I have reasonably good habits as far as moving video from temporary media (VHS, 8mm, & miniDV) to DVD. I have a very specific system which essentially entails importing the video, cutting camera start & stops (auto with miniDV), fading, adding a title here and there (not very often), and then adding a nice, informative menu. Finally, I finish by burning two copies and moving the data to the server. So I end up with two DVD copies (in two separate locations) and the server copy at home.
My question here is about keeping the original miniDV tapes / data. My point in the above information is that I keep 99% of the video. So I really do get almost all the content. Of course putting it on DVD entails a host of quality downgrades including (but not limited to) digitizing/source player quality/color conversions/format conversions...
So this can apply to VHS tapes as well but my chief concern now is miniDV because I use them on a regular basis for recording various occasions and events. Cost really isn't an issue (for saving miniDV content). The issue is space and usefulness.
1. Would I ever need to reuse the original content?
2. With incredibly handy access on the server, would I ever be willing to go to the effort for a tiny quality improvement?
3. Then I have to catalog and store tens (potentially hundreds) of miniDV casettes.
4. Of course, with reusing them, I always get paranoid and concerned that I may overwrite something I haven't yet burnt to DVD. This is more my fault for not keeping up/properly labeling/tracking things but I am trying to improve here.
5. Plus, I am not sure how but a few tapes I have somehow got damaged and have damaged portions of the tape. I have a miniDV rewinder that I had replaced because it was causing problems with tapes (it was broken) and I hope that is the extent of the damage.
Of course this also applies directly to analog photos & slides! Oh I look forward to the day I decide to get rid of all the analog stuff (with good digital copies). But I think I'm quite a way away from that point.
This may be my topic of the year...All the stuff I'm talking about (to potentially get rid of) equates to about 10+ totes of size 3' x 4' x 3'... and don't get me started on our purchased commercial content that I have to/want to keep! 2,000 discs! I'm looking at these storage rooms around the house and their potential if they were cleaned out. Empty space is worth a whole lot!
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Topic: Saving Original miniDV (Read 1986 times)