Should I archive my DV tapes?

[mikem]

I just recently purchased a Canon DV Camcorder and Sony DVD Burner. I've used both sucessfully over the past few months. I use Pinnacle Studio 9 and can capture the video in its original DV form (AVI) or MPEG2. I was planning to capture using MPEG2 and backing that up to a data DVD. My question is, once I have made my DVD movie and backed up the original MPEG2 video file, is there a need to keep the original DV tape/footage? MPEG2 is DVD quality, correct? Can the naked eye really tell the difference between DV and MPEG2? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

MikeM

[vandakeg]

Mpeg2 is a final output format. Meaning it's meant to look good, but it's very bad for editing. There are some programs that will edit Mpeg2 files, but it will only be rough editing like cuts, and transitions.

DV AVI on the other hand is a wonderful format for editing, but not so great for final output (b/c of the size).

Actually, the cheapest and best way to archive your video is on.... DV Tape! Unless you don't care about editing, then storing them as Mpeg2 is not a horrible idea.

HTH

[redwudz]

I would go with vandakeg on this. Do the best you can to convert to a compact format such as MPEG-2. If you really want the best backup, the original DV tapes are going to be the highest quality and most efficient format.

On the other hand, DV tapes aren't too expensive. If you store them properly, they should last many years.

[thecoalman]

Me personally I split my captured AVI video into 4.2gb file sizes and burn as data DVD for archiving, a little less than 20 minute per DVD.

[mikesbytes]

Its not so important whether the archive is on Tape or Disk, what is important is that you keep it in the origional DV format.

[mikem]

Hey all -

Thanks for your responses. A few more questions though.

I've been using Pinnacle Studio 9, and it seems that editing MPEG2 is just as easy as editing DV. I am mainly cropping and splitting scenes, changing color every now and then and adding music, titles, and transitions. When I output the final results to DVD, they look the same to me. Considering this, I'm having a hard time convincing myself to keep the original DV tape. What do you think?

Also, I plan to convert some old VHS tapes to DV and then to DVD. Do you think keeping the MPEG2 is sufficient in this case, or would you also recommend archiving to DV?

Thanks,

MikeM

[Quantum]

It depends on the value of the footage. For example: I am working with some family footage that just can't be replaced like an extended family party for a 90th birthday celebration. I transfer the DV tape to PC via firewire using WinDV making sure I don't have any dropped frames. Then I edit that raw .AVI with Adobe Premiere Elements and save the edited file as DV again. I then use TMPGEnc multipass at high bit rates to create the MPEG2 video and AC3 audio files for DVD. After burning the DVD I archive the edited DV .AVI file outputted from Adobe using WinRAR and split it across multiple DVD's. I also create parity files (FSRAID) to fill up the remaining space on the last DVD.

Now I can pass the DVD's around to family and friends and keep the original tape and edited .AVI DV on the multiple data DVD's safe in storage in case something happens to the video DVD's or I want to re-edit the footage or incorporate it into another family video.

For other stuff that I don't care about as much I will just transfer it to the PC, edit it, and create the DVD. Then reuse the tape.

[mikesbytes]

Where DV will give you the advantage over MPEG2 is when enhancing the video, such as removing noise or camera shake. In these circumstances, the video will be re-encoded and finalised formats such as MPEG2 will show more deteriation than DV, which will show almost no deteration.

[Tommyknocker]

I still kick my self when I erased some raw footage. I will never do that again, no matter how good my final cut looks. Something happened to my final product (had something to with labels), and now I have nothing. My advice: Always keep raw footage.