What format for home movie archiving?

[frodo19v]

I want to capture movies off my DV cam, do a bit of very simple editing/splicing, maybe a few effects, and store the home movies in a format that can be played, with decent rez, on a DVD player. No fancy menus or special effects.

With all the different formats out there, what is my *best bet* format (VCD, SVCD, DVD, etc) to maximize the longevity/future compatibilty of my movies. Is it reasonable to assume that my kids will be able to view these movies 20 years from now?

Thanks for any advice!

[thecalip]

i don't think any format will last you 20 years. if i am right, cdr media last you about 10 years.

i will go svcd, since it's getting more common. and near dvd quality

[sracer]

CDR/RW manufacturers claim CDR will last between 40-80 years, CDRW longer than that. Though no one really knows for sure. Check out cdmediaworld.com (or something like that) for information on which brands of CDRs are made to last.

As for the BEST format, I'd recommend a 2 tiered approach. Capture the video in a high-bitrate MPEG1/MPEG2. These files in raw, unedited format, should be burned on "data" CDs. These data cds are purely for archival storage and aren't meant for playback. From these files you would then make a "viewable" version... cutting a splicing and eventually burning to VideoCD. VCD is the best option for now since it can be played on virtually any PC and most DVD players.

When technology improves and DVD burners become affordable, you way want to go back to your archive data cds and reencode and burn to DVDs. And 5 years from now when the next consumer recordable media is available, do the same thing.

MPEG1/MPEG2 format is good enough considering that the source is a DV cam. As the years go by and video recording technology improves, you can still use this 2 tiered approach.... substituting MPEG1/2 for whatever replaces it.

[EricB]

Frodo:
I think sracer has some pretty good ideas of saving a high bit-rate mpeg1/2 as a data file. My opinion is that VCD is a fairly old, and not widely used format (in the US). SVCD is not really even a standard. DVD has wide acceptance, is growing quickly, and has the bit-rate and resolution needed to make me feel comfortable with archiving. With burner prices dropping every month, and media prices following, I think we are on the brink of really affordable DVD production. So archive as mpeg1/2 until you can afford DVD.

[drnoe]

Why not just capture from DV and then do your edits and send them right back to DV? Why go to the trouble of loosing data with an MPEG conversion? By the time you get the MPEg to a viewable version your on the 3rd generation. I keep them on tape (DV lossless) until DVD production is affordable. It's pretty affordable now with the Sony RX580DS computer ($1400).
Take care.