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  1. Member
    Join Date
    May 2002
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    Pinson, Alabama
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    Does anybody have an idea of the expected shelf life of a home burned DVD?

    How does it compare to video tape?

    How does it compare to commercially made DVDs?

    With analog video tape the quality goes away - with digital (either it's there or it aint), it seems possible to one day load up a DVD to play, and it just not work at all.

    What would be the best long term video storage solution?
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  2. Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    United States
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    The dvd demystified faq says:

    Pressed discs (the kind that movies come on) last longer than you will, anywhere from 50 to 300 years.

    DVD-R and DVD+R discs are expected to last anywhere from 40 to 250 years, about as long as CD-R discs.

    The erasable formats (DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW) are expected to last from 25 to 100 years.

    I think VHS can last from 10 to 20 years without any real degradation. (It depends on where you store them.)

    Dvd-R is the way to go.
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  3. Member
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Pinson, Alabama
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    Thanks for the response... I actually did find this info after I started the thread, and I was coming back to post the answer to my own question...

    Thanks again
    Jeff
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  4. The thing with CD-R/CD-RW or DVD-R/DVD+R/ect is that once it is authored to digital media; you can easily dup or copy to new media (whether it be a newer disc if you are concerned that the media may fail or to a future format) without any generation loss... unlike analog media such as videotape. You can also keep multiple copies of non-replaceable data (like your family's home videos of the kids) as backups or send copies to other family members.

    Digital media is definately the way to go for archiving.

    Brian
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  5. DIGITAL RULZ! YEEEAAAAH !!!! 8) :P
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