Long Term Storage - Suggested file formats etc?

[captainturntable]

Hi There,

I have recently put together a video of an overseas trip in Premiere Pro but when I save it out at it's highest quality the avi file is just under 7GB. I want to preserve this file in the highest quality format possible but don't want it taking up so much hard drive space. What is the best format, bit rate etc etc that I should convert this file to, so I can keep it in a very high quality without the storage space issue.

I own the programs Magic Video Convertor, Cucusoft Video Convertor and Any Video Convertor as well but if you know of a program that I should use instead for this job please let me know.

Below is the exact details of the current file:

General
Complete name : D:\SA.avi
Format : AVI
Info : Audio Video Interleave
Family : RIFF
File size : 6.71 GiB
PlayTime : 31mn 39s
Bit rate : 30340 Kbps

Video
Codec : Sony DV
Family : DV
Info : Sony Digital Video (DV) 525 lines at 29.97 Hz or 625 lines at 25.00 Hz
PlayTime : 31mn 39s
Bit rate : 28791 Kbps
Width : 720
Height : 576
Aspect ratio : 4/3
Frame rate : 25 fps
Standard : PAL
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 2.777

Audio
Codec : PCM
Family : PCM
Info : Microsoft PCM
PlayTime : 31mn 39s
Bit rate : 1536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48 KHz
Resolution : 16

Thanks in advance

[guns1inger]

Burn it, as data, to a Verbatim +R DL DVD blank. Then burn a second as a backup. As the output is DV avi, send a copy back to a mini-DV tape in your camera, and put it in a cool, dry place with the dvds. You now have your backup pretty well covered, without having to compromise the quality.

[captainturntable]

That's the most logical solution but I don't have a camera to export it too. What I really want is a solution of a format to keep it in on my hard drive. But a 30 minute video at 7GB is just crazy...

Any thoughts?

[edDV]

Not Crazy at all. Why degrade the archive file after all that work? Split it to two single layer DVDR at least. If you just want a smaller file to play on the computer (not as an archive) use MPeg2 6-8Mb/s, WMV or Divx at ~3Mb/s.

[captainturntable]

Ok, will do but cdan anyone point me to a high quality format, bit rate etc to convert it to that doesn't take up loads of room (around the 1GB mark)?

[AlanHK]

That's the most logical solution but I don't have a camera to export it too. What I really want is a solution of a format to keep it in on my hard drive. But a 30 minute video at 7GB is just crazy...

Any thoughts?

Use a lossless compression, such as Lagarith or HuffYUV.
Should save 50% or more space, enough to fit on a standard DVD at least.
Also, you have PCM sound. You could use a lossless compression for that too, but I would feel no qualms in very slightly lossy 384 kb MP3 or AC3.

[captainturntable]

Here's the part I don't understand... standard movies you buy have incredible quality and fit on a DVD. I have only 1/2 an hour of footage so surely there's a way I can compress it still keeping it in a high quality format?

[gadgetguy]

The DVDs that you buy are not in archive format. They are highly compressed from a much higher quality source than your video. You too can compress to DVD standard mpg2 while maintaining nearly the same visual quality, but it won't be the same quality as your master, nor as visually appealing as a commercial video produced from film or professional grade digital.

You asked about archiving and there is no substitute for the original format. If you just want a playable copy kept on your hard drive, use something like Xvid or Divx or other high compression codec, but keep your originals archived as suggested by others above.

[jman98]

That's the most logical solution but I don't have a camera to export it too. What I really want is a solution of a format to keep it in on my hard drive. But a 30 minute video at 7GB is just crazy...

Any thoughts?

Hard disk drives are really cheap. The suggestion to keep it in this format is not crazy, but since you seem unwilling to accept this and are demanding another answer, I suggest you look into encoding with H.264. You could probably use a bit rate of 4000 Kbps on the video and retain excellent quality and end up with a quite reasonable file size. I leave it up to you to do the research on getting an H.264 encoder (you might also look into X.264 which is free and compatible with H.264) and how to use it.

[Soopafresh]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144465