Optimal format for DVD archiving DV/HDV tapes?

[13]

you do not want to archive in a format that is more compressed then the original, this is why most people archive on tape

[Jon Boffa]

Thanks but I guess my ? should’ve been what capture setting should I go with in FCP to maximize the video quality of a file that will ultimately be burned to a DVD as a second backup (family treasures).
It defaults as a QT file, which 15 minute DV clips running about 3GB. Is there a better file type that will get me closer to the 4.7GB max on a DVD should the tape somehow fail and we needed to use the DVD files for regeneration, etc.
Actually, maybe my question should be what is the best way to preserve tapes?
Thanks

[13]

I think that there are some basic things that you may not understand.

When capturing video you should capture the video in the format that it was shot in, unless you plan on editing it in a different format. For example if you shoot HDV capture in DV unless you plan wish to mix the footage with HD footage like DVCProHD, or unless you are wishng to get out of the HDV format because of its difficulties.

When archiving video you ALWAYS should archive in the highest format possible, this is normally the the same format the you shoot on.

Any time video is compressed there is quality loss.

it sounds like you wish to use this archived video for editing again later. If you compress the video, you will only be hurting yourself, because your video will not look as good as it could if you compress it because of the quality loss of compression.

If you wish to do more editing with the footage in the future then, use media manager and get an additional hard drive to store it on.

Another option and the one I prefer to use, because I want the option of reeding, yet do not want to have stacks of hard drives laying around.

Fist when you capture video make sure that you log and capture, don’t use capture now. Logging and capturing, even if you only log the begging and end of each tape will allow you to recapture the video again later.

So log and capture, do your edit and once you are finished, use media manager to keep only the parts used.

Now archive your project file, any graphics and music, and any other data files onto a DVD.

If you need to reedit you can pull your files off the DVD, and recapture from the original tapes.

You should also master to tape your edited version of your video. This way if you need to reuse the full quality video file later you can simply again recapture it. For example if you need to add the video to a different DVD compilation later.

I am sorry for the long post, but archiving compressed video is NOT something that should be done, You always want to preserve the highest quality video that you can.