Video Media and Encoding format for longevity.

[skywalker]

Hi ya'll.
I'm new to this site and have been looking for an answer to two questions. I hope someone here can help me.
I have converted some home movies and have several current home videos as avi. I wish to burn them to CD and have them LAST.

I have already experienced CDs going bad after a year. If I hadn't made three copies of them I would have lost a lot of very precious memories.

1. What is the best way or product(s) to use to ensure stable, long lasting copies?
2. Video encode format. What format is most likely to be use five or ten years from now? I dread having to convert all my videos to a new format some day.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to corresponding with my fellow vidiots.


Hey guys. Thanks for your input. MUCH appreciated.
To add to my background, I work in our company's IS department and have had some users who also have come across bad CD archives as well. I'd love to get a DVD burner but it isn't in my budget quite yet.
What do you think of MPEG4 format? Do you feel it is reliable to use? ...or just a fad? I notice in Premiere it is the CODEC for wmf files.

[BJ_M]

how did a cd go bad in a year ?


there are vebatum cd's for storage that are supposed to last a long time ...

VHS tape was around a long time -- looks like dvd will be around as well a long time ..

[lattedfw]

I agree with BJ_M - media shouldn't go bad in a year. Use the best media you can to ensure long-term reliability. Keep the media in a climate controlled environment as well.

I have converted home videos and movies to VCD and now to DVD. I make two copies - one for me and one for my sister who lives 1500 miles away. That's my 'disaster recovery' plan. I have kept all original media as well (VHS tapes, 8mm film, etc.)

My plan is to store home movies and videos on DVD-R. I think DVD players and the MPEG2 standard will be around (at least playable) far into the future. Using older media as a model- you can find 78rpm record players today, about 100 years from the format's introduction. Those were mass-produced in their heyday. I anticipate CDs and DVDs will be in the same situation in 2102- sheer numbers alone mean a good number of people will want to play their old collections.

I think some of the more exotic video tape formats won't be as easy to convert in the future. VHS C, 8mm, Hi-8 and the various DV mini and micro formats will be harder to play in their native format 50 years from now. It'll be like having to find a 65-note player piano or unusual-format cylinder phonograph - harder-to-find. It's with this in mind that I am encouraging my sister to convert her DV-format home videos to DVD, if only to play them easier off DVD-R. She'll keep the original tapes so they can be reconverted again in the future if required.

And in 2102, someone will convert my DVD-Rs or original media (if playable) to some new format.