed for Audiovisual Digitization
This document is adapted from the guides Minimum Viable Station: Documentation (December 2, 2016) and Minimum Viable Station: Recipes (January 16, 2017) created by Ashley Blewer.
This is an overview of the general components needed to digitize and/or transfer analog and digital video and audio materials with suggestions for currently available equipment. Reviewing examples of documented set ups by other organizations will help illustrate the similarities and differences of digitization setups – below is a list of several resources that contain setup examples.
Before you begin…
If in the course of planning for digitization you determine to invest in an in-house setup as part of your project plan, it is important to determine early on what is required to do the work and who will be doing this work. Questions to ask include:
- What format or formats are you digitizing?
- What equipment do you already have?
- What equipment will you need to acquire?
- What is your budget?
- Where will the equipment be set up?
- Where will the resulting files be stored temporarily and long term?
- Who is responsible for planning, assembling, use, documentation, and maintenance?
- What kind of departmental and/or interdepartmental support is possible?
- Would a partnership with another organization support this work – to share equipment, to support long term digital storage, to apply for additional funding?
Make final decisions based on desired outcomes and resource availability.
We’ve also created an equipment inventory template for you to download and customize for your own use.
Recommended Guides
Memory Lab Network
- A Deep Dive into Building a Memory Lab (in progress) https://tinyurl.com/yk34rxje
- In the Lab https://libguides.dclibrary.org/memorylab/in-the-lab
- Equipment and Wiring Diagrams https://recollectionwisconsin.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/MemLabEquipment_Inventory_MPL.xlsx
Minimum Viable Station
- Documentation https://tinyurl.com/ybh6a9t3
- Recipes https://tinyurl.com/5n7r5k67
Indigitization
- Planning: Before starting an audio cassette digitization project https://tinyurl.com/27bkc6rw
The Cable Bible: A Guide to Cables and Connectors Used for Audiovisual Tech
https://amiaopensource.github.io/cable-bible/
Basic Components for Video, Audio & Film Digitization
In each instance, regardless of your budget, ensure you are purchasing items (both hardware and software) that are compatible with each other. You can confirm this by looking at available connections on old and new hardware, and checking software compatibility listings on the product site or within user forums. In almost all instances, high level film scanning aside, you are making commercial products created for purposes other than archiving to conform to archival practices. They often do not cooperate.
Analog Videotape
Example: 3/4 inch U-matic, Betacam, VHS, Hi8
- Computer (with monitor, keyboard, mouse)
- Analog-to-Digital Con