What format to save lots of raw video in?

[Kenazo]

I've got hours of DV video (from a Sony DCR-HC21, so nothing commercial quality here), but it takes tonnes of space. What format is best for archiving in? I can stand to lose some quality, but hopefully not a lot.

Should I use WM converter and just bulk compress it into WMV? DIVX, XVID....

 

[xtknight]

Hmmm...I don't know. Lossless H.264 maybe? High bit-rate H.264 Main Profile (supposedly best)?

 

[Hacp]

my first instinct is DivX, but theres probably something better.

 

[Kenazo]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Hmmm...I don't know. Lossless H.264 maybe? High bit-rate H.264 Main Profile (supposedly best)?

Well, I was hoping to shrink the 10 hours of video I have into closer to 5 gigs instead of the 150 it is now. The quality is fairly crappy anyway (it's actually just hand held camcorder footage of various church functions).