Posted by Richard Crowley on 11/22/05 00:42

"bmcswain" wrote ...

>>>there is NO format, process, or trick that will add data to
>>>the original BetaMax and LD material
>
> Excellent point and part of my thinking about AVI. I told them that
> this would be a 2nd (or maybe even 3rd) generation of the original
> videos. Many of the videos were shot for them and then edited down.
> In one case there are 40+ 3/4" Beta tapes that were edited down to a 2
> hour laserdisc.

Beta is "1/2-inch" (Both consumer and pro versions).
3/4-inch is "U-Matic" (Sony's name, there will similar "U-names"
by other manufacturers.)

DV is "better" than all those formats, at least according to the
rank-list at http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-tech.html
That means, at least to my way of reasoning, that 5:1 compressed
DV is a suitable archival format for Beta, 3/4U, and videodisc.
"Suitable" meaning that it is of sufficiently higher quality so that
you will see no significant further loss in the quality of the video.

> And your point is my point. If I can go to a very common, nearly
> lossless digital format, then when the new standards are established,
> we can publish to that level. Yes, that would be generation 4 but
> that's better than going to DVD now, then converting to something else
> and then to something else.

I would be very surprised if AVI-DV were not easily decoded (and
viewed/converted) in 5-10 years. Remember that once it is in digital
form, there are no further "generation losses" from copying.

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