Video format for archaving

[tarsierspectral]

Hi,

I have HD files recorded from various events, which our library wants to store in their archives. The files are huge (60-90GB) they asked me to compress them to about 4GB. I am ready to export and compress out of Final Cut but I am not sure what format I should export them as. What do you guys think would be the most cross-platform compatible format that would be suitable for archival purposes? They do not want the original files as they are way too big.

Thanks

[hech54]

Hi,

I have HD files recorded from various events, which our library wants to store in their archives. The files are huge (60-90GB) they asked me to compress them to about 4GB. I am ready to export and compress out of Final Cut but I am not sure what format I should export them as. What do you guys think would be the most cross-platform compatible format that would be suitable for archival purposes? They do not want the original files as they are way too big.

Thanks

First off...."they" are idiots. "They" should simply buy a big hard drive because NOTHING will be as good as the original.....the original is the archive. Once you convert/compress them....these aren't ZIP files...the original quality is gone forever.
However.....H264 seems to give you the best bang for your buck these days.

[tarsierspectral]

Hi,

I have HD files recorded from various events, which our library wants to store in their archives. The files are huge (60-90GB) they asked me to compress them to about 4GB. I am ready to export and compress out of Final Cut but I am not sure what format I should export them as. What do you guys think would be the most cross-platform compatible format that would be suitable for archival purposes? They do not want the original files as they are way too big.

Thanks

First off...."they" are idiots. "They" should simply buy a big hard drive because NOTHING will be as good as the original.....the original is the archive. Once you convert/compress them....these aren't ZIP files...the original quality is gone forever.
However.....H264 seems to give you the best bang for your buck these days.

thanks. Should I save it as mov file mp4 or something else?

[hech54]

MOV is bad news.

[tarsierspectral]

MOV is bad news.

what would you suggest?

[budwzr]

Yeah, AVC/AAC in an MP4 is pretty much universal nowadays.

[tarsierspectral]

Yeah, AVC/AAC in an MP4 is pretty much universal nowadays.

Thank you

[PuzZLeR]

Does Final Cut do blu-ray compatible exports? If so, you then have options - play the same output on regular standard blu-ray discs that can also be transfered to a PC/media box in MP4 if you wish.

Blu-ray does indeed use the efficient H.264 as one of its three formats if you encode with a compliant profile (resolution, fps, etc) that editors should provide.

Do note, as for audio, AAC is one of the best compression formats but is not accepted by blu-ray. But you can still use AC3 instead, which is also an accepted standard and will work fine in both blu-ray and MP4 today. The extra file size AC3 would need compared to AAC is only going to make a tiny percentage difference in aggregate file size with HD video.