D-VHS as computer backup medium?

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Eric" <none@nospam.not> wrote in message
news:10i1vn7f221a5d3@corp.supernews.com...
> I've been looking at various D-VHS players, obviously with the intention
of
> being able to watch HD D-VHS movies and recording HD content, but can't
> really justify the cost unless it can do one other thing -- be used as a
> computer backup medium.
>
> I've been reading that many of these players have Firewire (and even USB)
> inputs, but the product descriptions don't clarify what these inputs can
be
> used for.
>
> It seems that D-VHS should be able to be used as a (non-random access, of
> course) computer backup medium?
> (Similiar to DAT, which found a niche for computer backups.)
>
> D-VHS may not be the "fastest" medium to do computer backups, but I'd
> sacrifice speed and random-access for the convienence.
>
> Any players that do this?
>
> Thanks!
>
Why not use DVD+R? You can get them for as little as $.25 each in bulk and
they hold more than four gigs.

I heard that the new blue laser DVD's will store 100 gigs!

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Eric,

What I have found is that it is many times cheaper to buy large hard drives
and stick them portable drive chassis. It is faster and many times more
reliable than tape of any sort. Get drive drawers for the drives so you
have a removeable drive (or just carry a portable unit around). I think the
reason why you do not see D-VHS as a storage medium is because there are
better tape storage solutions out there and the tape drive manufacturers
know that tape is on its way out. If a guy in IT requests using tape backup
in my company, he won't have his job very long.
Think about it: a single 50GB (ie 100GB compressed) tape runs about $60 and
is good for six months at best with daily backups where the error rate
becomes excessive. A decent drive runs at about $800-$2000 depending on size
and format - auto tape-changers balloon the price even more.
An 80GB harddrive (SATA) runs about $70 and is good for 2 or 3 years of
constant use. A decent removable drive interface with a single drive drawer
runs about $30 (an encrypted HW key brings the price up a bit). A portable
chassis (if used) that handles FireWire, USB2 and SATA interfaces (some have
Ethernet jacks and wireless USB as well) can run about $80. And don't
forget about the time you need to restore data after a failure - tape can
take several hours to restore while a hard drive restore can happen in 15
minutes. The cost in disaster recovery time is enormous for tape (in a
business scenario, of course).

Tape is dead (finally), and for good reason.

Dave

"Eric" <none@nospam.not> wrote in message
news:10i2mp498a17115@corp.supernews.com...
> > Why not use DVD+R? You can get them for as little as $.25 each in bulk
and
> > they hold more than four gigs.
>
> Well, I am using DVD+/-RW right now for backups, but even that can be
> cumbersome.
>
> 44 Gigs of backup storage on D-VHS would be really nice. What would
really
> be nice if there was a D-VHS player that not only could be used as a
backup
> medium, but also had ethernet connectivity to connect it an existing
network
> (such as a wireless bridge), or perhaps even wireless connectivity
built-in.
> I'd pick up such a player in a heart beat. Just throw a D-VHS tape in and
> backup any PC on your network.
>
> I'd love to be able to record HD content, have an HD movie library, and a
> backup medium for PC. Even at $700, that would be a great investment.
I'd
> just consider it $350 for a HD player and $350 for a backup medium.
>
> Can't see why one of the manufacturers couldn't design a D-VHS to be a
> backup medium for PC in addition to being a player. Essentially, (except
> for digital recording and not analog), it seems it would be practically
the
> same thing we were all doing in the early 80's with cassette recorders and
> computers.
>
> I wouldn't care about random access capability. Just a bulk backup device
> would be fine. I'm sure the PC software could be designed that it could
> "seek" a certain backup on tape based on it's "counter location", but
thats
> not even necessary. I'd be happy with simply "Backup Entire Hard Drive
(or
> Partition)" and "Restore Entire Hard Drive (or Partition)".
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"Dave" <dave(delete_this)@miraclecatDELETETHISTOO.com> wrote in message news:<QRdUc.169621$eM2.78726@attbi_s51>...
> Eric,
>
> What I have found is that it is many times cheaper to buy large hard drives
> and stick them portable drive chassis. It is faster and many times more
> reliable than tape of any sort. Get drive drawers for the drives so you
> have a removeable drive (or just carry a portable unit around). I think the
> reason why you do not see D-VHS as a storage medium is because there are
> better tape storage solutions out there and the tape drive manufacturers
> know that tape is on its way out. If a guy in IT requests using tape backup
> in my company, he won't have his job very long.
> Think about it: a single 50GB (ie 100GB compressed) tape runs about $60 and
> is good for six months at best with daily backups where the error rate
> becomes excessive. A decent drive runs at about $800-$2000 depending on size
> and format - auto tape-changers balloon the price even more.
> An 80GB harddrive (SATA) runs about $70 and is good for 2 or 3 years of
> constant use. A decent removable drive interface with a single drive drawer
> runs about $30 (an encrypted HW key brings the price up a bit). A portable
> chassis (if used) that handles FireWire, USB2 and SATA interfaces (some have
> Ethernet jacks and wireless USB as well) can run about $80. And don't
> forget about the time you need to restore data after a failure - tape can
> take several hours to restore while a hard drive restore can happen in 15
> minutes. The cost in disaster recovery time is enormous for tape (in a
> business scenario, of course).
>
> Tape is dead (finally), and for good reason.
>
> Dave
>
> "Eric" <none@nospam.not> wrote in message
> news:10i2mp498a17115@corp.supernews.com...
> > > Why not use DVD+R? You can get them for as little as $.25 each in bulk
> and
> > > they hold more than four gigs.
> >
> > Well, I am using DVD+/-RW right now for backups, but even that can be
> > cumbersome.
> >
> > 44 Gigs of backup storage on D-VHS would be really nice. What would
> really
> > be nice if there was a D-VHS player that not only could be used as a
> backup
> > medium, but also had ethernet connectivity to connect it an existing
> network
> > (such as a wireless bridge), or perhaps even wireless connectivity
> built-in.
> > I'd pick up such a player in a heart beat. Just throw a D-VHS tape in and
> > backup any PC on your network.
> >
> > I'd love to be able to record HD content, have an HD movie library, and a
> > backup medium for PC. Even at $700, that would be a great investment.
> I'd
> > just consider it $350 for a HD player and $350 for a backup medium.
> >
> > Can't see why one of the manufacturers couldn't design a D-VHS to be a
> > backup medium for PC in addition to being a player. Essentially, (except
> > for digital recording and not analog), it seems it would be practically
> the
> > same thing we were all doing in the early 80's with cassette recorders and
> > computers.
> >
> > I wouldn't care about random access capability. Just a bulk backup device
> > would be fine. I'm sure the PC software could be designed that it could
> > "seek" a certain backup on tape based on it's "counter location", but
> thats
> > not even necessary. I'd be happy with simply "Backup Entire Hard Drive
> (or
> > Partition)" and "Restore Entire Hard Drive (or Partition)".
> >
> >


Where do you find a portable drive chassis? This sounds like an
interesteing idea. I agree with your analysis that a hard drive is
now the best backup strategy. I was planning on getting an external
USB drive, but the drive chassis idea sounds more flexible.

And of course, all this is only necessary if you want to keep the
backup seperate from the system itself to protect against the system
getting totally zapped by lightening, failed power supply, fire, etc,
which are pretty rare. The far more common scenario of the drive
being corrupted by software or just failing itself, can be protected
against by just installing another backup drive in the system itself.

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Try cruising eBay for a D-VHS recorder. I was able to get a virtually brand
new Mits HS-HD1100U for $266, and have been very happy with it. Sure beats
spending $600, and I have seen other Mits and JVC units occasionally for
pretty good prices.

Phil

"Eric" <none@nospam.not> wrote in message
news:10i33r4qtg852e4@corp.supernews.com...

>
> All right -- I will admit why I *really* want a D-VHS system that also
works
> as a PC backup medium: its so a can justify purchasing such a player.
LOL.
> Not so much to myself, but to my significant other. "$600 for an old VHS
> player?" :^)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

I just got 5 new Panasonic DF300 (2 1/2 hours of HD) for $26.85 on eBay, so
they aren't cheap, but you can find them at a somewhat reasonable price. The
DF420 tapes (3 1/2 hours HD) are much more expensive, and harder to find. I
found some at $19.95 each online, so I have only bought a couple of them for
those longer programs. So far, I haven't seen any adverse affects from wear,
but I have only been using my recorder since May of this year, so I don't
have a lot of hours of use on any of my tapes. I have watched the "Concert
for George Harrison" quite a few times and it looks and sounds as good today
as it did when it was first broadcast, so I'm pretty satisfied, so far.

I only went the D-VHS route as a temporary solution until the HD-DVD format
wars are over. One thing that is cool, I was able to connect my deck to my
PC over the Firewire connection, and capture the stream to disk, although I
haven't found the right combination of software to do much with it on the
PC, plus I just haven't had a lot of time to mess with it. (The avsforum is
a good place to go for information about doing this sort of playing around,
by the way.)

Phil

"hunkahunkaburninluv" <some@where.come> wrote in message
news:2osr9rFe3urkU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "Phil Ross" <paross@pacbell.net> wrote in message
> news:sVJVc.5901$QJ3.1227@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
> > Try cruising eBay for a D-VHS recorder. I was able to get a virtually
> brand
> > new Mits HS-HD1100U for $266, and have been very happy with it. Sure
beats
> > spending $600, and I have seen other Mits and JVC units occasionally for
> > pretty good prices.
> >
> How much do blank tapes cost? Can they be reused more than a few dozen
> times?
>
>
>

VHS to Computer Transfer is a special separate that enables you to capture video from any video capture device connected to your computer.