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Is this really the "world's first digital news archive?"
What can I do on the site without registering?
What am I allowed to do with my free Preview Files?
What types of file are available on the site? |
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Is this really the "world's first digital news archive"? We think so. Certainly there are many other companies who archive and distribute news material in a digital form via the internet, and many who have comprehensive text databases, but we think we are the first company to digitise a complete "back catalogue" of original material.
Why are all the clips priced the same if they are all different lengths? Traditionally archive footage is licensed on a per second basis, but in order to make the e-commerce part of this site as simple as possible we decided to charge per clip. In the "off line" world, even the shortest clip would have cost you £300 to use on a Web Site or for a Powerpoint presentation. To encourage usage, and as a reflection of the fact that our fulfilment and transaction costs are dramatically less on-line, we decided to reduce the costs for this use substantially.
Can I order material on videotape through the site? Not at the moment. All requests for viewing copies on VHS or DVD, as well as material on professional video formats for commercial licensing must be ordered through a British Pathe librarian. They will advise you about availability, cost, and about material that you may not have considered for your project; they have over 60 years experience between them that you might find helpful!
What do all the film numbers mean? British Pathe has been a working film archive for over 100 years. During that period a number of very significant numbering systems were used to specify the provenance of images. These will help you understand the date, style and technical nature of film clips: "ON" numbers refer to stories from the early part of the
1900s, before the newsreel was regularised.
What happened to your flash intro? This was retired for Version 2.0 of our web
site, but due to popular demand we've posted it here for your
continued enjoyment.
What can I do on the site without registering? We are happy that anyone in the world can research and preview "storyboards" of clips without telling us who they are. For legal reasons, however, we request that anyone who downloads a free "Preview File" or licenses a high resolution file must give us a few details about who they are, and indicate that they agree with our Terms & Conditions, which specify the limitations of use for the clips.
What does the "Lucky Dip" button do? This feature randomly selects 20 items from the archive for preview. It is designed for users who are not looking for anything specific but want to get an idea of what is in the archive.
If a clip bears the
If more than one format is available, you will be given the choice when you come to download the clip. Free Preview files are only available in Windows Media format. For more details, see What types of file are available on the site?
How long after I have ordered my files can I collect them? You will get instant access to any file that you have requested via an encrypted and unique "URL" for each item. This information will also be e-mailed to you, and the files will be available at the relevant address for seven days afterwards.
What is the difference between "Download Video" and "Add to Basket"? The "Download Video" option is useful if you are only interested in access to a single clip. By clicking this option you are taken directly to the "Shopping Basket". The "Add to Basket" option is more useful if you are interested in downloading several clips, or if you are compiling a list of clips to download over a few sessions on the site. Whenever you log on your "Shopping Basket" will be waiting for you!
Can you tell me more about the "Preview Stills" option? This is the quickest and easiest way to "preview" a clip. You are presented with a "storyboard" of "thumbnails". These were created in the encoding process every second, although
the defauilt setting on the window shows a still every 5 seconds. A full page of thumbnails therefore represents 50 seconds of material.
If I can't find what I'm looking for, is it worth ringing you to check? We think that we are the first film archive in the world to place our entire library on-line. Even out-takes and unused material have been comprehensively catalogued and encoded for on-line access. Theoretically, if you can't find what you are looking for, it does not exist in the archive. Make sure that you try different spellings and different words that describe a similar item or concept.
What am I allowed to do with my free Preview Files? They were made available on-line principally as an educational resource. We hope that they will stimulate an interest in modern history amongst younger people, and help older generations to understand the 20th century in a broader context. We encourage users to share Preview Files that they download with colleagues and friends around the world via e-mail. We would ask that this is not achieved by publishing Preview Files on-line. The only instance where we feel this might be appropriate is within a closed user group in an educational environment. Above all we would like users to enjoy discovering the past through our wonderful archive, and would hope that in return the images downloaded are not misused in any way.
Can I use this site if I am based outside the United Kingdom? Certainly. The only thing to bear in mind is that, if you need to license clips you have previewed for anything but Web Publishing or PowerPoint Presentations you need to contact an agent if you are from the following areas:
Asia: jpsales@itnsource.com
Can I publish my PowerPoint presentation on the internet? The rights you acquire when you buy a clip for a presentation restrict you to an invited audience only. All other "corporate" usages, especially exhibition and video, require a traditional licence fee. If you would like to make the presentation available to view on-line you must re-order the clips and pay for web publishing rights.
Can I license clips for Web Publishing or PowerPoint usage without a Credit Card? You cannot obtain clips from this website without a credit card but you may contact the ITN Source which manages professional licensing of British Pathe material.
How do I license British Pathe material for professional use (TV programmes, corporate video, advertising etc.) Professional licensing of British Pathe material is now managed by the ITN Source.
What types of file are available on the site? The types of video file that are available to order "on-line" are low resolution and high resolution Windows Media 8 (WMV) as well as high resolution Apple Quicktime 6 (QT6) video files. These are Microsoft's and Apple's version of MPEG-4. Also available are high-resolution JPEG stills. Low resolution WMV files were produced at a bit rate of 128 Kb/sec. A one minute clip would therefore be about 1MB in size, or about the same size as an MP3 file. It should take two minutes to download over a 56Kb/sec "dial up" modem, about 15 seconds over a broadband connection. Low Resolution files are strictly for preview only. They are protected by a visible watermark which clearly states that they are the copyright of BRITISH PATHE plc and that they are FOR PREVIEW ONLY. High Resolution WMV files were produced at a bit rate of 512 Kb/sec. A one minute clip would therefore be about 4MB in size and would take about 8 minutes to download over a 56 Kb/sec modem, or about a minute over a broadband connection. High Resolution QT6 files were produced at a bit rate of 768 Kb/sec. A one minute clip would therefore be about 6MB in size and would take about 12 minutes to download over a 56 Kb/sec modem, or about a minute over a broadband connection. High Resolution JPEG files were produced at a resolution of 1440 by 1152 pixels. High Resolution files are protected by a small www.britishpathe.com graphic in the bottom right hand corner of the image. These files were produced specifically for Web Publishing and Powerpoint Presentations only. They are only available to users who have paid a licence fee on-line.
What do I play the video files with? The video files that you can download from this site are Windows Media 8 or Apple Quicktime 6 video files. Microsoft and Apple provide a number of players for different platforms and there are third party players for Linux. All of the Microsoft players can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/ All of the Apple players can be downloaded from: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ For Linux try these players:
mplayer
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/
Can you tell me something about how the digital archive works? Every effort has been made to build an on-line archive that offers quick access and high quality to users at all times. We have made video available as free "downloads" rather than live "streams" so that files can be forwarded to other users, re-used for education as much as possible, and to ensure that the quality for the end user is guaranteed (this is not always the case with "streamed" video). All 3500 hours of data are stored at the new data centre in Milton Keynes. This should mean that, depending on your service provider, download times will correspond to the speed you are connected to the internet. Remember that if you "share" bandwidth with other people in your organisation, or even at home, other users could slow download times considerably.
The British Pathe Film Library is made up of about 3500 hours of 35mm film. To create the on-line video files all of this film material was first cleaned and reassembled for telecine to DigiBeta video tape. It was then encoded to the MPEG-2 digital broadcast standard at 5Mb/sec. These "masters" were then used to produce low resolution preview files and high resolution still and video files for licensing. This exhaustive process took about three years to complete and required a ratio of compression from 35mm film to low resolution MPEG-4 of about 100,000:1.
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