[MacDV] archiving footage on DVD

[Erica Sadun]

>Hello!
>
>I'd love some advice!
>
>I have a hundred-plus hours of Hi-8 family movie footage, dating back ten
>years, and lately I've been worried about it degrading away on the shelf.
>I'll want to edit it someday, but realistically, I won't have the time for
>at least a few years - - so I want to store it, digitally, so that when I
>finally do get around to editing it, it won't be all washed out, etc.
>
>What's the best way of storing it?  Should I buy a mini-DV camera (I've been
>wanting to get one anyway), and dump everything onto mini-DV tapes?  Then
>it's digital, right? Which means it won't degrade anymore?  (or because it's
>still tape, maybe it will?)


For now, I'm very pro-miniDV for archival storage. Once it's
in miniDV format, you can keep copying it without losing quality
because of the digital format. DVDs use too much compression
for my taste.

-- E