{ "attachments": [], "comments_archived": true, "date": "2003-07-30T14:58:52.000Z", "layout": "post", "title": "Videos on tape (Travan, not VHS)", "wordpress_id": 454, "wordpress_slug": "video-on-tape", "wordpress_url": "http://www.decafbad.com/blog/?p=454", "year": "2003", "month": "07", "day": "30", "isDir": false, "slug": "video-on-tape", "type": "entry", "postName": "2003-07-30-video-on-tape", "html": "

Oh and while I'm writing about watching video files on my TV, I've\nbeen thinking of getting myself a tape drive. Sure, I'll use it to\nactually, finally, back up all the important things I have littered\naround my handful of machines. Having established a backup routine\nat work, I've gotten to thinking.

\n

How bad an idea would it be to use a tape drive to store TV shows?\nI've been capturing them with the VCD format, which gives me around\n600MB per hour of show. This fills up my drive pretty quickly,\nobviously. I know I really should take sometime to revisit things and\ntry another video codec, since originally I used VCD because I burned\neverything to CD for my DVD player, but now I'm streaming files to my\nPowerbook over the network which gives me a lot more flexibility in\nrecording options.

\n

However, not burning to CD leaves me with a hard drive full of video\nthat I'm hesitant to delete yet have no good reason to need laying around on a\nhigh speed hard drive. But, burning all that to a spindle-worth\nof blank CDs without a Lego Mindstorms based CD-changer robot leaves\nme shuddering. I recall reading about a DJ-bot\nthat did this for playing music, and I notice via Slashdot that someone with a\ndecent woodshop has provided plans\nfor such a beast for a CD writer. But I can't afford the Legos at\nthe present moment, and I'll only end up hurting myself working with\npower tools.

\n

Then, I remember that high capacity tapes make backing up lots of data\neasy at work. I know that the tape trade off is capacity and price\nfor speed of access. But, if all I need to do is skip from one file\nto the next and only need relatively low bandwidth to stream the file\nfrom the tape, this sounds like a great way to archive video.\nDepending on the video compression, maybe I could fit a whole season\nor two of a show onto a single tape.

\n

Seems like a good idea, though pricey. But maybe the price and cost\nof media would offset the pain in the ass of any other method. I probably\nshould look more into the price and pain of a DVD burner, but the idea\nof more disc-like things laying around worries me.

\n

What do you think?

\n\n\n\n

shortname=video_on_tape

\n

Archived Comments

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n", "body": "Oh and while I'm writing about watching video files on my TV, I've\r\nbeen thinking of getting myself a tape drive. Sure, I'll use it to\r\nactually, finally, back up all the important things I have littered\r\naround my handful of machines. Having established a backup routine\r\nat work, I've gotten to thinking.\r\n

\r\nHow bad an idea would it be to use a tape drive to store TV shows?\r\nI've been capturing them with the VCD format, which gives me around\r\n600MB per hour of show. This fills up my drive pretty quickly,\r\nobviously. I know I really should take sometime to revisit things and\r\ntry another video codec, since originally I used VCD because I burned\r\neverything to CD for my DVD player, but now I'm streaming files to my\r\nPowerbook over the network which gives me a lot more flexibility in\r\nrecording options.\r\n

\r\nHowever, not burning to CD leaves me with a hard drive full of video\r\nthat I'm hesitant to delete yet have no good reason to need laying around on a\r\nhigh speed hard drive. But, burning all that to a spindle-worth\r\nof blank CDs without a Lego Mindstorms based CD-changer robot leaves\r\nme shuddering. I recall reading about a DJ-bot\r\nthat did this for playing music, and I notice via Slashdot that someone with a\r\ndecent woodshop has provided plans\r\nfor such a beast for a CD writer. But I can't afford the Legos at\r\nthe present moment, and I'll only end up hurting myself working with\r\npower tools.\r\n

\r\nThen, I remember that high capacity tapes make backing up lots of data\r\neasy at work. I know that the tape trade off is capacity and price\r\nfor speed of access. But, if all I need to do is skip from one file\r\nto the next and only need relatively low bandwidth to stream the file\r\nfrom the tape, this sounds like a great way to archive video.\r\nDepending on the video compression, maybe I could fit a whole season\r\nor two of a show onto a single tape.\r\n

\r\nSeems like a good idea, though pricey. But maybe the price and cost\r\nof media would offset the pain in the ass of any other method. I probably\r\nshould look more into the price and pain of a DVD burner, but the idea\r\nof more disc-like things laying around worries me.\r\n

\r\nWhat do you think?\r\n\r\nshortname=video_on_tape\r\n\r\n
\r\n

Archived Comments

\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\n ", "parentPath": "./content/posts/archives/2003", "path": "2003/07/30/video-on-tape", "summary": "Oh and while I'm writing about watching video files on my TV, I've\nbeen thinking of getting myself a tape drive. Sure, I'll use it to\nactually, finally, back up all the important things I have littered\naround my handful of machines. Having established a backup routine\nat work, I've gotten to thinking.\nHow bad an idea would it be to use a tape drive to store TV shows?\nI've been capturing them with the VCD format, which gives me around\n600MB per hour of show. This fills up my drive pretty quickly,\nobviously. I know I really should take sometime to revisit things and\ntry another video codec, since originally I used VCD because I burned\neverything to CD for my DVD player, but now I'm streaming files to my\nPowerbook over the network which gives me a lot more flexibility in\nrecording options.\nHowever, not burning to CD leaves me with a hard drive full of video\nthat I'm hesitant to delete yet have no good reason to need laying around on a\nhigh speed hard drive. But, burning all that to a spindle-worth\nof blank CDs without a Lego Mindstorms based CD-changer robot leaves\nme shuddering. I recall reading about a DJ-bot\nthat did this for playing music, and I notice via Slashdot that someone with a\ndecent woodshop has provided plans\nfor such a beast for a CD writer. But I can't afford the Legos at\nthe present moment, and I'll only end up hurting myself working with\npower tools.\nThen, I remember that high capacity tapes make backing up lots of data\neasy at work. I know that the tape trade off is capacity and price\nfor speed of access. But, if all I need to do is skip from one file\nto the next and only need relatively low bandwidth to stream the file\nfrom the tape, this sounds like a great way to archive video.\nDepending on the video compression, maybe I could fit a whole season\nor two of a show onto a single tape.\nSeems like a good idea, though pricey. But maybe the price and cost\nof media would offset the pain in the ass of any other method. I probably\nshould look more into the price and pain of a DVD burner, but the idea\nof more disc-like things laying around worries me.\nWhat do you think?", "needsBuild": true, "prevPostPath": "2003/07/30/powerbook-on-tv", "prevPostTitle": "My Powerbook's on TV", "nextPostPath": "2003/07/30/ge-blog-of-day", "nextPostTitle": "GeniusEngineer Blog of the Day" }