After all this time, Umatics are still the preferred system for delivering
post-produced ads to TV stations. Until recently I worked at the
advertising agency:
Ogilvy & Mather – the company still has a huge historical library of Umatic tapes.
You would think that after all this time, companies would switch to digital formats – after all, DVD and even MPEG CD-ROM are capable of similar video quality. I am told that the reason that this format is still strong is because Tape Operations departments (the part of the TV station that does the playing-out), are a conservative bunch and would much rather stick with this proven technology than experiment with new fangled digital things.