Field and offload workflow

[Paul Ramsbottom]

Originally Posted by Alexander Ibrahim

I've seen some reservations about archiving to DVD or other consumer media.

In the end I want to express that archiving on anything other than film is unproven.

Some have talked about how unreliable the mechanical parts of HDDs are.

Others have pointed out that archiving to DVD is dangerous, due to the "bit rot" they've experienced.

In that sense DVD and CD have been the most reliable archival formats for digital media.

Like all media, you must use archival quality media and storage techniques in order to preserve the media for any length of time. I have archival CD's in basic jewel cases more than a decade old with full readability.

"Pressed" ROM media will last much longer than WORM or RW media.

One additional strategy is to archive on multiple formats. For example on hard disk and DVD. This buys you some insurance against a format becoming archaic- because its extremely unlikely that two separate formats will become archaic at once with such rapidity that you can't transfer your media before the other one becomes archaic.

Heh, I still have my original Joshua Tree CD, bought on day-one in 1987 - has it really been 20 years!!!!

I can remember at the time that everyone had their knickers in a right old twist about how CD's would degrade and be unplayable in a few years.

It's funny, I like having it in my CD rack but it's really not that important to me.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

While this is true about pressed ROM disks, I'm afraid what we burn is not reliable at all...

[Craig Seeman]

It may depend on what one means about "archive."

There's "I'm shooting a feature/documentary and I want it to last forever." And there's "I'm shooting a corporate video/tv spot and I want it to last for five years so I can do revisions or use the clips in future projects."

If it's the later, DVD should be safe as long as you buy quality discs.

If it's the former, you'll probably want to move it to another format every 5 to 10 years otherwise do a film xfer (!!!!).

BTW having a laptop record to dual layer DVD also resolves the "what do I hand the client after the shoot" issue. I actually think this work flow is BETTER than HDV. There's so many deck/camera HDV incompatibles because of the variation in the formats. Sony's free viewer utility will mean anyone with a reasonable computer will be able to view the material you shoot, no deck needed. With ingest/burn speed the turnaround after a shoot should be reasonably short for all but the longest (all day) shoots. And, unlike handing tapes to the client, you have your copy on hard drive in case something goes awry with the burned discs.

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Piotr Wozniacki

While this is true about pressed ROM disks, I'm afraid what we burn is not reliable at all...

For the record, that disk I was talking about is from July 30 1993, it has a backup copy of the Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1 disks on it.

This disk I used is actually marked CD-WO, and is probably quite a bit older than 1993. (I don't remember when they changed the name to CD-R, but I thought it was 1990 or so.)

Its a phthalocyanine disc with a gold reflective layer. Sadly I have no NTAS 3.1 install key- and probably no hardware that can run it- so I'll probably chuck it.

I think that qualifies as a disk I burned.

[Paul Ramsbottom]

My [U2 CD] point was more about the value of all this stuff, if you're not in the the big-league and being submiited to the Library of Congress, then fuggetaboutit - no-one's gonna care about your pay-the-rent corporate vids, home movies and indie film projects - peace :)

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Paul Ramsbottom

My [U2 CD] point was more about the value of all this stuff, if you're not in the the big-league and being submiited to the Library of Congress, then fuggetaboutit - no-one's gonna care about your pay-the-rent corporate vids, home movies and indie film projects - peace :)

Oh I agree OH so much.

I have some DV footage of a USFSA regional championship and really nobody cares at all. The show I was shooting for wasn't picked up, and the event is so not current no one, except the skaters at the event, might be interested.

I have some footage of the Pentagon from 9/13, also DV, and again there's barely a reason to archive that. In fact going forward for me, just about any footage I'd want from those days will have been acquired on 35mm back then, not DV. I keep it because the DV footage is free to me at least, & free might matter.

At the same time though, if you want some footage archived then you better have some sensible archival plans for it. Plans you can implement. Unlike the big guys, the Library of Congress won't be doing my archival anytime soon.

For most of us that means the copy to newer media every so often type plans.

For example that Pentagon footage is preserved on HDD and DVD as DVCPRO 50 footage. Of course I also still have the tape, but at this point I know it has some dropouts... so I may use footage from the HDD as my "master" for future re-use of the footage.

[Paul Ramsbottom]

And obviously Alexander, that comment wasn't aimed just at your stuff :)

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by Paul Ramsbottom

And obviously Alexander, that comment wasn't aimed just at your stuff :)

Oh, I know. I don't mean to seem remotely offended, because I'm not.

I just wanted to talk more about your point, which I really agree is valid. You mentioned the U2 CD, I wanted to give a more direct example from my work in support of what you said.

Maybe you thought I was being tongue in cheek, but I wasn't.

As important as that stuff seems at first, the truth is that it isn't that interesting or useful six or seven years after the fact. Doubly so given the acquisition format.