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Old 14th March 2008, 19:54   #12  |  Link
mattsmith321
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 14
Quote:
Originally Posted by ron spencer View Post
hard drives are cheap....cheap...just store DV...simple easy
I don't disagree with you about that. I do have an issue about maintaining that much data when it probably wouldn't be used that much.

I think I'm going to back off my requirement about needing to work with the encoded videos in editing software. I think at this point in time, it is more important to me to have encoded/compressed versions of the files so that I can a) keep a copy of everything on my main hard drive so that my wife and kids have easy access, b) import into Adobe Photoshop Elements so that the clips can be organized/tagged/categorized with my pictures,and c) easily keep backup copies on my current 250GB backup hard drives.

If and when I ever have a need to put a project together and I find that the encoded versions aren't working or are too lossy, then I can always go back to tape. Yes, it will be a little bit of a pain to re-import, but that is a trade-off I can live with.

So, I will probably end up with the following:
- Import with WinDV from tape to date-stamped clips
- Encode/compress clips to ~6-8Mbps (still need to decide MPEG-2/XviD/DivX)
- Delete original clips
- Import encoded clips into Adobe Photoshop Elements
- For iPod or lo-fi (youtube, online, etc.) needs, use the encoded clips.
- For projects where quality is a concern, re-import the original clip.
- At some point, I will probably copy the DV tapes to new tapes to keep them fresh.

I'm not a videophile so I have no interest in obsessing over the differences between chroma, quants, mux, etc. My family did lose everything when I was growing up so I am especially cognizant of keeping separate physical backups at different locations. That, and being able to have better access to the clips is important.

Thanks for everyone's help so far. I really do appreciate it and admire those of you that understand and have to deal with all of the nuances associated with video and audio.
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