Video format for time capsule

[kennysarmy]

I've been asked to put a "video" file in a time capsule that will be dug up in 50 years time.

 

Was thinking of just going DVD.

 

Thoughts?

[synaesthesia]

Won't make the slightest bit of difference frankly, as you can't see into the future. A DVD will probably be your best bet but they will deteriorate like just about anything else would. Personally, I'd go for the irony of making it a Shockwave Flash file.

[StevieM]

Better throw a DVD player in with it, though.

[Cat_Jam148]

I'd think variety would be best?

 

DVD, SD Card and a USB memory stick.

 

One of them should last...

[howartp]

Upload it to youtube and write the link on a stone tablet with a piece of chalk?

[Andrew_C]

Old fashioned film. The chances of finding working digital systems to play today's media in 100+ years are vanishingly small.

[dmj]

Was thinking of just going DVD.

 

Thoughts?

 

I can't play a DVD even now, besides you'll get disc rot on it in 50yrs.

[kennysarmy]

Old fashioned film. The chances of finding working digital systems to play today's media in 100+ years are vanishingly small.

 

will be opened in 50 years not 100+

[mavhc]

Option a) talk to an archivist, option b) don't care that much, not like anyone's going to blame you in 50 years.

[MatthewL]

SD card would probably be best option. Maybe put the installer for VLC on there too!

[andy_b]

Custom flipbooks made from your video

[jthompson]

You could make a nuisance of yourself and put in a pair of 3D glasses as well, and amuse yourself at the thought of people in 50 years time having successfully got an MKV file to play on their space tellies, but tearing their hair out trying to work out how to get it in 3D.

[Scifigirl]

Use one of those kitchen Vaccum sealer gadgets to seal any media up and pack with lots of wrap--much less chance of degradation

[dmj]

At the end of the day you'd need to re write the data periodically if you want to keep it for a very long time. A flash drive will lose charge, optical storage will degrade, magnetic storage will lose magnetic orientation. The only "good" method is to maintain the data like we do for everything else, making regular backups and testing them.

[DalekSec]

Option a) talk to an archivist, option b) don't care that much, not like anyone's going to blame you in 50 years.

 

Go with option B, replace video with 'Never going to give you up' and have a smug smile on your face for the next 50 years on the ultimate troll you are going to pull off.

[jmcdermott]

netbook with battery removed but charger included. No other use for them.

[dmj]

The 2.5 admins podcast mentioned some of the issues with long term cold storage in this episode:

https://2.5admins.com/2-5-admins-89/

[QwertyMash]

I'd think variety would be best?

 

DVD, SD Card and a USB memory stick.

 

One of them should last...

 

Exactly what I was going to say.

 

Could even do a QR code to a private YouTube link on top of all the physical media.

[Davit2005]

SD card would probably be best option. Maybe put the installer for VLC on there too!

 

Cant really rely on software, who says vlc will run on any versions of os in 5 years let alone 50. Take a look at techmoan channel, he gets a lot of media devices and gets them working. You want something basic that jus needs a bit of mechanical or ingenuity repair to get working INMO.

[JJonas]

andy_b suggested custom flip books and this might be your best option.

Just see what happened with the Digital Domesday book: Digital Domesday Book lasts 15 years not 1000

[psydii]

I'd add an archive.org link into the mix too. I don't trust google not to purge abandoned videos at some point in the future, or even pivot away from user uploaded content completely.

 

https://archive.org/create/

 

 

As for physical media, having multiple media, and on each media having multiple copies, with some checksum files to counter bit-rot, and then have multiple encoding options.

https://www.dpconline.org/handbook/technical-solutions-and-tools/fixity-and-checksums#:~:text=A%20checksum%20on%20a%20file%20is%20a%20%E2%80%98digital,range%20of%20readily%20available%20and%20open%20source%20tools.

[jthompson]

For thousands of years, burying stuff in the ground was just about the best way to preserve things for the future. That paradign seems to be broken now. Unless we're talking about pairs of trainers, which will probably all still be here long after humanity has left on its Great Galactic Crusade.

 

Back on topic, I wonder if digging the thing up every 10 years and reformatting things as necessary might not be a bad idea. It'll spoil the sense of mystery somewhat, but will vastly imporve the odds of your information reaching the minds of children in 50 years' time. You never know, they might decide that they're happy to rebury it all on a shiny new laser cube for the children of the 2080's, 2090's and 2100's to marvel at via their space consoles.

[jthompson]

Also, maybe put subtitles on your video, in case the sound doesn't work, and have the audio produced such that it can be made sense of when listened to without any working pictures.

[mavhc]

andy_b suggested custom flip books and this might be your best option.

Just see what happened with the Digital Domesday book: Digital Domesday Book lasts 15 years not 1000

 

You mean these disks I can download and run on an emulator for free? https://github.com/happycube/ld-decode/wiki/Disc-images-to-download#acorn-interactive-video

[Andrew_C]

Also, maybe put subtitles on your video, in case the sound doesn't work, and have the audio produced such that it can be made sense of when listened to without any working pictures.

 

 

Might be worth considering which language to use. Simplified English, Emoji, Russian or Chinese...