Best format for live recording and crashes/power surges?

[zopiro]

Some time ago we had this problem with live recording on a Tricaster where the unit powered off due to a power surge and we lost the MP4 file it was recording.

It was an 8-hour-long video, and we were at about 10 minutes until the end of the event, so you can imagine the amount of facepalm.

Since then, we've been restarting recording every 30 minutes when there's a gap in events, to avoid losing such a big file.

However, I think there's probably a better way to avoid this. Suppose we record on either QT 422, AVI 422 or MPEG-2 422, will the file be safer from crashes?

[smrpix]

I would get a UPS with backup battery powerful enough to handle your system.

You don't need one that lasts 8 hours -- just long enough to do an orderly shutdown.

[zopiro]

That would help with the power surges, but not with the eventual system crash/reboot...

What I mean is: is it easier for MP4/h264 files to be corrupted on crashes than MPEG2/QT422/AVI422?

[smrpix]

That would help with the power surges, but not with the eventual system crash/reboot...

Um... that's exactly what it's designed to handle.

What I mean is: is it easier for MP4/h264 files to be corrupted on crashes than MPEG2/QT422/AVI422?

I-frame only codecs might be easier to recover, and can come in any of those containers you've listed -- but they can all also contain long-gop and be just as difficult.

[zopiro]

Why are long-GOP codecs so hard to recover? The data is all there, I don't see how an abrupt stop in recording would damage the entire content...

[smrpix]

Long-GOP data has many more dependencies than I-frame. Not just the data but metadata such as headers and time stamps. More dependencies means more things that have have to be complete and in the right place in order to work.

All video data is difficult to recover. Long-GOP only more so.

[pandy]

MPEG Transport Stream - it is designed in such way that there is no dependencies within file - but instead asking which container is better you should ask about filesystem able to cope with sudden crash - this is your main concern.

[zopiro]

It's a Tricaster, so I guess I'm only allowed to record to NTFS...

[pandy]

It's a Tricaster, so I guess I'm only allowed to record to NTFS...

Once again - video container selection is less important than filesystem selection - not many filesystems is able to cope with system crash - perhaps you need to switch for external (NAS?) storage (so for example FC card and corresponding fileserver) - then you should be able to separate storage from system crashes...

[smrpix]

perhaps you need to switch for external (NAS?) storage (so for example FC card and corresponding fileserver) - then you should be able to separate storage from system crashes...

Be sure your NAS has a UPS with a backup battery to allow for orderly shutdown in case of power failure.