Archiving video

August73 wrote on 1/5/2005, 7:07 AM
I have a whole hard drive full of video that I want to store on a dvd/cd to make room for new video. This is the orginal video clips that I want to save in case I want to use them again for a different project. Most of them are to large to save on a CD-R in avi format. When I convert them to mpeg2 they willl burn on to a dvd and I'm able to play the dvds, but I can't import those files from the disc back into screenblast for editing. What do I need to do so I can use those video clips in the future? .

Comments

tceaves wrote on 1/5/2005, 7:48 AM
I keep my eye out for hard drives on sale... Recently I purchased a 250 gig for $90 after rebate. I noticed some even less expesive over the New Years holiday. This is how I backup all my video projects and raw video I want to keep around. I also keep all used DV Tapes in a safe box just in case I ever want to go back and get something I decided not to keep around on my hard drive.

I use a firewire external case that I can swap drives in and out of quickly I got from www.firewiredirect.com
ChristerTX wrote on 1/5/2005, 8:03 AM
This is what I do:

I keep the original clips on the DV tapes.

I render the final version in AVI for storage on a drive or DVD. (If you have room and don't think that you will use it so often, you can save it back on the same tape that has the original photage)
I will use this source if I want to render a Windows Media file or Real file for web publishing or other use.

I create a MPG file for DVD creation. I may or may not save that file. As long as I have the AVI as archive, I can create a new file.

I also save the Movie Studio project files if I want to redo the film all together.

All bases covered!

August73 wrote on 1/5/2005, 12:36 PM
Switching hard drives is what I was planning on doing but thought I could save some money by burning to discs. I just switched from analog to digital camcorder and want to make sure I have all my analog video stored in some digital format for editing.

I have a firewire external case like you do. Do you have any problems after switching hard drives? Will it recognize the old drive right away? Also would I be better off rendering all of it in mpg and then storing it on the drive? The reason I'm asking is because when I originally captured the video from VHS it would stop every few minutes, so I have several little clips for one video. When I archive it I’d like to have everything in one clip for each video, rather than 10 different files that don't necessarily make sense.

August
tceaves wrote on 1/5/2005, 12:48 PM
I do not play or capture any video from the external drive. When I switch drives I disconnect it completely from the PC switch the drive and have no problems. I use the external for backup only. I have an 80 & 250 gig in the PC.

To get it all in one you can drag them all to the timeline and "make movie" to generate a single AVI with all the clips. Just an idea.

Thomas
August73 wrote on 1/5/2005, 6:41 PM
Thanks for the help.
briggins wrote on 1/7/2005, 8:23 AM
This is a long shot and probably more work than it's worth but with Winzip 9.0 you can span CD's and or DVD's. So you could zip up an AVI directly to a CD or DVD and Winzip will prompt you for a new blank each time it fills up a disc. AVI doesn't compress well, so one hour of video would take about 3 (or 3+) DVD's.

You could also put all of your clips into a directory, zip that directory to CD or DVD and when you're done you'll have a pile of discs that you could store away. The downside is you would have to unzip the whole thing just to retrieve one.