Betacam
Betacam
TownsWeb Archiving’s Betacam digitisation service uses experienced technicians who are experts in scanning and converting Betacam tapes to digital. Turning your Betacam to digital is a prudent step, protecting your material from permanent loss or damage and making it quickly accessible.
Find out how much your project could cost
DRs Kulturarvsprojekt, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Hear what our clients have to say about our digitisation services

TownsWeb Archiving have proved very able and extremely helpful in supporting us to bring a local heritage alive for local people. We would certainly recommend TownsWeb Archiving to other libraries, museums and archives.
Exhibition and Display Officer

We are delighted with the results. Without TownsWeb Archiving’s services we could not have completed the work in time and on budget. Their staff have been nothing but approachable, helpful and attentive and I can strongly recommend their services.
Head of Digital

TownsWeb offered us a complete end-to-end service, from scanning and transcription, to web design and content management software. Their work was completed quickly and to a high standard, and we are extremely pleased with the results.
Information & Archives Officer
Digitisation Frequently Asked Questions
At TownsWeb Archiving we use high-resolution scanners to capture your content, FFV1 lossless files or 10 bit uncompressed video files in .mkv or .mov containers. We create viewing files as H264 encoded .mp4 files or DVD and we are confident that we can deliver any other digital video files, according to your requirements and needs.
All content is captured by our highly trained digitisation technicians before undergoing a formal quality assurance checking procedure. The final step in the process is the delivery of your electronic files by hard drive.
As part of our audio visual digitisation service we will check the condition of the film to ensure it is robust enough to be scanned and perform minor remedial works if it is not.
In order to ensure the clearest, highest quality scans possible, we will always clean your Betacam tapes thoroughly and gently prior to the digitisation process.
Betacam can be vulnerable to mould, a white powder residue often caused by storage conditions and poor climate control. This is a serious issue because mould can cause the tape to stick and break whilst being played.
As part of our film digitisation service, we also offer several additional optional services to restore and enhance the digital versions of your film.
These include:
- Image stabilisation
- Flicker removal
- Dirt removal
- Scratch removal
Each of these processes is run separately on your digitised film, so to apply all four services requires four “passes” over the digital files.
As standard we can provide FFV1 lossless files or 10 bit uncompressed video files in .mkv or .mov containers. We create viewing files as H264 encoded .mp4 files or DVD and we are confident that we can deliver any other digital video files, according to your requirements and needs.
Calculate the cost of your digitisation project
Enter your digitisation requirements and tick the box to confirm whether you would like us to get in touch to discuss your requirements further. If you’re not quite ready to use our online quote calculator, feel free to call on 01536 713834 or email us [email protected]
Quote assumptions and specifications
- Size: Up to 30cm cubed
- Folder Naming: One folder per item
- File Naming: Sequential (example: “001.tif”, “002.tif” etc.)
- Resolution: 4 captures per object (front, back, left and right side)
- File Formats: TIFF or JPEG and GIF or MP4
- Pre/Post Processing: Image adjustments, rotation, flipping, cropping excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 30cm cubed
- Folder Naming: One folder per item
- File Naming: Sequential (example: “001.tif”, “002.tif” etc.)
- Resolution: 36 captures per object
- File Formats: TIFF or JPEG and GIF or MP4
- Pre/Post Processing: Image adjustments, rotation, flipping, cropping excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: 35mm Frame
- Folder Naming: Excluded
- File Naming: Unique (example: “Accession-Number.tif”)
- Resolution: 300 PPI
- File Formats: TIFF
- Pre/Post Processing: Image adjustments, rotation, flipping, cropping excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 90 minutes
- Folder Naming: Included
- File Naming: Unique (example: “Accession-Number.mp4”)
- File Formats: Single file format (MP4/MOV)
- Pre/Post Processing: Video adjustments, clipping, enhancements excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 180 minutes
- Folder Naming: Included
- File Naming: Unique (example: “Accession-Number.mp4”)
- File Formats: Single file format (MP4/MOV)
- Pre/Post Processing: Video adjustments, clipping, enhancements excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 90 minutes
- Folder Naming: Included
- File Naming: Unique (example: “Accession-Number.mp3”)
- File Formats: Single file format (MP3)
- Pre/Post Processing: Video adjustments, clipping, enhancements excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 800 MB Transfer
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 60 minutes
- Folder Naming: Included
- File Naming: Unique (example: “Accession-Number.mp4”)
- File Formats: Single file format (MP4/MOV)
- Pre/Post Processing: Video adjustments, clipping, enhancements excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: 16mm / 36mm / COMBI Frame
- Folder Naming: One folder per item
- File Naming: Sequential (example: “001.tif”, “002.tif” etc.)
- Resolution: 300 PPI
- File Formats: TIFF
- Pre/Post Processing: Image adjustments, rotation, flipping, cropping excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: 16mm / 36mm Frame
- Folder Naming: One folder per item
- File Naming: Sequential (example: “001.tif”, “002.tif” etc.)
- Resolution: 300 PPI
- File Formats: TIFF
- Pre/Post Processing: Image adjustments, rotation, flipping, cropping excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 180 minutes
- Folder Naming: Included
- File Naming: Unique (example: “Accession-Number.mp4”)
- File Formats: Single file format (MP4/MOV)
- Pre/Post Processing: Video adjustments, clipping, enhancements excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included
- Size: Up to 180 minutes
- Folder Naming: Included
- File Naming: Unique (example: “Accession-Number.mp4”)
- File Formats: Single file format (MP4/MOV)
- Pre/Post Processing: Video adjustments, clipping, enhancements excluded
- Quality Checking: Fees included