S-VHS Archival: Dazed & confused

[PictureLake]

I've been reading the DVDRHelp forums for several months (off & on), as well as searching the archives, and I still can't decide what's best for my situation.

I've got the following old, analog stuff:
o S-VHS-C tapes that are slowly losing quality (some are 15 years old).
o Pinnacle DC-30+ capture card.
o Premier 5.1c

I would like to find the best option for permanently archiving the S-VHS-C tapes *prior* to editing them. In other words, when I eventually have time, I'd like to use the *archival* as the source material for editing (hopefully having discarded the old, original tapes). I'd prefer the archival use DVD media, though I'm considering a DV tape (I just don't trust tape that much for long-term digital storage). Here are the options as I see them:

1. Capture via the DC-30+ (using 5:1 or so compression), and write the resulting .AVI files (20-25 mins each, max) to DVD (as data files).

Pros: Cheap (have everything already but the DVD burner); quality & method is familiar & acceptable.
Cons: .AVI file is proprietary (can't use it unless DC-30 & driver are installed).

2. Convert to DV and write resulting files (about 20 mins max) to DVD (again, as data files).

2a. Using Canopus ADVC-1394:

Pros: Standard DV25 format; should be readable for years to come, regardless of setup changes.
Cons: Cost ($250, plus $150 Premier update if/when I finally want to edit)
Unknowns: Do I gain *anything* over method #1?

2b. Using DV camcorder's analog pass-thru:

Pros: Same DV25 benefit as 2a; new material in DV (no more analog tapes).
Cons: Most expensive ($350 - $500 at least, plus same $150 Premier update, plus a cheap firewire card)
Unknowns: Does 2a method produce "better" caps? Might there be an audio sync problem?

3. Convert to DV using cam pass-thru, and then write back to DV tape.
Pros: Fewer archival tapes than compared to DVD.
Cons: Same as 2b above, plus the small "risk" of tape as an archival media.


I know no one can make up my mind for me. But I'd really appreciate hearing more positives &/or negatives to the choices above, or any other options that are also attractive that I'm missing.

TIA!

Ken

[Paul_W]

A couple of months ago, I started off on the same journey. I wanted to preserve 13 years of family videos and perhaps put them in a form, other than 8mm, that people might actually look at on occasion.

As far as I'm concerned, tape is still the best way to archive your original video. There is just no way to beat the cost / storage ratio. It takes many DVD's to hold the same amount of video as a single tape. Then there is the issue of converting your original tapes to a lossy format. Even .avi format uses a codec that will toss out some of the original information.

The solution that I chose was to copy my analog tapes into Premier and then use the "output to tape" function to re-record the tapes in digital format for archiving. Then I went through and made master DVD's, editing and eliminating some of the original content that wasn't so interesting. Once I had the DVD's, I could easily make a copy for any family member that wanted one.

I'll keep the digital tapes until some new storage media comes out that makes sense to me. I have read that video tape has a shelf life around 10 years before it starts to degrade. My oldest tapes were 13 years old and they all looked good. My father had some VHS tapes that went back about 15 years and he was pretty disappointed when he went back to look at his. The difference could have been that he didn't store them in a good environment or, perhaps he used crappy tape.

Hope this helps.

[PictureLake]

Paul,

I just want to be certain I understand what you're saying. Are you in effect saying you chose solution #3 (above)? You didn't explicitely say that, but if I read between the lines, that seems to be the only way to accomplish what you did.

But, I am confused about one thing you wrote. Isn't DV lossy as well? Is it less lossy than .avi? I thought they would be pretty equal on S-VHS source (using a 5:1 compression for .avi).

Thanks for your comments,

Ken

[Paul_W]

#3 it is.

Once you convert an analog tape to digital video (DV), it will retain all of its original information. Each successive copy of a DV tape is idenentical to the original. No codecs, no compression, but huge data storage requirements. Converting the DV to a file type like mpeg, avi, wmv, etc., uses a program (codec) that decides what information is redundant or can be discarded with hopefully, minimal degradation to the tape, usually to reduce the size of the storage required. Even by converting to a DVD, you'll be subjecting the original information on tape to a codec.

All of this may be a mute point however, if you can't see the difference between the original and the compressed version. Some codecs throw away more of the original information than others in an effort to squeeze the data into smaller file sizes.

[PictureLake]

Thanks, Paul, for confirming that.

So, now, I guess the question I really need answered (and I'm not sure if you can answer it, but that's ok) is:

Is there a difference in final quality between the following 2 paths:
S-VHS --> (5:1) .AVI --> DVD data archive (& eventually) --> MPEG2 DVD
S-VHS --> DV --> DV tape archive (& eventually) --> MPEG2 DVD

From what I think I've learned by reading these forums, the answer is, no, there would not be a worthwhile difference.

I agree that the # of DV tapes required for the approximately 50 hours of S-VHS material I need to archive would be significantly fewer than the # of DVDs I would need to store the .AVIs as data files.

Ken