I'm editing some footage & am going to save the finished material to DVD. I haven't got much original material - only 3 hours worth & it's got me thinking about how to preserve the original material in case I want to re-edit or do anything with it in 10 or 20 years time.
I'm confident that my Sony Digital-8 camera will be redundant / broken by 2027, so I'm wondering what I should do to maximise my chances of having the material in a format that's likely to still be around, on media that's likely to work and in a file format that's likely to be accessible in 20 years time. The obvious thing would seem to be to save it to DVD, but I'm wondering what format I should use, eg: avi, .mpg, DVD-Video (Fast re-editable)? Given that I haven't got much material would it be sensible to save it in multiple formats?
I appreciate that it's impossible to give a definite answer - I'm just wondering what would be sensible practice to maximise the chances of being able to get to it in the future.
Thanks,
Michael
Preserving Material for Re-editing in (eg) 20 Years
Moderator: Ken Berry
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michaeld121
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:27 pm
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Trevor Andrew
Hi
Who knows what is gonna change, I personally would opt for Mini-Dv Tape.
If saving to Dvd then Avi format, but Avi is very big.
For starters:-
Have a read at this post from earlier in the week
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=19825
Dont think you will ever get a definate answer, unless you can see into the future that is.
Regards
Trevor
Who knows what is gonna change, I personally would opt for Mini-Dv Tape.
If saving to Dvd then Avi format, but Avi is very big.
For starters:-
Have a read at this post from earlier in the week
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=19825
Dont think you will ever get a definate answer, unless you can see into the future that is.
Regards
Trevor
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jchunter
I think that it is a fundamental mistake to assume that ANY storage medium will endure for 20 years or that devices to play it back will still be in working condition. The reason for this is the relentless march of technology, with new, better, faster, cheaper storage devices appearing every few years.
At the risk of giving away my age, I remember when everything was stored on paper tape, then IBM punched cards, which gave way to reel-to-reel tape, then hard disks, cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, and soon we will have affordable high density DVDs.
The only constant in our future is change.
If you accept this premise, then the only successful archiving strategy is to copy the archive onto the medium du jour. Every decade or so, while your old devices still work, copy the archive into whatever new storage devices are current.
Moreover, no storage medium is perfect, so make two copies because the odds of both failing simultaneously is very low.
Right now, I archive all my project assets, including capure files, audio files, still photos, etc. on dual external hard drives because they very fast, easy to write from a PC, easy to manage the data, and huge, which is what we need for video storage.
At the risk of giving away my age, I remember when everything was stored on paper tape, then IBM punched cards, which gave way to reel-to-reel tape, then hard disks, cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, and soon we will have affordable high density DVDs.
The only constant in our future is change.
If you accept this premise, then the only successful archiving strategy is to copy the archive onto the medium du jour. Every decade or so, while your old devices still work, copy the archive into whatever new storage devices are current.
Moreover, no storage medium is perfect, so make two copies because the odds of both failing simultaneously is very low.
Right now, I archive all my project assets, including capure files, audio files, still photos, etc. on dual external hard drives because they very fast, easy to write from a PC, easy to manage the data, and huge, which is what we need for video storage.
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michaeld121
- Posts: 27
- Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 7:27 pm
Thanks for the link to the previous topic - it helps me to be more specific with my question (I had done a search, but missed that one).
At this stage I'm not about to buy another storage format (eg MiniDV or DVD tape). Given the capacity of a DVD storing the original .avi's is probably not going to be viable. So - assuming that I'm going to be using DVD's what's likely to be the most prudent format(s) to store this original material in on DVD?
From my (limited) knowledge of archiving - it generally increases your chances if you've got a choice of more than 1 format; what I don't know is what other formats could be a sensible bet for storing the material in. I was wondering if something like mpeg, another mpeg format (eg mpeg4), wmv or something else (FWIW I live in a PAL country) might make sense?
Regards,
Michael
At this stage I'm not about to buy another storage format (eg MiniDV or DVD tape). Given the capacity of a DVD storing the original .avi's is probably not going to be viable. So - assuming that I'm going to be using DVD's what's likely to be the most prudent format(s) to store this original material in on DVD?
From my (limited) knowledge of archiving - it generally increases your chances if you've got a choice of more than 1 format; what I don't know is what other formats could be a sensible bet for storing the material in. I was wondering if something like mpeg, another mpeg format (eg mpeg4), wmv or something else (FWIW I live in a PAL country) might make sense?
Regards,
Michael
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Trevor Andrew
Hi Michael
It¡¦s a difficult one, I think John got it right with his reply.
Its really a personal preference, backed up with a little knowledge.
Nobody knows what the future will bring.
Personally I would save the video to Dv-Avi, after all I would capture in this format anyway.
First option:-
Save the Avi back to Mini Dv-Tape.
Second:-
Save Avi to Dvd, As a data disc, this would be at 13 Gb per hour, so I would need 3/4 discs per hour
But at 30 pence a disc, I¡¦m not rich but can afford that.
Third
Save the edited video/project (top quality) Mpeg2 files.
Saving the files as a data disc rather than a Dvd, one hour would fit to one dvd.
Any other format Mp4-Wmv etc ¡V not an option.
Fourth
Burn a normal playable dvd.
Cos that¡¦s what I am going to watch.
Then I would probably lose the discs in the loft amongst the rest of the ****** archived material
Trevor
It¡¦s a difficult one, I think John got it right with his reply.
Its really a personal preference, backed up with a little knowledge.
Nobody knows what the future will bring.
Personally I would save the video to Dv-Avi, after all I would capture in this format anyway.
First option:-
Save the Avi back to Mini Dv-Tape.
Second:-
Save Avi to Dvd, As a data disc, this would be at 13 Gb per hour, so I would need 3/4 discs per hour
But at 30 pence a disc, I¡¦m not rich but can afford that.
Third
Save the edited video/project (top quality) Mpeg2 files.
Saving the files as a data disc rather than a Dvd, one hour would fit to one dvd.
Any other format Mp4-Wmv etc ¡V not an option.
Fourth
Burn a normal playable dvd.
Cos that¡¦s what I am going to watch.
Then I would probably lose the discs in the loft amongst the rest of the ****** archived material
Trevor