Restored a 9mm film wedding -- What DVDs for archiving?
 

Let me reply as I go...

You know, that's often a benefit more than a negative! You understand something else, such as photo, painting, audio or what-have-you. That can be important, as video is little more than thousands of smaller works of art going by in the blink of an eye!

I bet you're referring to 9.5mm film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9.5_mm_film
That's impressively old film stock.

KEEP THE AVI FILE !!! Most of the time, AVI files are unreasonably large, and too cumbersome to archive without relying on very large hard drives. At only 5.5GB, you have a file that should be kept on hard drive, as well as duplicated to DVD+R DL media. Better yet, use VirtualDub to split that file in half (using stream copy "compression" that does NOT re-encode), and burn to two single-layer DVD+R blanks.

Although MPEG-2 for DVD-Video is good, there are potentially better formats to keep viewable copies in. For example, H.264 with good settings, archived to a Bluray-on-DVD. This won't be your main copy, mind you, or a replacement for the DVD-Video copy you intend to make. At least not now. This is a bit of future-proofing for you here.

Always refer to this list: http://www.digitalFAQ.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

I would use any two of these:
- Verbatim 16x "Advanced AZO" DVD+R (not Life Series, not Value Series) with media ID MCC0004
- Verbatim 16x "Advanced AZO" DVD-R (not Life Series, not Value Series) with media ID MCC03RG20
- Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD+R with media ID YUDEN000T03
And then also make a third copy on this:
- TDK DVD-R with media ID RITEKF1 (oxonol dye)

Verbatim is available from Amazon (in USA and Europe).
TY is available online only (worldwide)
TDK is almost all RITEK ID media right now in stores (in North America)

For links on best prices where to get those, again, refer to the list: http://www.digitalFAQ.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

Thanks! I try to give the best info possible. (The secret is to simply not say anything when I don't know what I'm talking about. Easy enough, you'd think -- but sadly a choice that is too often not selected by the masses.)

Anyway, I hope that's given you a clear idea on how to end your project. :)

If not, follow it up here with more posts, and we can hash out whatever else is needed.

Thanks.

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I couldn't get the quote thing to work, so I'm replying as a regular email. Of course it is 9.5mm, as you corrected. As for archival, I think I got your philosophy, and I intend on keeping the avi file (already made a copy on external drive!) and I will study your recommendations to make sure I understand what is happening at the technical level. In any event, you made my day. As a matter of fact, you have been so helpful, I wish I could send you a link where you can view it. I bet you'd see things I don't. Anyway, just a thought, and again, thank you for your generosity.

Just remember that hard drives can fail, too, so keep multiple copies of that 5.5GB file, whether it's done on several hard drives, on double-layer discs, or split onto single-layer discs.

Good backup/archiving is accomplished by using multiple media types, and in multiple locations. (I'm actually in the middle of backing up all my photos, irreplaceable videos, documents and computer C: backups to hard drives. One for here, and one to leave elsewhere -- just in case. I grabbed two of those 2TB hard drives that were on sale from Buy.com a week ago.)

This is part curse, actually. It's REALLY hard to simply enjoy video, because subconsciously you're dissecting the video for flaws. But yes, I probably could see everything wrong with it. On the upside, I also notice what's been done right, and can acknowledge what took some skill to achieve!

Glad to help. :)