The workstation is a 550 MHz PC with a FutureTel NS320 MPEG encoder card. Custom software, also written by Rod Hewitt, drove the Betacam SP playback deck and managed the encoding process. The files were uploaded to hard disk through the courtesy of Flycode, Inc . The files were encoded at constant bitrates ranging from 2.75 Mbps to 3.5 Mbps. The encoder drops horizontal pixels during the digitizing process, which during decoding are interpolated by the decoder to produce a 720 x 480 picture.
Picture quality is equal to or better than most direct broadcast satellite television.
Audio was encoded at MPEG-1 Level 2, generally at 112 kbps. This process is automated by the software that runs the system. Most of the movies on this site are in the public domain. Rights to some of the movies are owned by Prelinger Archives. The Moving Image Archive is open and available to everyone without charges or fees.