Mini-DV Storage Solutions

[Bob Anderson]

First off - Jason - THANKS for getting this site up and running. I'm looking forward to maximizing my investment in my Sony Mini-DV Camcorder now!

But the main topic I have to ask about is what sort of storage solutions are there for Mini-DVs? I've already got 12 or so tapes, and I'm struggling to keep them in a nice, organized fashion...

Anyone know of good storage ideas/solutions? I'd love to hear what others are using.

[Jason Dunn]

Good question! I never had many MiniDV tapes, because I tended to use them 4-6 times then toss 'em out. But lately I've been using MiniDV tapes to archive bigger projects that I want to keep long term. I have a lot of hard drive space (0.5 TB) but keeping the original 10 GB DV-AVI isn't overly practical, so I'm putting the final project back onto tape. But getting to your point, the only thing I've really found is a JVC case that holds six tapes - it comes with five or six blank tapes, but I bought it mostly for the plastic case. Not elegant, but it works OK.

[Gary Sheynkman]

If you have the means to....u can archive them on DVDs (something alog the lines of iDVD)

[Jason Dunn]

If you have the means to....u can archive them on DVDs (something alog the lines of iDVD)

But that's converting them to MPEG2 - I want to keep them uncompressed (well, as uncompressed as DV-AVI is at least), which is why archiving to tape maintains the quality better.

Anyway, this discussion is about physical containers for MiniDV tapes. ;-)

[mrwickham]

Here's what I use. Cheap, cheerful and does the job.
http://www.tapeandmedia.com/mini_dv_storage.asp
Actually I have the 50 version
http://www.tapeandmedia.com/detail.asp?product_id=MDV-50
It's a starting point, anyway. As for the website I have not done business with them before, I just googled Bryco, MiniDV.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

[`helios]

how about this???


http://www.svcompucycle.com/dv1.html

[Jason Dunn]

how about this???


http://www.svcompucycle.com/dv1.html

That looks PERFECT...! I think I may have to request a review unit. ;-)

[Jonathan Schmidt]

I realize that this is not a timely response but I just joined this site and thought I would throw in another thought. I am one to accumulate a lot of tapes and use a rack similar to the one posted by MrWickham. However, there is another suggestion that I would like to offer. Some of my tapes such as those for special events (weddings, etc.) are just too special. As Jason said, you want to keep them uncompressed, but I also want to know that they are kept safe from harm. There is really only one way that I know of to keep the tapes safe and that is to buy an safe specifically designed for media.

I have a chest-style safe that I use to keep some MiniDV tapes, CD audio, and tape backups for my home network. What makes a safe a “media safe”? It’s not just any ordinary fire safe. It is made of special foam insulation that changes when exposed to heat. Magnetic and plastic media can be harmed at temperatures starting at 125 degrees. The media safe keeps the inside cooler than other types of safes. Of yeah, and they are watertight as well.

My safe is made by Sentry. I have model 6720. If you’re interested in more info, check out:

http://www.sentrysafe.com/Series.asp?r=5

When I have my irreplaceable materials in the chest, I really feel “safe”.
:oops:

[Jason Dunn]

That's a GREAT suggestion - I haven't really thought of that, but you're right, fire can destroy anything that isn't protected. I think I might just have to get one of those. :-)