Optimized storage format for DV AVI

[evgfpeters]

I would like to store my MiniDV tapes on a hard drive, so I can edit the movie later. Of course the least lossy solution would've been to use the native DV AVI format, but it is too huge. What other format would you recommend ? I am using "Windows Movie Maker", and it offers options like "High Quality Video", "Video for Local Playback 2.1 Mbps", etc, but I am not sure which one would allow further editing with minimum loss.

Thanks for your help.

[zoobie]

Offhand, I'd suggest buying a huge hard drive and storing them as DV.

[guns1inger]

DV is the ideal format for editing. Any other format that retains the same quality will take up even more space. Any format that takes up less space will reduce the quality.

Put the tapes somewhere dark, dry and safe until you are ready to edit.

[aedipuss]

might be cheaper and easier to just leave them on tape, and buy new tapes at $2 apiece.

[thecoalman]

If you have any intentions of putting these videos on DVD use a high bitrate MPEG2. Don't use WMM. Use an editor made for editng MPEG2.

Personally I'd take the advice above and leave them as DV.

[evgfpeters]

What application should I use to store a DV AVI stream as a high bitrate MPEG2 ? I don't think that "Windows Movie Maker" has this option.

[guns1inger]

Any good quality mpeg-2 encoder - ProCoder, CCE, Mainconcept or Tmpgenc would be my recommendations. I would only use tmpgenc if you have a very fast machine or are patient as it is notoriously slow.

Only go down this route if you intend to do very simple editing - basically just cuts. Mpeg-2 does not like being compressed multiple times. Simple cuts can be done without the need to re-encode. Crossfades, overlays and other fancy effects will require re-encoding, and will often show up compression issues.

[dvd3500]

Use a high bit rate as well.

[guns1inger]

15mbps for archiving, if you must