What format to save home movies in?

[Guest]

I am new to the world of movies, been into photography for a long time though.

I have recently bought a DV Camcorder and am a little usure of what way to
go with regards to file types. I have read a lot about DV-AVI, MPEG, MWV etc,
but still dont have my answer, or an answer I am happy with.

I will be filming mainly failmily stuff, so the type of stuff that is
emmotional to our family - when I think about it, it really doesnt need to be
broadcast quality does it?

So, I download my video of the camera as DV-AVI, ending up with 11gbs per
hour of video. I then import into MM2 and edit out about half of the content
and add some backing music etc. I then have a second edited file of around
6gb. I will then compress the file as PAL WMV giving a file size of around
200GB. So, for each hour of footage, I have to store 11gb+6gb+0.2gb = 17.2gb
!! Thats just too much data when you consider I may reasonable use up 30hours
of video every year, over ten years, thats 500gigbytes every year or
5terrabytes over ten years!!!

I would like to do away with the original AVIs after I have completed my
project, but then there will come a time I have deleted footage that may be
needed in the future (IE stuff that hit the cutting room flooor in the edit
process).

Is it reasonable to dump from my camera as WMV and then edit that copy and
then resave as WMV high quality again (so, would in effect be third
generation).

This will solve my storage problems since each hour of footage would be
300mbs including the original and edited versions.

I like the idea of being able to manage my data onto a second remote
harddrive or backup device, I just cant do that with the 500gigabytes per
year.

Please, just let me know what I should be doing, or if I should just accept
the facts?

Edited movies will be played on MY pc for family viewing, or on my media pc,
and cds to friends in WMV format.

Thanks, James
Sydney, Australia

 

[Guest]

Sorry, the WMV format ends up being only 200MB (not 200GB as I incorectly
typed in my original post).



:
I will then compress the file as PAL WMV giving a file size of around

 

[PapaJohn]

My personal approach is to capture and edit DV-AVI files... and discard them
when finished making the movie in WMV, a DVD disc, or whatever is the final
format.

But I keep my original tapes to recapture from if and when needed... and for
projects with a lot of time invested in the editing, make a DV-AVI file and
copy it to another DV tape in the camcorder.

There's no right answer... whatever works for you, and it might differ by
the project. I'd suggest a small pilot project, from camcorder to finished
movie... use it to determine your settings so you're happy with the results.

Some users have high definition screens and a high interest in detail
quality... others view on small TVs or monitors. My normal is to roll them
out to a website and provide a link, so the quality doesn't need to be that
high.
--
website references are to www.papajohn.org

PapaJohn


"Kurrajong Kid (Sydney Australia)" <Kurrajong Kid (Sydney
Australia)@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

 

[Guest]

Thanks John - I expected you might reply, your website and your various posts
has been on my screen a fair bit of late ;-)

I hadnt considered the DVTape idea - makes ecconomic and portable sence (as
well as cents).

I have done a couple of small tests here, capturing a clip as WMV, and then
resaving it 4 more times to simulate 5th generation video - doesnt end up all
that bad, though the degredation is noticeable. not bad enough to worry about
for normal day to day videos. May keep the raw data on DV Tape for real
important footage (like say graduation day or kiddies school concert) and
just WMV all the rest.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[PapaJohn]

as hard drives go down and down in price, much faster than tapes, it's
almost at the point that disc storage is less expensive...

but I had a 180 GB external drive stop working today... and never had a tape
stop...