Ross Hall Wrote:
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> DVD formats are already changing, Blue Ray and
> HD-DVD are already coming and once one of the two
> wins out they will replace the current DVD formats
> now offered in computers and the old format will
> become the modern version of the floppy.
> Preservation, as we have seen can be a complex
> headache and there really doesn't seem to be a
> great solution anywhere. It also seems that
> interest in historical preservation is
> fading---railroading is an exception, mainly
> because the interest in modeling keeps the old
> stuff around (at least photographs). There have
> been many good ideas presented here, and all have
> some merit. Here ya go, keep it all, burn it onto
> hard drives and DVDs too, when new and better
> DVD's, hard drives and memory chips come around,
> burn it onto that. Make dupicates and send them
> to interested museums. Whew, a lot of work. OK,
> feeble attempt at humor.

Ross,

In your humor, however, you make the case for doing it all, and whatever you can. The more you backup, the more likely it is to survive.

As to Blue Ray and HDVD replacing DVD... it won't make DVDs like floppy disks. The new players support the old format. Thus, transferring to the new format will take minutes. And even when Blue Ray goes away, there will be a time when it can be transfered to the newer and better system, and I think you will probably get an absolute perfect duplicate (as opposed to a copy) in seconds.

That being said, digital archiving is not a replacement for the original slides. It's a backup.

Charles