How do I choose archive format for home video?

[helloguys]

I know it's been an old topic. I also did some research with Google but was not able to find the answer.

I have a HD camcorder (Canon HF R52) which I use to take home videos (birthday parties, kids soccer games, etc.). In the past, I use VideoStudio to burn DVD discs. The video quality is less than "High Definition" but acceptable for me. What I like most is the (motion) chapter menus, which allow us to choose which particular scene to watch.

The only problem is - I can't fit much video into a DVD disc (even a Double-Layer disc). Now I'm ending up with more and more discs.

What I'm thinking is to start using the Blu-Ray disc (BD). 25GB BD disc is as cheap as $0.30 a piece now. But my goal is not High-Definition, nor the "cool features" of Blu-Ray. I just need the extra capacity of BD. If there's a DVD disc that supports 25GB, I'm happy with it. Obviously I can't store DVD videos on a BD disc. If I store Blu-Ray videos it defeats the purpose of "storing more video in a single disc".

I thought about using HDD (Hard Drive) as storage media. But not sure how I can mimic the DVD chapter menu function with HDD.

By the way, I'm using a media PC instead of a dedicated DVD/BD player. What is the best way to store large amount of video with menu function? Video quality is NOT a major concern. But if a codec can preserve high quality video with smaller size (such as H.265), I won't reject it.

Thank you!

[asik1]

I never hold or used BD, but can't you use its media just for data, and burn files to it?

[helloguys]

I never hold or used BD, but can't you use its media just for data, and burn files to it?

Yes I could. But how do I get the chapter (thumbnail) menu displayed in that way? Thanks!

[canuck]

A google search seems to say that you cannot burn a standard DVD project to a BluRay disc and play it in a BluRay player.

[helloguys]

A google search seems to say that you cannot burn a standard DVD project to a BluRay disc and play it in a BluRay player.

What if I'm using a computer (media PC)? Is there any container (e.g. MKV) that supports thumbnail chapter menus?

Thanks!

[Ken Berry]

If there are, (and I suspect there are not), then VS would not be able to make them. VS is designed to make menus for DVDs, AVCHD discs, Blu-Ray discs and (notionally) SD cards, but each according to the relevant international standard. So burning a DVD structure to a BD disc would result at most (as asik suggested above) in data files being recorded to the disc. Menu files would similarly be only data files and thus the links between the menu and the subsequent videos would simply not be there. Blu-Ray players would not have a relevant structure on the disc which they could recognise; and while most would recognise the individual video files and allow them to be played, they would play as individual, separate files rather than an interlinked whole.

[helloguys]

Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compariso ... er_formats, quite a few container format support menus, such as MKV, DivX, etc.