formats and archiving

[Gedeon Deák]

That advice is worth more than a few pence for sure.

Another suggestion: if you have access a VERY SECURE and STABLE 
supercomputer center with a policy for keeping/protecting sensitive 
data for years, it might be a back-up option.

Also, re: DVDs for backing up, even though the compression causes some 
info loss, for many purposes it is still fine. The worst problem, imho, 
is a bit of horizontal blurring. Of course, burning DVDs even on fast 
machines is slow, so a down-side is the time to capture video in the 
first place, then burn the DVD. Maybe there's a way to do it 
simultaneously--probably, I'd guess, if you have a RAID system--but we 
couldn't figure out how using dual-processor Macs running 10.4 w/ 1 GB 
SDRAM. The capture/burn time issue is not major is you're just doing, 
say, a case study, but if you're doing a large project (w/ hours of 
video), it can get hairy.

A possible solution for the capture/copy time problem is a new line of 
dv cams w/ built-in hard drives by JVC. Not trying to give them free 
ads; we just got a couple and are still testing them (if they stink 
I'll write back & retract the plug). They also market back-up HDs for 
the cameras; not sure if they are different from any other portable 
drives. The camera software has several diff compression methods. I 
haven't played w/ them yet; if anyone else has I'd be curious to know 
the practical difference between the best and 2nd-best compression. 
Anyway, if the cameras are any good they might be one way to 
capture/back-up video more quickly. Also, they're pretty small so if 
you want unobtrusive portable cameras, they might work.


On Mar 27, 2006, at 3:26 AM, Chris Letts wrote:

>
> I'd certainly also advocate archiving valuable material in 2 different
> formats, stored in 2 different places. Our 'standard' system for video
> is to keep original material on DVC tape, with a copy in AVI format on 
> a
> USB hard drive. Yes AVI files are huge, but they're easy to make and
> edit, and are guaranteed to replay on virtually any computer. Their 
> size
> isn't really a problem these days - 250GB USB drives are getting 
> common.
>
> Chris Letts,
> Technical Site Manager,
> School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences,
> King George VI Building
> University of Newcastle,
> Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU,
>
> U.K.
>
>
>
Gedeon O. Deák, Ph.D.
Department of Cognitive Science
9500 Gilman Dr.								(858) 822-3352
University of California, San Diego				fax    (858) 534-1128
La Jolla, CA 92093-0515				   http://cogsci.ucsd.edu/~deak/