Finally, a replacement of tape as an archival medium?

[Eric Stemen]

It would be cool if companies would make the camera, then you could choose what type of media you want to record to and just bolt it on to the camera.....but i guess that's similar to how the old cameras worked. Big shoulder mounted camera with a vcr strapped to your back.

[Yi Fong Yu]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211149
^technology like that is coming =D. it rocks.

regarding this archival stuff, i think it's 2vague at this point. no spex on read/write speed. if it's 10MBps (like most modern flash sticks are) there i noway in hell it's going to keep up with high def. (which is the here on now, no longer 'the future').

[David Heath]

I'm in full agreement with Chris here. I also think this has the potential to be huge - though we need further detail: read/write speeds, exact costs, max sizes etc etc. But definately worth watching.

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

If it's write once, then by definition it's not P2. What you meant to say is that what people really want is a 16GB SD (Secure Digital) card. SD cards are smaller, less expensive, and much more common than P2 cards.

Not only SD, but also Compact Flash, which I seem to remember Sandisk did much of the original development for (?) and which tends to currently be available in larger max capacities than for SD. With the Grass Valley Infinity expected in Q2, we would then immediately have a video camera able to take advantage of this media, and CF is probably also the most common media in the pro digital stills market. CF is currently already available in 16GB size, with a cost of about £10/GB in the UK

One other advantage of write-once media is that it may be considered more tamper proof than rewritable media, and hence potentially more valuable for applications where it is vital to prove authenticity - legal uses etc.

I see it coexisting with rewritable flash memory for the foreseeable future, especially when the latter is of a price when immediate downloading and erasure to continue working is less necessary. P2 is currently tantalising in offering a view of what is possible, offering some advantages over tape whilst bringing it's own negative set of issues - this announcement promises enabling people to have their cake and eat it. Potentially, the advantages of P2 and tape, with the disadvantages of neither.

Very interesting.

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Yi Fong Yu

no spex on read/write speed. if it's 10MBps (like most modern flash sticks are) there i noway in hell it's going to keep up with high def.

10MBps is pretty slow nowadays, at least for the pro ranges. The price I quoted above is for 20MBs guaranteed read/write (160Mbs), and CF is also widely available with speeds up to about double that.

[Eric Stemen]

Compact Flash would be a great way to go, My DSLR uses it, why not my camcorder....it would also be harder to lose than an SD card, but not much.

[Andrew Kimery]

It terms of digital archiving is a super long life span (100+ years) really all that important? Don't most archival people recommend migrating to new digital media every 10 or 15 years so you won't end up w/media that's on an unsupported format?


-A

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kimery

It terms of digital archiving is a super long life span (100+ years) really all that important? Don't most archival people recommend migrating to new digital media every 10 or 15 years so you won't end up w/media that's on an unsupported format?

I think it's a bit of chicken v egg. The recommendation may come BECAUSE the life span of media to date can't be trusted. Have a guaranteed longer life span media, and why bother migrating? And for such as SD or CF, the readers are quite simple and cheap which may give them more longevity than media which relies on moving parts in more complicated readers.

Regarding speed of CF, this link http://www.steves-digicams.com/pr/Le...x-udma_pr.html is now claiming Compact Flash with "Minimum Sustained Write Speeds of 45MB/s" - that's 360Mbs!

[Jon Fairhurst]

Originally Posted by Andrew Kimery

It terms of digital archiving is a super long life span (100+ years) really all that important? Don't most archival people recommend migrating to new digital media every 10 or 15 years so you won't end up w/media that's on an unsupported format?

There are two advantages that immediately come to mind. One is that you save labor by not having to constantly clone your collection. The other is that you can put something in a cornerstone (with player), open it in 100 years and enjoy the content.

When Charlton Heston enters the cave in Planet of the Apes, you still want your digital doll to say, "Mommy!" - or project the 4k resolution Planet of the Apes movie on the cave wall...

[Chris Hurd]

This original subject of this thread -- SanDisk WORM (write once, read many) cards
-- has now been updated. Please direct replies to the new discussion, located at
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=126550