The professional archival standard right now is Digital Beta SP. This is what LOC and NARA use. D-beta is very stable over long periods of time and can be cloned with no appreciable generational loss. D-Beta captures a LOT more information, but in ways that may not be noticeable to the average viewer especially considering the source is 3/4". Were the source film and quality a much bigger issue I would recommend D-Beta, however in your case I would not recommend film as an archival medium. An alternative is to transfer to DVCAM (this is a professional version of the Mini-DV style tapes). They have proven fairly stable so far but are smaller, thinner and less robust than D-Beta and would not reward repeated tape handling. But they preserve a remarkable amount of the original video/audio fidelity. The advantage to DVCAM is that with a small investment in a deck (versus pricey D-Beta), the tapes are easily digitized through firewire into a Mac Quicktime/Final Cut Pro/DVD Studio Pro environment. Currently Quicktime is the most common and flexible standard for editing/web/compression/viewing options. The natural compression that occurs with a DV tape, which is then captured through firewire, preserves much of the original quality and makes the footage very user friendly. Firewire drives are NOT a stable storage medium even in the short term. DVDs as data storage for Quicktime files are probably ok for a while and would make a nice addition to the storage chain mentioned above, but may have compatibility issues in the long run. DVD as a viewing/encoding format will most likely be obsolete before too long. So a fairly safe approach would be to transfer to DVCAM (and then store as protection masters), digitize the media as Quicktime files, and then store these files on DVDs (as data storage, not encoded for dvd playback). Happy archiving. John Sorensen, Producer New River Media 4455 Connecticutt Ave., NW Suite C-100 Washington, DC 20008 202-530-2550 202-530-8858 FAX [log in to unmask] Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 03:15:07 EST From: David Lewias <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Video Storage --part1_e3.c1217dd.2f2f430b_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit We've been offered about 20 hours of profesional video shot in the early 1980s. The videographer would like to "copy" the tapes -- (and he is willing to give us a letter/agreement allowing us to us it in any way we see fit). My question, is it best to copy the videos -- professional grade 3/4" tapes -- into another "tape" or (of the same or lesser quality) or onto a DVD? Has anyone experimented with storing/archiving digital files on a removable hard-drive (like a fire-wire drive). I know neither tapes, nor DVDs, nor hard drives are particularly "archival" -- and I know if we go with a DVD or hard disk we will have to migrate the digital files every few years to keep up with technology. I'm worried about the loss of quality if we simply go from tape-to-tape and because we don't have the means to pay 3/4" tapes we'd probably look at copying them onto an inferior high 8mm or VHS tape. A digital file also has the advantage of being easier to view, edit, and use. (I am fairly techno-savvy -- we produce several short videos each year in house using Final Cut and a Mac). Are removable/portable hard drives more stable (durable) than CDs/DVDs? Any professional standards I should be looking at using when we digitize this video? Is "mpg" the industry standard format? Any general guidelines for how much file space a minute of video takes up? Any advice anyone has to offer would be appreciated. - David - David Lewis, Curator (and chief ticket-taker/popcorn poper) Aurora Regional Fire Museum www.AuroraRegionalFireMuseum.org ************ ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).