What is the best format to store your family videos on your computer ?
jber asked:
I have a new dvdRW camera. I want to store the content of the dvd on my computer. What is the best format for that ?
I have a new dvdRW camera. I want to store the content of the dvd on my computer. What is the best format for that ?
MP4 – DivX.
Small file size, widely supported format with other electronic devices. good quality. compatible with pc and mac. plays under unix based systems too.
Firstly, you do not want to store your family videos on your computers hard drive as it is the least reliable component in your computer and you will lose everything if it gets corrupt.
As a professional video producer, I store all my videos on DVD’s and a specialized external hard drive used only for storage.
Why not just make a DVD-R copy of each DVD you record with? At under 50c per DVD-R, it’s a reliable and cheap option.
If you edit your footage, put the finished video on the DVD-R as mpeg2. It’s all very well compressing the video file to make it smaller, but you also compromise picture quality as well. Keep it at DVD quality is my advice. Remember the DVD only costs 50c!!
I would recommend you learn how to author a DVD and have menus like the ones you buy in the shops. It’s easy to do and you can print out a DVD cover and start your own family movie library. Get the kids involved. My son and daughter love editing and authoring their own DVD’s.
I recommend getting Sony Movie Studio 7 Platinum ($50). It has most of the features of it’s professional big brother Sony Vegas at a fraction of the price.
Get a printer that prints discs like the Epson R22O ($100) and you could start your own video production buisness