Storing DVD and MiniDV on PC

[sirryan]

I've been reading this site for about a week now and want to verify some information and ask a few questions.

First off, I have two media:

1) DVDs (old VHS tapes were converted to DVD on a set top recorder and the VHS tapes thrown away - only left with the DVDs now)
2) MiniDV tapes

I would like to store the DVD clips on my computer in the highest possible quality (lossless would be ideal). Space is not an issue (hundreds of gigs available), but if there is just a small loss of quality in exchange for a lot smaller file size, it would probably be worth it. What is the best way to rip these clips and what format should I keep them in? What programs do I need to use? I don't like the idea of archiving on DVD and would much rather archive on PC.

Also, I would like to back up my MiniDV tapes to my PC with lossless transfer. Am I right in using WinDV to just transfer the video? As far as I read, this is the same quality bit for bit.

I have Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 if that would help in any way. Thanks so much!

Ryan

[Jim44]

For the DVDs, since it sounds like there's no copy protection on them, you should be able to just do a basic copy-n-paste from the DVDs, thus keeping them in their original MPG-2 format.

MiniDV with consume about 13Gb/hour of video. That can add up fast. I typically keep then in that format so that I can still go back later and edit, pull out clips. etc. I'll either re-transfer back to tape for storage, or copy the AVIs to DVD, while still keeping them on the external drives for easy access. Someone else should be able to provide a good, compressed, storage format. I use Xvid, MPG-1 and MPG-2 primarily when I creating something I'm sharing with friends/family, not for storage purposes per se.

Hope that helps,
Jim

[JohnnyMalaria]

Also, I would like to back up my MiniDV tapes to my PC with lossless transfer. Am I right in using WinDV to just transfer the video? As far as I read, this is the same quality bit for bit.

Yes, that's fine.

Personally, I transfer the DV to the PC for editing and keep the original tapes. Once all the editing is done and I'm sure I won't need to re-edit, I delete the original files. Having said that, a 1TB hard drive can store over 70 MiniDV tapes - more than I have in my library.

[sirryan]

Thanks for the quick replies.

That sounds great for the DVDs (copy and paste to my hard drive)... this would keep them in the .vob extension, correct? (If I understand this correctly, it's an MPG-2 format, but with a .vob extension.) Is there any way to change this to a format that will be more friendly with other programs (mainly to upload to YouTube or put on my PMP)? I have Videora... would that do the trick?

Also, as I understand it, it's fine to use WinDV to transfer the tapes to PC, but it uses lots of storage space. I mostly just do some quick editing and authoring in Premiere and burn the DVD straight from Premiere (or export it as an mp4 if I don't want a DVD) if I want to share the video. Is this a good procedure (i.e., exporting as mp4 to upload to YouTube, etc.)?

Also, if anyone has suggestions on good codecs for storing my large DV files (just in case it gets to the point where I'd have to reduce the size of them and decide not to transfer back to MiniDV tapes), please let me know.

[Jim44]

Also, if anyone has suggestions on good codecs for storing my large DV files (just in case it gets to the point where I'd have to reduce the size of them and decide not to transfer back to MiniDV tapes), please let me know.

I seem to think that that's been discussed here, might want to give "Search" a try and see what you come up with.