Ques Re: Saving Video Clips from Computer to CD

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You can have photo prints made....

As long as you always have a video viewer on your computer you should be able to view them. They don't save by the type viewer you use. They save in a certain format like with pictures you have jpeg, gif, bitmap, etc. With video there are also different type such as MVI. That's all that matters. You can most likely even view these in your DVD player. Pop the disk in and find out.

I think the only realistic approach to take, short of archiving a computer with the current operating system and programs, is to keep an eye on technology as it shifts.

Since home videos are so pervasive now, I suspect that as new technology develops so will the services to translate old tech to new tech. There may be programs to buy to do such translations yourself, or the newer programs will do those translations automatically (like reading old Word documents in the newer Word versions).

Just look at VHS tapes. They are quickly fading into obscurity, yet you can find plenty of services to move video on VHS to DVD or digital formats.

I have gigabytes of home movies on my computer, which I want to use in a montage 15 years from now when my little one graduates, and this is the approach I'll be taking.

That is such a good question! Unfortunately, I don't have an answer! :-)

The only thing I can think of is saving them in DVD format on DVD disks--but you need a DVD burner & software for your computer.

Connected to your topic: I was backing up all of our digital pics on CD, but I'm tired of having a gazillion CD's, so I've switched to backing them up on a USB flashdrive. I'm not sure how else to save them.

I'm looking forward to reading everyone's responses.

I started saving pictures last night onto a CD and was thinking the same thing...If I don't have the same program that I saved these pics in will I be able to get them in years to come.. I'm looking forward to see what others say.

S.

As for storing your photo's & video clips, you can copy to CD or DVD (DVD's hold about 3 times more data than CD's). You can also purchase an external hard drive just for storing backup copies of your photo/video files.
For viewing & playback, any newly created photo/video software will most likely be "backwards compatible" with older formats & file types. Computers are also designed to "check the internet" for any programs compatible with file types it doesn't recognize. The most common formats for photo's is 'jpeg' images, & for video (digital camera types) is '.mov' or '.avi' files. Most or all current & future photo/video programs can read these files.
Since your video clips currently play on Quick Time, these would be '.mov' files.
As stated by one of the other responders, there are also programs available to "convert" files to a different type, to be compatible with any new program that becomes available.