BOOK & HERITAGE
Image Access Bookeye
Planetary book scanning technology for fragile, bound and valuable material, including books, registers, maps, manuscripts and albums.
EQUIPMENT & TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Specialist equipment.
Specialist equipment.
Specialist knowledge.
Professional archive digitisation depends on more than simply owning the right machine. Our technicians understand the characteristics of legacy media and select the appropriate equipment, signal path and capture workflow for each collection.
Audio
Video
Books
Documents
Film
Wide Format
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A purpose-built equipment base for legacy and heritage media
Our published equipment inventory covers professional analogue and digital video decks, reel-to-reel and multitrack audio machines, book and wide-format scanners, photographic film workflows, conversion hardware and digital preservation infrastructure. This allows us to work with formats ranging from fragile books and large maps to broadcast video, professional audio tape and legacy digital media.
20+
years of experience handling archive media
50+
listed machines and specialist systems
A0+
large-format and planetary book scanning capability
10-bit
professional video preservation workflows
FEATURED SYSTEMS
Some of the specialist equipment behind our work
A selection of the platforms that form the core of our audio-visual, book and document digitisation workflows.
BROADCAST VIDEO
Sony U-Matic Systems
Multiple U-Matic decks covering professional and legacy formats, including Hi Band, Low Band and PAL/NTSC/SECAM workflows.
BETACAM SP
Sony Betacam SP
Professional Betacam SP playback capability, including Sony BVW, PVW and UVW series machines for archive and broadcast collections.
AUDIO ARCHIVE
Revox B77 MkII
Professional-quality open-reel playback for domestic, studio and archive reel-to-reel collections.
MULTITRACK AUDIO
Tascam TSR-8
Specialist multitrack reel-to-reel playback for studio and production archive material.
ARTWORK & WIDE FORMAT
WideTEK 36 ART
Contactless wide-format scanning for artwork, maps, fragile prints, parchment, textiles and other valuable oversized material.
BOOK & FRAGILE DOCUMENTS
Bookeye Archive Scanner
Specialist planetary scanning for books, manuscripts, registers, albums and other bound heritage material where careful non-destructive handling is essential.
LARGE-FORMAT BOOK SCANNING
Bookeye A1 Scanner
Large-format planetary scanning for oversized books, ledgers, maps, registers and heritage volumes up to A1 size.
DOCUMENT SCANNING
Canon Quattro Roller-Fed Scanner
High-throughput roller-fed scanning for suitable corporate and document collections, providing an efficient workflow for larger volumes of material.
PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS
Epson Expression 10000XL
High-resolution photographic and flatbed scanning for prints, photographs, film and other specialist image collections requiring detailed capture.
PHOTOGRAPH SCANNING
Epson Batch Photograph Scanners
Batch scanning systems for photographic collections, helping process larger volumes of loose photographs efficiently while maintaining consistent capture.
FRAGILE & HERITAGE MATERIAL
Reprographic Camera Scanning
Camera-based reprographic capture for fragile, delicate and difficult-to-handle documents where conventional contact scanning is not appropriate.
DIGITAL AUDIO
Sony PCM-7030
Professional DAT playback capability for legacy digital audio recordings and broadcast archives.
VIDEO CAPTURE & PROCESSING
Broadcast-grade signal handling
Our video workflow combines specialist playback decks with professional conversion and capture hardware. The equipment inventory published by Oxford Duplication Centre includes AWS Elemental and multiple Blackmagic DeckLink systems.
- AWS Elemental conversion hardware
- Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme systems
- Blackmagic DeckLink Studio 4K systems
- Professional SD and HD deck playback
- 10-bit and lossless preservation workflows
COMPLETE MEDIA CAPABILITY
From broadcast tape to legacy computer media
Our equipment is selected to cover professional broadcast formats, consumer recordings, open-reel audio, optical media and obsolete computer storage. The aim is to use the correct source machine and signal path for each format, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all transfer process.
Broadcast Video Tape
Professional playback for legacy broadcast and production formats.
- U-Matic 3/4-inch — Low Band and Hi Band SP
- Betacam SP
- Digital Betacam / DigiBeta
- Betacam SX
- MPEG IMX
- HDCAM and HDCAM SR
- DVCPRO / DVCPRO50 / DVCPRO HD
- DVCAM / DV / HDV
- Sony 1/2-inch and 1-inch open-reel video formats
Consumer & Professional Video
Playback systems covering domestic, corporate and specialist video recordings.
- VHS and S-VHS
- PAL / NTSC / SECAM
- Betamax
- Video8 and Hi8
- MiniDV
- MicroMV
- Digital8
- LaserDisc
- DVD video formats
Audio Reel-to-Reel & Tape · 16-Track Reel-to-Reel
Multiple playback platforms for domestic, studio, multitrack and professional recordings.
- 1/4-inch reel-to-reel
- 1/2-inch multitrack
- 2-track and 4-track recordings
- 8-track / 16-track multitrack
- Open-spool archive tapes
- Compact cassette
- DAT
- ADAT and MiniDisc
- Vinyl and 78rpm workflows
Blackmagic & AWS Conversion
Professional capture and processing for preservation masters and access files.
- AWS Elemental conversion and processing
- Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme
- Blackmagic DeckLink Studio 4K
- High-quality de-interlacing
- Noise reduction and signal processing
- SD-to-HD up-conversion where appropriate
- Professional monitored capture paths
Digital Video Outputs
Outputs can be selected according to preservation, production or access requirements.
10-bit uncompressed AVI
FFV1 lossless
ProRes 422 HQ
ProRes 422
Avid DNxHD
AVI
QuickTime MOV
H.264 / MPEG-4
DPX
CD, DVD & Removable Media
Extraction from optical discs and removable digital storage.
- Audio CDs
- Data CDs
- Home-produced CDs
- Data DVDs
- Video DVDs
- SD cards
- Magneto Optical discs
- DDS digital data tapes
- LaserDiscs
Floppy Disk & Data Recovery
Recovery and extraction from obsolete computer storage where modern systems may no longer provide access.
- 3.5-inch floppy diskettes
- 5.25-inch floppy diskettes
- Specialist floppy formats
- Damaged or problematic media assessment
- Sector-level extraction where required
- Legacy file and directory recovery
Iomega ZIP, JAZ & SyQuest
Specialist extraction from removable storage used for computer backups, photography, design and archive data.
- Iomega ZIP disks
- Iomega JAZ disks
- SyQuest disks
- Legacy removable media
- Data extraction and organisation
- Assessment of damaged or unstable media
AUDIO OUTPUTS
High-quality digital audio files
Audio transfers can be supplied as WAV, AIFF or MP3, with archive and production specifications selected according to the project requirements.
PUBLISHED EQUIPMENT INVENTORY
Our specialist machinery
The following list brings together the equipment currently published across our specialist machinery and equipment pages.
Analogue Video
U-Matic
- Sony BVU 950P — Hi Band SP / Low Band
- Sony BVU 820 — Hi Band
- Sony BVU 800 — Hi Band
- Sony VO-9800P — Hi Band SP / Low Band
- Sony VP-7040 — Low Band PAL / NTSC / SECAM
- Sony VO-5800PS — Low Band PAL / SECAM
- Sony VO-5650 — Low Band PAL / NTSC
Betacam SP
- Sony BVW 75 SP
- Sony PVW 2800P SP
- Sony UVW 1800P SP
- Sony UVW 1600P SP
Professional VHS / S-VHS
- Sony SVO-5800P
- Panasonic AG-7500
- Panasonic AG-7350
- Panasonic AG-MD835E
- Panasonic NV-HS900
- Panasonic NV-VP31
- Panasonic NV-SJ220
- Panasonic NV-FS200 HQ
- JVC HR-S6965
- JVC BR-6400TR
Digital Video & Legacy Media
Digital Video / DV / DVCAM
- Sony DSR 11 PAL
- Sony DSR 20 PAL
- JVC BR-HD50
- Sony HDV HVR-1500A
- Sony GVD-900E
- JVC BR-DV600E
- JVC SR-VS20 ×2
- Panasonic AJ-D640
- Panasonic AJ-D750
- Sony HVR-1500
- Panasonic AG-DV2500 PAL / NTSC
Digital Betacam / Betacam SX
- Sony J-3 SDI
- Sony DVW-A500P
- Sony DNW-A65P — PAL / NTSC
Other Digital Formats
- Sony JH-3 — HDCAM
- Pioneer CLD-D925 — LaserDisc
- Pioneer CLD-S315 — LaserDisc
- Sony MD5-JE480 — MiniDisc
- Sony DCR-IP220E — MicroMV
- Sony GV-D200E — Digital8
- Sony GV-D800E — Digital8
Audio Equipment
1/4-inch Reel-to-Reel
- AKAI 4000S MKII
- TEAC A-3440 4 Channel
- REVOX B77 MKII
- Sony Model TC-377
- Fostex R8
1/2-inch Reel-to-Reel
- Tascam TSR-8
- Fostex E-16
Cassette
- TEAC W-485C
- TASCAM TR373 MKII
- TASCAM 202 MKVII
Professional / Digital Audio
- Sony PCM-7030 — DAT
- Project Vinyl
- ALEXIS 8-Track
- D-003 Rack +
- FocusRite Scarlett 2/2
- Cyrus One
- MBox
- Apogee Symphony
- Tascam US-16-09
Scanning, Capture & Infrastructure
Conversion / Capture
- AWS Elemental
- Blackmagic DeckLink HD Extreme
- Blackmagic DeckLink Studio 4K
Book & Document Scanning
- Image Access Bookeye Archive Scanner
- Image Access Bookeye A1 Scanner
- WideTEK 36 ART contactless art scanner
- Canon Quattro roller-fed scanner
- Panasonic document batch scanners
- Reprographic camera fragile-document scanning system
- Contex wide-format scanning
Photographic Scanning
- Epson Expression 10000XL photographic scanners
- Epson batch photograph scanning systems
- Specialist photographic and film scanning workflows
Optical / Disc
- Panasonic DMR-BW780
- JVC BD-X200 ×3
- Sony RDR-VX420
- Sony RDR-VX410
- Sony VRD-MC5
- Sharp DV-NC55
- Daewood DC DF-8150P
- Samsung DVD-R128
Servers / Monitoring / AV
- Synology
- Preservica
- Panasonic WV-5200B monitors
- JVC high-resolution monitors
- Kramer 12×2 Matrix VS-1202YO
THE MACHINE IS ONLY PART OF THE WORKFLOW
Expertise is knowing which machine to use — and how to use it
Legacy media rarely behaves like modern production media. Tape condition, format variant, recording standard, playback alignment, signal path and capture settings can all affect the final digital master.
- Media identification before transfer
- Appropriate playback deck selection
- Gentle cleaning and preparation where required
- Signal monitoring throughout capture
- Archival and access-file creation
- Quality assurance and project-level checking
OUR APPROACH
From physical media to controlled digital preservation
Specialist machinery is integrated into a managed workflow, rather than treated as a simple transfer operation.
Identify
Establish the format, recording standard, physical condition and requirements of the source material.
Prepare
Prepare media and select the most appropriate playback and capture equipment for the collection.
Capture
Transfer the material using specialist decks, scanners, conversion hardware and controlled signal paths.
Quality Assure
Review outputs, check files and prepare preservation and access formats according to the project brief.
Not sure what equipment your collection requires?
Send us details or photographs of your media and our technical team can help identify the format, explain the available digitisation options and recommend an appropriate workflow.
Talk to our technical team →