Let’s get this out of the way: Several CMSI team members are old enough to have actually used tape in live media production. No, not Scotch tape. Not duct tape. Or, at least… Not a lot of duct tape.
“Tapeless Workflow” means that audio and video from an event are recorded, stored, and transferred as digital files instead of physical tape. The scholars among us will assume that the question “what’s a tapeless workflow” implies the precursor of a tape-based workflow. And they’d be right!
“What’s a tapeless workflow” can be more easily answered by tackling these questions at the same time: Why don’t we use tape anymore, what does a Japanese earthquake have to do with it, and why does that all matter?
Early Hard-Drive Adoption (2005–2012)
The first version of a tapeless workflow began taking shape in the mid-2000s, when disk-based recording systems started showing up on production trucks. One of the earliest was the EVS XT, which originally recorded video to hard drives instead of tape. Early XT units didn’t even capture audio at first, but they represented a major shift: for the first time, crews could record live content directly to disk and access it instantly.
As these systems became more capable, EVS introduced XFile, a tool designed specifically to move media between XT servers in different trucks, studios, or locations. That meant footage no longer had to be physically delivered or re-recorded in real time, it could be transferred digitally.
Even with these advancements, adoption was slow. Tape workflows were deeply ingrained, and early hard-drive and computer technology simply wasn’t fast enough to inspire immediate confidence. In the early 2000s, moving large video files onto a hard drive could take a significant amount of time, especially compared to the predictability of recording to tape. Storage was limited, transfer speeds were slow, and system reliability varied widely from setup to setup.
As a result, production teams continued shipping racks of cassettes from show to show because the process was familiar, dependable, and built into every part of the production chain. For years, the industry operated in a hybrid state: part tape, part digital, waiting for computing power, storage performance, and network speeds to catch up and make a fully tapeless workflow practical at scale.
The 2011 Tape Shortage That Forced the Industry Forward
In March of 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, causing widespread devastation, loss of life, and long-lasting emotional and economic impact. Entire communities were affected, and the scale of destruction reached far beyond any single industry. Among the many consequences was the disruption of Sony’s professional tape manufacturing operations and supply chain.
At the time, Sony was the world’s primary supplier of broadcast tape. As production and distribution slowed, tape quickly became scarce. Prices spiked. Production teams scrambled. What had already been an inefficient hybrid workflow was suddenly unsustainable, forcing broadcasters to confront a reality they could no longer postpone: the industry needed a viable path forward without physical media. Many broadcasters began shifting their archives and media management onto inexpensive, portable computer drives because they were available, scalable, and no longer optional. Digital files replaced tape more rapidly than they ever had, despite being available for over a decade at that point, and have remained the industry standard ever since.
From Hard Drives to NAS Systems and the Cloud
After the industry’s huge anti-tape shift, storing footage on larger, centralized servers became the norm. Broadcasters began investing in NAS systems (Network Attached Storage) so teams could keep their archives onsite, organized, and accessible. Instead of shipping cases of tapes, crews could drag and drop files between systems.
As this transition accelerated, CMSI partnered with multiple high-performance storage vendors to help broadcasters design, deploy, and support these server-based environments, ensuring the infrastructure could keep up with the demands of live production, postproduction, and long-term archiving.
That evolution naturally led to file transfer and cloud storage, where content isn’t just easier to save; It’s easier to share, collaborate on, and repurpose. This is the infrastructure modern live production runs on today:
- Digital files instead of cassettes
- Centralized storage instead of racks of tape
- Cloud-based access instead of physical shipping
- Remote operators editing and clipping content in real time
It’s the foundation for REMI production, remote editing, automated clipping, and modern highlight workflows. It’s what enables CMSI Playbook to stand out as a unique, singular platform that unifies tools and workflows no one else has brought together.
What are Tapeless Workflows Today
A tapeless workflow is more than “no more tapes.” It’s a complete digital ecosystem where capture, archive, edit, and delivery all happen in file-based environments.
It took early digital tools, a global tape shortage, and years of infrastructure development to make it reality. Not to mention the grueling emotional labor of having to give up the tapes, but those types of personal struggles are often lost to the history books, anyway.
