archiving: mini-DV, DVD or hd? (a summary so far, pt. 1)

[Malcolm Hamilton]

First of all, allow me to thank everyone who sent in advice.  There's so
much hands-on information out there, and it's so great to be able to share
it liket this!  That said, if I can attach a few more questions to some of
the comments sent in, it might make things clearer for me.

(I have to send this in two parts, because of a 10K limit:  sorry about
this; I tried to be concise, but couldn't get it from 12K to 10K)

Here, for example, are three (please excuse the edits, for the sake of
brevity) references to problems with DVD compression:

>>From:  Erica Sadun
Once it's in miniDV format, you can keep copying it without losing quality.
DVDs use too much compression for my taste.
>>From:  Randy Wilson
DVD does additional (and different) compression, so I wouldn't recrommend
that as an "archival" method for footage you plan on editing later.  Too
much compression/decompression which could result in the loss of quality.
>>From:  Larry Dodge
When I look closely at some very fast moving subjects on DVDs you can easily
see the pixelation.  I have transferred some old VHS tapes of animations we
had to DVD using the pioneer desktop recorder set to the 2 hour mode.  They
have large areas of consistent colors that when moving quickly show the
problem real good.  You do not see it even in the VHS tape.  So I have ended
up putting critical things on DV tape.

This scared me when I read it... but then this comment from Gerhard Kuhn:

>>From:  Gerhard Kuhn
I think you misunderstood what he is planning to do on DVD, the way I read
it he wants to just burn a straight DV file onto the DVD hence 30 minutes
per disk.  The result would be same quality file as on the DV tape and he
might be able to wait 100 years before he needs to edit it.

So, just so I've got this straight:  if I burn a straight DV file onto a
DVD, I get only 30 minutes per DVD, but it'll be the same quality, in every
respect, as footage copied onto mini-DV tape, right?  And maybe, because
it's not tape, it won't degrade at all, ever?
If the quality's the same, and remembering I'll want to edit this stuff in a
year, or two, or ten... what about the question of convenience?
Would having the footage archived onto a DVD be more convenient, in that
when the day comes when I want to edit it, I can just pop in the DVD, and
drag-and-drop the DV files onto my hard disc, and start editing?  This would
obviously be preferable to transferring everything from mini-DV to hard
drive.
Now what about the work up front - - in archiving all the footage in the
first place?

Transferring all this footage to mini-DV sounds very easy.  Just attach my
two cameras, hit play on the Hi-8 and record on the mini-DV.
Transferring to DVD, on the other hand, could work in two completely
different ways, it seems to me.
I'd love to get a new G4 with SuperDrive - - it sounds like such a handy
thing to have for all sorts of reasons, but on the subject of archiving my
Hi-8 footage, SuperDrive sounds like it might be SuperComplicated.  It would
mean (I think) transferring all my footage, via a converter box (analog to
DV), to my hard drive (internal or external I'm still not sure), and then
burning it (a half-an-hour-at-a-time!!!) onto DVD.  Is this true?

It doesn't sound any easier if I were to get an external DVD-burner,
according to Ken:

>>From:  Ken
What a bummer.  I was able to ask on of the Apple product specialists at
Macworld today about using an external DVD burner in a FireWire enclosure
with iDVD.  He said no way.  The new version of iDVD will still only
recognize an internal burner.

- - or is this a problem only with iDVD?  Maybe I'd be fine with Toast?  Or
what about DVD Studio Pro (by the way, is DVD Studio Pro something that is
worth all the money?)

O.K., I'll send the next bit separately!
Thanks!
Malcolm