Video
I can edit and copy video to and from the MiniDV, VHS/VHS-C and DVD formats. I can also work with other video distribution formats such as Quicktime, AVI, MPEG-4, DivX etc.
Soundtracks sourced from CD, DVD, Minidisc, cassette, DAT, vinyl (33/45 rpm) and most of the common audio data formats can be added.
I would strongly recommend that all video projects are saved to either MiniDV tape or in a Quicktime format on a hard-drive or a (double layer) DVD+R. The resulting video archive will be easily copied to future, high-definition formats, such as HVD, HD DVD or Blu-ray, thus safeguarding your precious footage.
I can edit and copy video to and from the MiniDV, VHS/VHS-C and DVD formats. I can also work with other video distribution formats such as Quicktime, AVI, MPEG-4, DivX etc.
Soundtracks sourced from CD, DVD, Minidisc, cassette, DAT, vinyl (33/45 rpm) and most of the common audio data formats can be added.
I would strongly recommend that all video projects are saved to either MiniDV tape or in a Quicktime format on a hard-drive or a (double layer) DVD+R. The resulting video archive will be easily copied to future, high-definition formats, such as HVD, HD DVD or Blu-ray, thus safeguarding your precious footage.
the DVD format
Please don't think of a DVD copy as your 'archive'.
DVD is a heavily compressed, low-resolution, error-prone format. There might be 80GB or more of original data compressed down to less than 5GB. A DVD movie is not equivalent to a master tape, it's just a cheap format that works well for replaying movies on domestic TV sets.
A DVD is ideal for:
I copy to DVD-R as this is consistently the most compatible with DVD players. Other DVD formats and small amounts of DVD duplication are possible - please contact me to discuss.
Discs are burnt to the PAL standard and are not region coded.
Chapter marks will be placed at appropriate points, or at specified points as requested. Basic titling will also be added.
DVD (MPEG-2) formatted video is not suitable for archiving as the data is heavily compressed (see further information below).
DVD is a heavily compressed, low-resolution, error-prone format. There might be 80GB or more of original data compressed down to less than 5GB. A DVD movie is not equivalent to a master tape, it's just a cheap format that works well for replaying movies on domestic TV sets.
A DVD is ideal for:
- distributing film projects
- viewing precious family videos such as footage of weddings, holidays, birthdays and anniversaries
- use at exhibitions & in retail - the DVD will play continuously all day
- business & sales presentations - having several videos on one disc allows the flexibility of quickly selecting the relevant video for any given situation
- a multi-media CV or portfolios
I copy to DVD-R as this is consistently the most compatible with DVD players. Other DVD formats and small amounts of DVD duplication are possible - please contact me to discuss.
Discs are burnt to the PAL standard and are not region coded.
Chapter marks will be placed at appropriate points, or at specified points as requested. Basic titling will also be added.
DVD (MPEG-2) formatted video is not suitable for archiving as the data is heavily compressed (see further information below).
further information
This section goes on a bit but contains some
technical information that may help explain a few
details of the copying process.
All video supplied is initially captured in DV (Digital Video) format. To minimise compression rates, and therefore quality, I usually restrict any (single-layer) DVD-R to 90 minutes of DV sourced from VHS and 60 minutes when sourced from MiniDV. Any more than this and the picture quality will gradually suffer and will eventually fall to below that which I find acceptable. Please contact me if you wish to encode more than the recommended amount of footage per DVD. If a MiniDV copy of your VHS tape is required then the video file is exported via Firewire to the MiniDV recorder. I only use one hour MiniDV tapes as these are the most reliable.
DVD-R/+R is the 'low resolution' digital standard of the industry and, as such, very useful as a 'play only' medium. But, if you have only put your video footage on DVD-R/+R, then don't throw away your original video as you'll need to transfer the footage again.
Here's why.
DVD-R: great as a 'viewing copy' but not for archiving as MPEG-2 is low resolution and not a full-frame format
DV: suitable format for archiving as is full-frame and high resolution.
Data is encoded onto DVDs in a lossy, compressed format (MPEG-2) that removes redundant information, such as areas of the picture that don't change, and information that's not readily perceptible by the human eye. MPEG-2 compression uses a start frame and a set of frames - about 25 - not totally recorded but based on that first frame and with vector information on the movement of blocks in the frame. Your DVD player is reconstructing pictures from pieces of other pictures and changes to those pictures. The resulting video, especially when it is complex or changing quickly, may sometimes contain visual flaws, depending on the processing quality and amount of compression. MPEG-2, therefore, is difficult to edit; is of low resolution and only looks good on TV because most current televisions are also low resolution.
Still images taken from DVDs are of poor quality, indeed as many frames are lost in the compression process this makes copying to future, high-definition formats very problematic. Copying a DVD to a higher definition format, such as DV, will only transfer your film in a resolution no better than MPEG-2. Worse, your images may be full of digital artifacts (bad pixels etc.) generated from trying to push the MPEG-2 format into a full-frame, higher resolution format.
One hour of DV, e.g. footage imported from MiniDV, uses approx. 13GB of your hard drive. An entire (single-layer) DVD can store about 4.37GB. As you can see, a lot of information has to be discarded to allow the video to fit and it is this that makes copying to future formats problematic.
I can burn DVD video (MPEG-2) to double-layer DVD+R if requested but there are compatibility issues with this format. These are the type of DVDs that store 'Hollywood films' and the like, as they allow higher bit rates and more data to be stored, thereby improving picture quality.
MiniDV is suitable for archiving as it uses the DV format. Another, long-term solution is to save your full quality video to (double layer) DVD as data - a Quicktime file - thus giving you an editable copy of your film/footage. Unfortunately due to the large size of DV data files only 35-40 minutes of footage can be stored per disc (about 8.75GB per disc). If this option is preferred then any footage longer than this must be split - a simple process - and burnt to two or more discs.
Still keeping up? Try this. DV isn't just a tape format; it's also itself a compression method. All DV camcorders and decks record to tape using DV-25 compression and it has now become one of the standards for consumer and semiprofessional video production. And when you capture DV over Firewire, you're not actually digitising the video but simply performing a file transfer of the DV compressed files.
All video supplied is initially captured in DV (Digital Video) format. To minimise compression rates, and therefore quality, I usually restrict any (single-layer) DVD-R to 90 minutes of DV sourced from VHS and 60 minutes when sourced from MiniDV. Any more than this and the picture quality will gradually suffer and will eventually fall to below that which I find acceptable. Please contact me if you wish to encode more than the recommended amount of footage per DVD. If a MiniDV copy of your VHS tape is required then the video file is exported via Firewire to the MiniDV recorder. I only use one hour MiniDV tapes as these are the most reliable.
DVD-R/+R is the 'low resolution' digital standard of the industry and, as such, very useful as a 'play only' medium. But, if you have only put your video footage on DVD-R/+R, then don't throw away your original video as you'll need to transfer the footage again.
Here's why.
DVD-R: great as a 'viewing copy' but not for archiving as MPEG-2 is low resolution and not a full-frame format
DV: suitable format for archiving as is full-frame and high resolution.
Data is encoded onto DVDs in a lossy, compressed format (MPEG-2) that removes redundant information, such as areas of the picture that don't change, and information that's not readily perceptible by the human eye. MPEG-2 compression uses a start frame and a set of frames - about 25 - not totally recorded but based on that first frame and with vector information on the movement of blocks in the frame. Your DVD player is reconstructing pictures from pieces of other pictures and changes to those pictures. The resulting video, especially when it is complex or changing quickly, may sometimes contain visual flaws, depending on the processing quality and amount of compression. MPEG-2, therefore, is difficult to edit; is of low resolution and only looks good on TV because most current televisions are also low resolution.
Still images taken from DVDs are of poor quality, indeed as many frames are lost in the compression process this makes copying to future, high-definition formats very problematic. Copying a DVD to a higher definition format, such as DV, will only transfer your film in a resolution no better than MPEG-2. Worse, your images may be full of digital artifacts (bad pixels etc.) generated from trying to push the MPEG-2 format into a full-frame, higher resolution format.
One hour of DV, e.g. footage imported from MiniDV, uses approx. 13GB of your hard drive. An entire (single-layer) DVD can store about 4.37GB. As you can see, a lot of information has to be discarded to allow the video to fit and it is this that makes copying to future formats problematic.
I can burn DVD video (MPEG-2) to double-layer DVD+R if requested but there are compatibility issues with this format. These are the type of DVDs that store 'Hollywood films' and the like, as they allow higher bit rates and more data to be stored, thereby improving picture quality.
MiniDV is suitable for archiving as it uses the DV format. Another, long-term solution is to save your full quality video to (double layer) DVD as data - a Quicktime file - thus giving you an editable copy of your film/footage. Unfortunately due to the large size of DV data files only 35-40 minutes of footage can be stored per disc (about 8.75GB per disc). If this option is preferred then any footage longer than this must be split - a simple process - and burnt to two or more discs.
Still keeping up? Try this. DV isn't just a tape format; it's also itself a compression method. All DV camcorders and decks record to tape using DV-25 compression and it has now become one of the standards for consumer and semiprofessional video production. And when you capture DV over Firewire, you're not actually digitising the video but simply performing a file transfer of the DV compressed files.
archiving video
MiniDV or DVD+R (DL) for archiving
purposes
MiniDV tapes are cheaper than DVD+R (DL) discs but have to be stored correctly, in a cool dry place, and fast-forwarded/rewound at least once a year. DVD+R (DL) discs also need to be treated and stored carefully, in the same way as all DVDs/CDs do. However, the data on these discs can also be easily copied to hard drives for further back-up copies or for further work. One side of opinion is that they will last many more years than a MiniDV archive.
But others think that tape is by far and away the best solution currently available and that burnable media will always have a shorter life unless disc manufacturers can figure out a way not to use dye. It is argued that burnt, i.e. duplicated, DVDs made with blank DVD-R, +R, -RW, +RW discs could degrade fairly quickly because the digital data is 'etched' into a dye layer with a weak laser. Whereas glass-mastered, i.e. replicated, DVDs made at a disc manufacturing facility (such as the DVD films you've bought over the years) should not suffer the same 'quick' degradation because the digital data is stamped in a hydraulic mold and then bonded to a reflective layer with a spin-coated liquid acrylic. Yep.
Commercial DVDs are expected to last more than 50 years, assuming they are pressed correctly on good quality media, and then stored in a cool, dark, dry place. Heat, humidity, handling and atmospheric pollution are all believed to reduce the life of optical discs, based on accelerated ageing tests, but nobody really knows. DVDs that are burned separately, perhaps as backups, could last anything from 20 years to 200 years. However, read-write (RW) discs should never be used for archiving: they are not as stable and many may not last 15 years. According to a study by America's National Institute of Standards (NIST) and the Library of Congress, some could last only two years. Obviously, you should still store your archival DVDs vertically in jewel cases or special boxes in a cool, dry place. You should also avoid writing on them, sticking anything on them, or touching their surfaces. Even then, someone maintaining a serious archive would want to check sample discs every five years or so and consider re-copying discs to fresh media. Under the circumstances, the cheapest and best backup of a commercial DVD is probably another commercial copy, stored archivally.
The arguments will go on and on. The jury is out. Realistically, by the time both formats have reached the end of their lifespan, the footage should have been copied to next-generation formats.
MiniDV tapes are cheaper than DVD+R (DL) discs but have to be stored correctly, in a cool dry place, and fast-forwarded/rewound at least once a year. DVD+R (DL) discs also need to be treated and stored carefully, in the same way as all DVDs/CDs do. However, the data on these discs can also be easily copied to hard drives for further back-up copies or for further work. One side of opinion is that they will last many more years than a MiniDV archive.
But others think that tape is by far and away the best solution currently available and that burnable media will always have a shorter life unless disc manufacturers can figure out a way not to use dye. It is argued that burnt, i.e. duplicated, DVDs made with blank DVD-R, +R, -RW, +RW discs could degrade fairly quickly because the digital data is 'etched' into a dye layer with a weak laser. Whereas glass-mastered, i.e. replicated, DVDs made at a disc manufacturing facility (such as the DVD films you've bought over the years) should not suffer the same 'quick' degradation because the digital data is stamped in a hydraulic mold and then bonded to a reflective layer with a spin-coated liquid acrylic. Yep.
Commercial DVDs are expected to last more than 50 years, assuming they are pressed correctly on good quality media, and then stored in a cool, dark, dry place. Heat, humidity, handling and atmospheric pollution are all believed to reduce the life of optical discs, based on accelerated ageing tests, but nobody really knows. DVDs that are burned separately, perhaps as backups, could last anything from 20 years to 200 years. However, read-write (RW) discs should never be used for archiving: they are not as stable and many may not last 15 years. According to a study by America's National Institute of Standards (NIST) and the Library of Congress, some could last only two years. Obviously, you should still store your archival DVDs vertically in jewel cases or special boxes in a cool, dry place. You should also avoid writing on them, sticking anything on them, or touching their surfaces. Even then, someone maintaining a serious archive would want to check sample discs every five years or so and consider re-copying discs to fresh media. Under the circumstances, the cheapest and best backup of a commercial DVD is probably another commercial copy, stored archivally.
The arguments will go on and on. The jury is out. Realistically, by the time both formats have reached the end of their lifespan, the footage should have been copied to next-generation formats.
Hope this all helps.
Please email me if you have any queries or have spotted any mistakes in the text - must be some somewhere and opinion can change overnight.
Thank you to all those who put this information out there.