Lossless video compression for archiving?

[shmendrapolk]

Hi,

Sorry if this should be in a sub-forum but it didn't seem to fit the categories.
I have tons of home movies, some in DV avi (from a mini-dv camcorder) and some in Mpeg shot with my canon elph. I use a fairly small percentage in making my "produced" home movies, but I want to archive the rest for possible future use.

But I'm running out of external hard drive space. Windows NTFS native compression option doesn't actually save space with video files.

Is there any way to compress DV and/or mpeg files for archiving to save hard drive space in a lossless manner? I don't care if they are unplayable while archived, but it's important that they can be uncompressed and returned to their original state at a later time.

Thanks!

[Guest]

Buy more external storage. It's very cheap these days.

[shmendrapolk]

So does that mean there is no way to compress it to save space?
I'm surrounded by way too many hard drives. Moreover, due to my lack of trust of technology, I need two copies of everything, so 200gb (and counting) of archived video footage means two separate high capacity drives.

[Irakli]

@shmendrapolk

DV avi files are already compressed, so I don't think it is possible to reduce their size further in a lossless manner. However, you could try is running some really strong archiver like 7-zip to compress your DV's, but even in this case the size reduction will most likely be very small (probably 3 - 5 %, but that's just my guess).

[shmendrapolk]

What about the Mpeg files shot my digital cameras and those hard drive/dvd based camcorders?

[Guest]

What about the Mpeg files shot my digital cameras and those hard drive/dvd based camcorders? Same thing. If it was possible to compress them better losslessly the MPEG2 standard would have included that. :)

200GB is nothing these days. You can get reasonably priced 1000 GB drives quite easily now.

[setarip_old]

@shmendrapolk

Hi!I need two copies of everything, so 200gb (and counting) of archived video footage means two separate high capacity drives.Or two sets of 45 DVD5s each at approximately 25 cents (US) each, for a total combined cost of approximately $23US - with the ability to make unlimited low cost additions as your needs increase ;>}

[Maccara]

@shmendrapolk

Hi!Or two sets of 45 DVD5s each at approximately 25 cents (US) each, for a total combined cost of approximately $23US - with the ability to make unlimited low cost additions as your needs increase ;>}

Heh, I always wondered why someone would buy blank dvds, when harddrives were cheaper and definitely more convenient (just plug & go with eSata and immediate 500GB available)...

I guess it matters where you are located and how much levies you pay for blank media (here 50 dvdr5 is about the same price as 500GB HD - actually just checked one store and the price was exactly the same)... ;)

[setarip_old]

@Maccara

Hi!

In addition to the (in the U.S.) low cost per blank DVD5, I prefer to use them for backup storage because of the difference in the "loss risk factor" - If the hard drive fails, you risk losing everything, whereas, if a DVD fails, you've only lost the contents of that individual DVD...

[Maccara]

@Maccara

Hi!

In addition to the (in the U.S.) low cost per blank DVD5, I prefer to use them for backup storage because of the difference in the "loss risk factor" - If the hard drive fails, you risk losing everything, whereas, if a DVD fails, you've only lost the contents of that individual DVD...

Yes, that's true, but with these prices I can easily duplicate all data and have plenty to spare for even ECC data with the same cost as the dvdrs. Secure enough for me. (I "might" think differently, if dvdrs' would be even remotely cost effective solution here - I only need a few for emergency media)

[Shinigami-Sama]

@Maccara

Hi!

In addition to the (in the U.S.) low cost per blank DVD5, I prefer to use them for backup storage because of the difference in the "loss risk factor" - If the hard drive fails, you risk losing everything, whereas, if a DVD fails, you've only lost the contents of that individual DVD...

harddrive just don't fail often though, they usually give you warning(SMART anyone?)
plus 4 1TB drives + Raid5 = 3TB of storage thats got 99.999% reliability...

or you could got 5 drives and raidz-2

[linyx]

AFAIK, x264 has a "lossless" mode, although i don't know if it is truly lossless. It can only be decoded by CoreAVC currently, though. The advantage would be superior compression. My calculations show about a 45% increase in compression over lagarith.

[Dark Shikari]

AFAIK, x264 has a "lossless" mode, although i don't know if it is truly lossless. It can only be decoded by CoreAVC currently, though. The advantage would be superior compression. My calculations show about a 45% increase in compression over lagarith.His files are already lossily compressed. A lossless compressor will not gain any compression (in fact, it'll lose a whole ton).

[linyx]

Missed that ^, never mind my suggestion.

[*.mp4 guy]

Yuvsoft lossless in yv12 mode (all posssible destination formats are yv12, so I don't consider this a loss) can usually outcompress dv video. Of course, it isn't a sure thing, since dv is cbr, and lossless compression by nature is completely vbr, noise, and picture stability also play a role. Its very slow, and will offer no improvement on your mpeg files, but its probably your best option.