Method and device for continuous digitizing and archiving of photographic films

A method and device for continuous digitizing and archiving of films (1) in full width, including image frames (2), perforations (3), sound tracks (5, 6) and inter-frame areas (7), is disclosed. A digital image data stream (22; 22a, 22b, 22c) generated from scanning the film (1) is split into several data substreams (24; 24a, 24b, 24c), each substream (24; 24a, 24b) is switched to at least one of a plurality of computers (28) for caching the substreams (24; 24a, 24b) in parallel, and the cached substreams (24; 24c) are written by the computers (28) in parallel to a plurality of mass storage media (30a). Preferred embodiments refer to: An optimal time management of the parallel computers (28, 25); adding an on-the-fly correction stage (26) and/or processing stage (29); using a tape robot (31) for exchanging written tapes (30a) as needed; parallelizing standard personal computers (25, 28) in a digital network (23, 27) to get high data throughput at reduced cost; implementing a trigger sensor (13) and/or a lateral film strip misalignment sensor (14) based on optical cross-correlation in film strip optical content (2, 5, 6, 7); and providing means for rendering the device independent of film strip and perforation formats.