RE: arsclist VHS and S-VHS Tapes

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

At 11:45 AM 3/1/2002 +0000, Copeland, Peter wrote:
>    From the point of view of audio (which is what I'm employed to know),
> both DV and DVCAM both use 16-bit 48kHz, so the audio can be preserved in
> many ways (but not, unfortunately, on CD-R).

Please permit me to second-guess Peter's exposition. The audio cannot be 
preserved on CD-R in audio form - that is in a way directly playable in a 
conventional CD player. However, I would not recommend that form to begin 
with. It is convenient for playback, but is terrible for archiving.

The audio can be captured from your source in digital form - no analogue 
conversion at all - and saved as WAV (PC) or AIFF (Mac) files. Those files 
can then be saved *as data* onto CD-R. Because they are data files, not 
CD-DA (Compact Disc - Digital Audio), they have an extra layer of error 
correction. Recorded on good media with appropriate safeguards, they are 
reliable for archival purposes. The operations are straightforward and both 
hardware and media are inexpensive; however, you will need a reasonable 
capable person (high-school graduate level) to do the work.

There are other advantages to this approach for storage. For example, if 
the source is not in stereo, the files can be monaural, doubling the 
storage capacity. Regardless, there are lossless compression schemes - SHN 
and APE are the most common - which reduce storage by 30-50%. Thus, one can 
expect to save up to three hours of audio on a disc costing less than half 
a dollar; making two copies for safety would then require less than a 
dollar and take perhaps fifteen minutes for a technician using a computer 
priced well under $1000.

Mike

mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/


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