Post edit storage
 

Just wondering how people here store valuable post edited footage?

I am currently working on a DV feature and after the edit is locked I would like to create a colour corrected, de-artefacted, uncompressed master just in case I need to transfer it to a much higher format than DV or DVD (for example if I ever wanted to have it transferred to hi def or film for some reason or someone required a master with a much higher colour resolution than DV)

Similarly I would also like to store an uncompressed, colour corrected, de-artefacted, filmlooked version.

Lastly I want to keep a DV format version of both.

The problem is where to store them reliably. I don't really trust DVD over time as I have had CDR's go blank on me before after not using them for a long time. Buying a special hard drive seems like a bit of an expensive way to store them.

Anyone here got any suggestions?

Most people choose one of the following or a combinations of them:

1) back out to (a new) DV tape

2) DVD

3) harddisk

With the harddisk either being used to store other things or
just this project. The harddisk should be in a computer.

You could also store it on a computer tape system like DLT, but
those are pretty expensive and I'm not sure if those would be
easily readable in 10 years for example.

If you have the project file and your DV tapes, you can re-create the edit on most NLEs.

Burn the project file onto 2 CD-Rs and/or DVDs and keep it stored well. (Have 2 copies at least- one can stick around on your hard drive)

If you can, dub the DV tapes with exact timecode. This should be fairly cheap and gives you the best quality with very long archival life.

If you have the money, a hard drive could also be a good idea. Wait for a hot deal on sites like techbargains.com- big chains often have limited quantities as loss leaders.
Very convient, kinda pricey, unknown archival life (may become obsolete in 20-25 years, or may break down).

DV was what I normally store backups on. However in this case I want to use a deartifact filter and store the finished film in an uncompressed version so as not to introduce or reintroduce new DV artifacts. Problem is that uncompressed files take up a lot of space!

Is there a good lossless compressed video codec out there?

It is seeming like DVD is my only option at the moment via splitting the final render up. I still don't trust them to stay readable over time however.

Animation, huffyuv, windows media lossless are free codecs.

microcosm is one of the few commercial ones out there.

There's a Windows Media lossless? Interesting, I didn't realise that.

Apparently. I haven't tested it, but I think it should be good.

You can do the shotgun approach and export in all 3 formats.

Yep. I'll be giving that codec a go. Thanks!

this is why i want either blu--ray DVDR or HD-DVDR to be here and now TODAY!!! can you imagine if we had 30gb or 50gb blanks so we can store our precious files on those media? but it's funny because by then our content creation source files would probably be more than 100gb due to nature of HD!

Have you tried any of the DVHS decks. I have the JVC and I like the results it gives for storage and retrieval.