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chip-douglas · Oct 22, 2002, 10:59 PM

Ok, got a few questions here. I have a FP imac (55GB hdd) on X10.1.5 networked to a 233 imac (37GB hdd) on 8.6. I have tons of DV footage that I have imported on the FP and used in iMovie and iDVD.

Once I'm done with them, I want to have access to them in some kind of archive with little loss of quality if any. Right now they are all in QT.mov format. I transferred all of them to the old iMac except for the files >> 2GB because OSes before 9 don't recognize them or something and like I said I'm on 8.6. I get the type 1309 error. Hmmm

So I guess my question is, how to archive this stuff. I have Toast titanium. Can I convert them to something else that takes up less space? I have DVD-Rs burned with the .movs in mpeg2. Can I pull those straight off of the disc somehow without demuxing them? Unfortunately, I can't afford an external hdd for at least several months, so my best option will probably be someway of using some of my extra space on the old imac. Any suggestions? Thx

Nap · Oct 23, 2002, 04:24 AM

I'm using a 233 iMac and 8.6. While file length is limiited to 2 gigs a dependent Quicktime file can reference a combination of files which exceed 2 gigs in total. I have encoded from such a combination of uncompressed source files with QT Pro. Of course the resulting movie ended up less than 2 gigs.
If you can split the movies larger than 2 gigs to shorter files you should be able to access them in 8.6 with a dependent file which combines them. You should be able to split them in OS X and use "Save As" to make the segments <2gigs. Splitting and using Save As should not effect the quality in any way.

dannyn · Oct 23, 2002, 02:58 PM

Why not just transfer your footage back to DV tape? You'll be able to free up a ton of drive space, and you won't run into the 2 GB file size limit. Tapes are cheap and you can put an hour of footage on a single tape. Just make sure you label the tapes clearly and store them in a cool dry place. When you need the footage again, all you have to do is recapture it.

chip-douglas · Oct 23, 2002, 05:26 PM

Heh. I knew there was an easy answer staring me in the face.
Thanks a million.
I can't believe I didn't think of that myself.

dannyn · Oct 23, 2002, 06:45 PM

The easy answers are always the hardest ones to see.

Glad to have been helpful.