Formats not recommended

In my opinion, there is a high risk when transferring tapes from obsolete formats to 8mm/Hi-8, MII, DCT, DV/Digital 8, Betacam SX or DVD.

? 8mm/ Hi-8 - These formats employ tiny tapes; engineers hate to work on such small scale machines. Hi-8 offers the same image quality as S-VHS but more dropout. It is a format that has been superseded by the small digital formats; however, there are still plenty of tape machines out there. In the future, 8mm/Hi-8 will pose challenges for preservation.

? MII - A Panasonic format that is equal Betacam SP's equal in everyway except popularity. MII tape machines are hard to find.

? DCT - Ampex's digital component format. Ahead of its time. Long gone.

? DV/Digital 8 - Both formats are designed to be cost effective digital formats. Compression is reasonable for field acquisition (5:1 DCT), formats are 4:1:1 component, with 2 chroma (1 B-Y signal, 1 R-Y) signals for 4 Y (luma) signals. Tapes and tape paths are tiny, making the machines difficult to work on and probably less reliable than the larger formats. DVCPRO 50 offers better quality but is stillvery small.

? Betacam SX - A compressed digital 4:2:0 component format that is strictly for field acquisition.

? DVD - This digital format is designed for distribution, not for remastering.

Transferring tapes to one inch, U-matic, D3/D5, D2 or Digital S is not recommended, although the risk is somewhat less than transfers to the formats listed above.
? One inch and 3/4" U-matic - Should be considered an obsolete formats for remastering. Reliable technicians, machines and parts are increasingly difficult to locate.

? D3/D5 - Panasonic's answer to Sony's D2 and D1. Great quality, But machines are difficult to locate.

? D2 - An uncompressed composite digital format that has been superseded in the marketplace by a compressed component format, Digital Betacam.

? Digital S - A digital format with the form factor of VHS and the specs of Digital Betacam. An attractive idea with a small market share.