INA Grand Écran : INA Saphir, lecture optique des disques 78 tours

INA-Saphir, a process invented 20 years ago at the INA (National Audiovisual Institute) to preserve radio recordings from the 1930s-1960s. Jean-Hugues Chenot, R&D project manager since its inception, and Vincent Fromont, head of the Radio Restoration & Mastering department, present this remarkable technological adventure dedicated to preserving sound heritage, a project they have been working on together for two decades! Conceived in 2002 by the Research department, INA-Saphir is an optical reading process for analog audio records, patented in 2004. INA-Saphir allows records to be read optically, without a stylus or any contact. You might be wondering: what does this have to do with the INA? Just as film was used as a recording medium in the early days of television, the 78 rpm record was used by radio stations from 1930 to 1960. Our radio collection therefore comprises nearly 300,000 recorded audio discs, of which approximately 20,000 have suffered damage due to age and handling. For 20 years, INA-Saphir has enabled sound restorers to read and preserve damaged documents of inestimable historical value, so they can be digitized and made available for public viewing.