TMR takes Dalai Lama digital

TMR Digital, part of the VTR Media Services Group, has embarked on a two-year project that will see it digitise and build a vast video archive of original Tibetan culture, including teachings of the Dalai Lama.
TMR was commissioned by The Meridian Trust, a charity dedicated to preserving endangered original Tibetan and Buddhist culture through film and video. Since 1985 the trust has recorded around 2,500 hours of footage, consisting of unique teachings of the Dalai Lama, oral commentaries on important Buddhist philosophical texts, Tibetan medicine, folk traditions, arts and crafts, itinerant storytelling and film of daily life in Tibetan refugee communities in India.
As part of a project to make Tibetan and Buddhist culture more accessible via a multi-media website, TMR has already digitised the Dalai Lama’s teachings and a team led by project manager Vanessa Arden-Wood is now working on digitising remaining parts of The Meridian Trust’s video archive.
In addition to this, TMR is creating preview clips that will enable visitors to the Trust’s new website to browse the archive when searching for footage or placing an order.
All the encoding for the project was done using TMR’s Digital Rapids encoding box.
“The main challenge of a project of this nature is putting together a site which has the ability to grow as more funds become available,” said Neil Lane, Managing Director of TMR. “The aim is to eventually expand the site to become a full multi-media information resource for all aspects of Tibetan culture and the Dalai Lama's teachings. This includes still images, resource videos, audio and scriptures.”
The Meridian Trust’s director, Dolma Beresford, added: “The Meridian Trust is delighted and highly impressed with the work TMR has done on our archive. We knew we had a huge challenge on our hands when our founding patron, The Dalai Lama, entrusted us with the task of helping to preserve Tibet's magnificent original culture through film and video. Thanks to the technical skills and generosity of TMR we have taken a massive step towards meeting this challenge. Soon, people all over the world will have access to this wonderful material as never before.”
(GB)