Best archival format for DV

[qtrim]

So, before I mothball my old Sony Digital8 DV camcorder, I want to capture all the raw footage one last time to archive. I'm looking for opinions on the best format. I won't be doing any adjustment or cutting, just converting the raw DV files @ about 13gigs per hour, to something that is playable on a Bluray player.

The two options I that come to mind are:
1. Convert to DVD Mpeg2, at max audio and video bitrate.
2. Convert to AVCHD, but select the 720x480 video size from the drop down. The questions then is, what AVCHD bitrate, that will give the best quality without being overkill.

Is there a better option I'm overlooking? I just want the best quality, and still be able to fit one hour on a 4.7gb disc.

Thanks in advance for the help

[2Dogs]

First of all, I would suggest you make sure to store the Digital8 tapes somewhere safe, cool, and dry. Then they can function as your primary archive.

Any format conversion, whether to mpeg2, H264 or whatever will cause some loss of picture quality.

One scheme you might consider would be to capture the footage and write it to a large hard drive in DV avi format - in which case there would be no picture quality loss. At 13Gb per hour, a 1TB drive will hold about 75 hours of footage, which is quite a lot. These days, you can even buy a 1.5TB or even 2TB drive.

Once the video is on the hard drive, you could use it to make up discs or files in other formats to suit. The DV avi format remains one of the simplest formats to edit.

[skier-hughes]

I'd archive to dv.avi and to a large hard drive. I just had an email for a 1.5TB drive for just £75 here in the UK.

[Shim]

I still have some early experimentals (short clips) with uncompressed avi`s that weigh in at 1.189GB per minute for SD 4:3.

Although I believe (have read), ¡§generally the graphic data rate of the digital video standard is 167 megabits per second¡¨

Some time yet before the term compression becomes a thing of the past.



Addition: An online reference to the data sheets (Sony 1996);
Mpeg2 video compression - http://www.dtvgroup.com/DigVideo/DVD/So ... eat.html#h

[Black Lab]

For more info see Video Media Archiving.

Doing a Videomaker.com search for "archiving" will return many more articles for your reading pleasure.

[Trevor Andrew]

So, before I mothball my old Sony Digital8 DV camcorder, I want to capture all the raw footage one last time to archive. I'm looking for opinions on the best format. I won't be doing any adjustment or cutting, just converting the raw DV files @ about 13gigs per hour, to something that is playable on a Bluray player.

The two options I that come to mind are:
1. Convert to DVD Mpeg2, at max audio and video bitrate.
2. Convert to AVCHD, but select the 720x480 video size from the drop down. The questions then is, what AVCHD bitrate, that will give the best quality without being overkill.

Is there a better option I'm overlooking? I just want the best quality, and still be able to fit one hour on a 4.7gb disc.
Thanks in advance for the help

Option 1 / Standard DVD Mpeg 2 will give you the highest quality that will fit one hour onto a DVD.

Option 2 / converting to AVCHD, ( you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear)
although your sows ear is very good quality. i cannot see any advantage in converting to AVCHD.
I doubt if you will fit one hour to a disc.

Option 3 Try both options one and two, which works for you?

[sjj1805]

Any conversion will involve deterioration no matter how slight.
In today's technological age we probably will not any difference converting to most of the major formats available, but in 10 / 20 years time even HD / BlueRay will be an old format and the youngsters will say
"Tut tut your not still using 1920¡Ñ1080 pixel resolution at up to 60 frames per second are you? (hee hee hee)"

So the answer is to keep it in its original format.
1TB drives are extremely cheap now. In addition to the one mentioned above by skier-hughes you can get a 1TB USB external drive from Asda Supermarket for ¢G74, there is a cheaper one at PC World for ¢G60.

[skier-hughes]

Missed that bit about 1 hr on a 4.7gb disc.
I assume you would like to make dvds of these videos at some point.
Always keep your footage at it's original quality, so, dv.avi on hard drive, then make your dvd when youa re ready and convert to mpeg2 then.
As Steve says in a few years you may not want to make a dvd, you might want to do blu ray, or some other form and you want the best quailty file you cna tostart the process.
If you are thinking of archiving to dvd, don't bother.

[Black Lab]

And don't forget to back up. A TB of video files will do you no good if the HD fails. Your money might be better spent on 2 smaller HDs so you can back up one to the other.

[qtrim]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I'll go with two HD's and leave them in their original form.

[Black Lab]

You may also want to read this brand new Videomaker magazine article regarding Media Storage.

[sjj1805]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I'll go with two HD's and leave them in their original form.

Be sure to keep ONE of them at a friends/relatives house just in case you experience one or more of the following
Earthquake
Tsunami
Fire
Meteor Attack
Theft
Bolt of Lightning
etc.

[metmot]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I'll go with two HD's and leave them in their original form.

If you have the original tapes it may border on paranoia to use two hard drives? Besides the next time you look at them may be when you have to recapture them after the hard drive fails. This may not be such a bad thing.

[sjj1805]

If you have the original tapes it may border on paranoia to use two hard drives? ...

Not really, I still have the original Super 8 Tapes from my younger days when I used a Cine Camera. Needless to say it is not practical now to try and get hold of a cine projector / screen to watch them on!

At least on a hard drive they are in a digital format likely to last many years to come. Even then it will be important to keep a watchful eye on how computer technology develops in the future as I am sure anyone who kept their important records/photographs/music etc one one of these has discovered:

[Black Lab]

If you have the original tapes it may border on paranoia to use two hard drives? Besides the next time you look at them may be when you have to recapture them after the hard drive fails.

If you have copies on 2 HDs then you don't have to recapture. If the one drive fails you copy the files from the other onto a new HD.