Can't find a way to make lossless backups of miniDV tapes using my Mac...

[thomanjones]

One idea I've been mulling for protecting favorite photos and home videos is getting them burned on Cranberry Diamond Disc, which is rated at 1k years (vs ~5 for a standard burned DVD). At 30$ per 4.7GB though, it can get pricey quick. Probably best to compress it to a reasonably HQ H.264 preset to save space.

Sure, won't be bit-for-bit, but you can keep bit-for-bit copies on HDDs, with the Diamond Disc as a 'microfiche' backup. Not affiliated, here's the site: http://www.cranberry.com/

 

[AppleFan360]

One idea I've been mulling for protecting favorite photos and home videos is getting them burned on Cranberry Diamond Disc, which is rated at 1k years (vs ~5 for a standard burned DVD). At 30$ per 4.7GB though, it can get pricey quick. Probably best to compress it to a reasonably HQ H.264 preset to save space.

Sure, won't be bit-for-bit, but you can keep bit-for-bit copies on HDDs, with the Diamond Disc as a 'microfiche' backup. Not affiliated, here's the site: http://www.cranberry.com/

I don't know why businesses such as Cranberry keep perpetuating the myth that CD-R's and DVD'R's only last 2 to 5 years. That's a crock. I have over 100 DVD-R's that I burned back in 2000 that are still going strong. I have a whole slew of CD-R's that I burned back in 1999. They still play just fine.

 

[notjustjay]

Regardless, I still advocate that DV footage is best archived as that -- DV footage. Conversion to other formats, even nice ones like h.264, will only result in data loss. Raw DV is impractical to store on DVD media, so hard drives or tape backup is still your best best there.