Best (smallest) Archive Format ?

MrC wrote on 2/8/2008, 10:05 PM
Is there a way to apply LOSSLESS compression to AVI?

I've captured a stack of Mini-DV tapes to .AVI (most 16:9) and have dozens of folders with Clip 001.avi, Clip 002.avi, etc. Even though disk space is getting cheaper, these files are really big.

I'd like to be convert them to a format that allows for easy viewing now, and editing at a later point. I thought about using .ZIP compression with the .AVI files but that makes playback a pain. I know converting to MPEG encoding would save space, but I'm concerned about image quality for future editing.

Suggestions?

Comments

MrC wrote on 2/8/2008, 10:06 PM
Oh, and is there a straightforward way to convert a bunch of files at once?
farss wrote on 2/8/2008, 11:34 PM
Your DV files are already compressed, the camera did that when it recorded the tape. One of the most common complaints about DV is the amount of compression. As you've noted HDD are pretty cheap and so is tape.

The Veggie Toolkit from Peachrock will let you very simply convert all the files in one folder to a different format / codec.

Bob.
Chienworks wrote on 2/9/2008, 4:44 AM
I would say that .zip is your only good choice. As Bob mentioned, DV is already compressed about 8:1. You're not going to compress it much farther without noticeably losing quality. The only other suggestion i have is DivX. I've used that for some unimportant projects and been quilte pleased with the result. I can get the files down to 1/5 the size of DV and still have them usable for lots of non-critical situations.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 2/9/2008, 4:51 AM
huffyuv is ~1/2 the size of uncompressed & it's lossless.
Chienworks wrote on 2/9/2008, 4:56 AM
But Huffyuv is also about 4 times the size of DV, so it's kinda going the wrong direction.
johnmeyer wrote on 2/9/2008, 8:41 AM
removed duplicate post caused by this damnably slow forum software ... grumble, grumble ...
johnmeyer wrote on 2/9/2008, 8:41 AM
Yes, but HuffYUV answers his question as it was asked: the smallest lossless format.
John_Cline wrote on 2/9/2008, 9:21 AM
DV .AVI files don't compress well at all, so .ZIP won't gain you anything.

500 gig SATA hard drives are just over $100, that works out to about $2.40 per 1-hour DV tape. I suggest you get one of the $25 SATA to USB adapters and just archive your files to hard drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156102

John
MrC wrote on 2/9/2008, 12:13 PM
Thanks for the Insights, I'm thinking I'll probably just leave the files as-is and go the external hard disk route.

I didn't realize how much the DV from my camcorder was already compressed. (Any suggestions for a good intro site to learn more about this?)

Just so I'm clear... when I use Vegas Video Capture with my firewire connected camcorder that is a DIGITAL transfer, right? So the captured .AVI clips are exactly what is on the tape with NO conversion or additional compression?

This is a great forum, THANKS!
Jøran Toresen wrote on 2/9/2008, 12:31 PM
Yes, it's a digital transfere and your DV AVI clips are exact copies of the content of your DV tapes (no conversion or additional compression).

Jøran Toresen
Laurence wrote on 2/9/2008, 3:00 PM
One thing I sometimes do with completed sections that I might use again is to save them as DVD compliant mpeg2 clips. That way I can author them to new compilations on DVD. You can also do limited smart-rendering with mpeg2 which can work in a pinch.
john-beale wrote on 2/9/2008, 5:04 PM
If you try working with uncompressed video, you quickly find out what "big" means. I had a project with a single 4:2:2 SonyYUV format file that was 120 GB in size, and that was just standard-def! For reference, one hour of DV is about 13.6 GB.