Can Progressive Video be archived as DV?

[boblin2]

I have many 30fps progressive video clips from a digicam. I resize them to 720x480, convert to 29.97fps for displaying on TV's (analogue and digital) and computer screens, and authoring DVDs.

Is the DV codec a good option for archiving the clips and assembled movies, and do I need to convert to 29.97fps (NTSC)?

[boblin2]

Progressive Video in DV
On reading more about progressive and interlaced video, and following up on feedback from others, it is clear that my progressive video clips and movies can be archived as DV without significant loss in quality, while at the same time preserving the progressive qualities. Using DVPRO25 or DVPRO50 would be better still as it retains more color information, however the codecs are not as common as plain DV.

This web page was useful in understanding how progressive video is stored:
http://adamwilt.com/24p/#24pRecording

Page 58 of this manual helped also:
ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/pub/Panasonic/Drivers/PBTS/manuals/OM_AG-DVX100.pdf

Compression Methods and Options
I tested working and saving my processed video clips in MJPEG, but the loss in quality, especially around moving objects, was very noticeable. It appears that because of the processing I want to do, I need to post-process in Huffyuv and save in DV.

This web page helped convince me of the codes to use (i.e. Huffyuv, DV, and DivX/XviD/H.264):
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/guides/avtech/video4.htm

My Video Processing and Archive Procedure
1. convert my progressive 640x480 30fps video clips to Huffyuv at 720x480 29.97fps, and archive the original clips to a DVD.

2. Post-process the Huffyuv video clips i.e filters, color adjustments, slow motion etc.

3. Convert the Huffyuv to DV, and discard the Huffyuv files (because they are so big).

4. Assemble my movie from the DV video clips.

5. Output the completed movie as DV for archiving, MPEG-2 for DVD, and DivX, XviD or H.264 (not decided yet) for storing on my computer/network drive.

6. Archive the editor project file and DV video clips to DVD.

I might start to skip the Huffyuv step and go straight to DV. I will run some more tests, and then decide.

Footnote
Most digicams (still cameras) produce poor, jerky, mono video clips, however the Cannon PowerShot S3 and S5 produce video that is, visually anyway, approaching that of a standard DV camcorder, here's a link that you may want to follow (includes a video clip):
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/page7.asp

I would welcome any opinions on the process I intend to use.

[bb]

Your procedure sounds good, except that DVD is not a reliable medium for archiving purposes - and too small for DV, if you ask me. Tapes (miniDV) are more reliable for long-term storage.

bb