General Advice on longevity of Digital Video Formats

Xenofex2 wrote on 12/7/2018, 7:40 AM

A question not directly related to MEP usage but wonder whether anyone is aware of issues with the longevity of digital video formats?

The reason I ask is that I am now suddenly concerned about all my family movies saved to mpeg, is that I have just played a short clip (42 secs. 640x480 at 30fps) using VLC and the clip is suddenly badly wearing - no previous signs. (Transferred from my Camera a couple of years back.) – See screenshot and you can see all those black marks on the floor and wall and this is the same throughout the clip.

Whilst fortunately not particularly concerned about this short clip (I have copies saved), it has started alarm bells ringing for my various family movies put together over the years. I was aware of potential problems with DVD’s, but not with digital video formats.

Is this just something that possibly needs updating on the Computer or is it highlighting a potential degrading issue of digital formats? If so, how does one then save anything for our children and grandchildren to look at in the years to come? Those digital memories? Any thoughts?

George

Comments

CubeAce wrote on 12/7/2018, 9:25 AM

@Xenofex2

A couple of years back? Exactly how far back?

What was the video taken with? What were the specifications of the camera?

Do you remember the specs of the original computer you played it back on? Video monitors have come a long way since this was taken and have on average a much higher dynamic range.

My first thoughts are.

This is an inside shoot. Possibly in low light, as it appears to be on a dance floor.

So the ISO looks pretty high. It has had a fair amount of noise reduction applied to it, in camera.

You are showing a still image from a movie clip. These always look far worse than a jpg from the same camera (assuming it was a stills camera with a movie capability.)

The resolution could be as low as 640x480 pixels.

If the file was damaged in any way, it probably just wouldn't play. I have video files, mainly in mov. format from 2007 that show no degradation at all despite being transferred to other drives at least twice. They are nowhere as good as my currently recorded files but then I wouldn't expect them to be.

On the other hand. If you have edited this in the past rather than copied and pasted it, you could have inadvertently reduced its original dynamic range to suit what you were seeing on your screen at that time.

To date, unless I am editing, I don't really see any degradation in either still or moving images due to storing on digital media. Losing hard drives or DVDs through age, yes but if readable not really.

A third alternative could be that the modern decoding of the file isn't being accurately read due to older codecs being made redundant or modified.

I don't disbelieve you when you say it looks worse than you remember but changes in your current equipment could account for this.

That could be a worrying factor and although a few stills raw codecs are no longer supported, most video file formats seem to be, unless anyone knows better.

CubeAce wrote on 12/7/2018, 9:27 AM

Re-reading your above statement. Can you show the same frame from a copy of the clip that doesn't show the same degradation? That would be interesting to see.

Xenofex2 wrote on 12/7/2018, 10:12 AM

What a brilliant analysis. But first it seems I have found a solution in case anyone else has a similar issue. I played the same clip back but using Windows Media Player instead of my default VLC and the clip plays perfectly. I have now looked for updates for VLC and it seems there is an update available.

Incidentally you were spot on when you mentioned the resolution. I think the Desktop Computer is the same one and I still use the camera, Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ3. Also yes, I do go dancing and I do take a short movie when shown new steps. As the years flash by ever quicker I find that dancing gives me exercise and viewing these clips reminds me of sequences learnt in previous weeks.

Although I have now found the answer, panic over, some information from MediaInfo is below.

George

Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : QuickTime
Codec ID                                 : qt   2005.03 (qt )
File size                                : 11.2 MiB
Duration                                 : 42 s 633 ms
Overall bit rate                         : 2 197 kb/s
Encoded date                             : UTC 2014-11-07 19:28:40
Tagged date                              : UTC 2014-11-07 19:28:40
Writing library                          : Apple QuickTime

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L3
Format settings                          : BVOP
Format settings, BVOP                    : Yes
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                                 : mp4v-20
Duration                                 : 42 s 633 ms
Bit rate                                 : 1 490 kb/s
Width                                    : 640 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Frame rate mode                          : Constant

yvon-robert wrote on 12/8/2018, 8:05 AM

Hi,

to overcome the degradation dvd or blu-ray disk with time you can export on high quality usb key this is a special device to store file similar to hard disk quality. Naturally price is about double the curent usb key but we have no choice to protect against degradation and lost. Also use the maximum quality recording because the future quality and TV should be well above today may be 8k and over.

Regards,