this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023

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Best format to record videos for my daughter for the future because I have terminal cancer? I have iPhone 15 pro max. (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Basically, I am trying to record as many videos as humanly possible for my daughter (who is now 6), but the videos will be for all stages of her life, from kid to teen to adult. I know I won’t be there for her, so I’m hoping that through these videos I can still “be there for her” at least somewhat and also teach her life lessons and such. Basically, I’m kinda trying to do what Superman’s dad did for him, like where he puts in the crystal and the AI hologram of his dad appears and talks to him and teaches him lessons or just hangs out with him. Well, I don’t have a fortress of solitude or an AI hologram crystal, but I got this IPhone 15 Pro Max. Hopefully that will be enough.

I just recorded my first video on this phone for my daughter. I used 4K at 24 fps, to see if I could give the video more of a cinematic type feel. The video was a few minutes over an hour and was like 14.5GB! I’m using “Apple ProRes” video format with HDR as the “format encoder”.

I really want to film the videos for her in 4K if I can, because I am trying to future-proof the videos as much as humanly possible. I am thinking she could be watching these videos 50 plus years from now and I feel like 4K should help them hopefully hold up better.

I just wanted to ask you guys if there is a good way for me to film these videos in 4K, but maybe use some format that helps save a bit on file space. Because I believe the videos I have recorded in 4K 60fps on my PC (I have an elgato facecam pro with a SM7B mic), that are all about an hour long only came out to 1-2 GB’s or so, where as this iPhone video is 14GB! Although it is appealing to use a format that allows for the best editing options in the future, I cannot justify the storage space usage and over all extra cost this would bring upon me in the future trying to find ways to store these videos. So I definitely need some kinda 4K format that maybe has some compression or something, but will hopefully get my file sizes down to about a GB or two for an hour of footage.

If y’all have any tips for me on this I would be really appreciative! Thanks so much!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

ProRes is basically useless if you wish to view as is without editing, it just gives you the editing flexibility. if you have a mix reality headset record in spatial video, otherwise 4K60

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Retired archivist here.

I am so sorry for your situation and I love your idea but keep things simple.

Don’t use anything proprietary or exotic. We really don’t know what will be available to her in the future for playback.

Sure they might look a little clunkier but at least she’ll be able to watch them.

And make backups!!!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

make backups!!!

Absolutely! Always at least 3 copies OP,

-The original file

-A copy of the file somewhere else on the computer

*A copy of the file off of the computer, such as cloud/DvD/flash drives

-a copy of the file offsite such as drives in storage, or cloud would work for this as well

Offsite is usually best in a cloud or physical media stored in a safe place from the computer in case of fire/evacuation…

I added the * option as a personal preference, and added security, but a lot of people don’t

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the advice Sea-Bottle6335! I had been recording my first 5-10 or so videos on my PC. I have streamlabs OBS for recording and an Elgato Facecam Pro (it can record 4k@60fps) and a sure SM7B mic. But I would have to go back and see what format I recorded those videos in. Sorry, I can’t remember the format off the top of my head.

But I got the new IPhone 15 pro max in hopes to start using it as the new way for me to make the videos. I am hoping that the phone will simplify things, plus it will back up my videos to the cloud, which is big for me.

If you have any suggestions on exactly what settings to use while recording I’ll take all the advice I can get. But I feel like I have figured it out already. Basically ProRes is useless to me, so I just turned it off in settings. And I am planning on recording the more “important” videos in 4K@24fps and then record most of the videos in 1080p @ 30fps to save on file size. To be honest, I may just record all of them in 1080p @ 30fps, to keep the file size as low as possible.

I have heard a lot of people suggest burning blue ray disk with the videos on them and I definitely want to try that as well as backing up to other hard drives, iCloud, and hopefully YouTube.

Hopefully what I’m thinking about doing matches up with what you were talking about?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I would backup to Blu-ray and YouTube, flash drives and Google drive and share access with a bunch of people. Maybe get a Blu-ray player and store it in the box with the Blu-ray’s. Make sure all of your family has copies to all the data in all the formats.

The quality of the video doesn’t matter as much as the content and I can’t imagine how bad everyone would feel if something happened to that content and your daughter couldn’t watch it. Just make sure it’s everywhere in as many formats as possible.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I wouldn't sweat it in terms of playback, as long as it's a computer file. What video file that is obsolete and unplayable today? I'm still able to play .qt, and .rm files on MPV.

I say to bundle in a standalone video player in case, like MPV.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Hey Buddy,

You can just shoot in 4k60fps and that footage would be crisp and perfect. ProRes is basically for people who wish to tweak the details in the video like improving highlights or white balance change, etc. I would say it is not that useful and if your videos are recorded in a well-lit room you are totally fine to use the 4k60fps option. For storage, you can use an HDD or SSD, and store it safely, and let people know where to find it and it is best not to encrypt or password-protect the storage. Sometimes shit happens with password protection and we don't want that now. Multiple copies are appreciated.

You are doing a great job as a dad and I am sure your daughter will cherish all the effort you are putting in, to make her happy. I wish you all the warmth you can get.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Hey dude - 4k without ProRes will be perfect and will stand the test of time. In future the only real enhancement will be the medium I.e. a more VR like experience because the human eye can’t detect pixels beyond a certain point. While 4k will be great / good enough it will take 10GB for a 1 hr film there isn’t really a way around that.

I love what you are doing for your family; especially your daughter. I have a professional camera and, were you in the UK, I’d have been happy to come record some of the videos in super high res 8K for you.

I’m sure anyone in Kentucky hearing of your story would do the same 🤞💚

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

To add on to what everyone else said, I strongly recommend you make sure that there are multiple backups of the videos somewhere so that in the small chance a drive gets corrupted in the next few decades/an account gets deactivated, your family will still be able to play the videos from a different source.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Turn off pro res, use the least proprietary technologies to make the videos universally playable, save the videos on at least two external SSDs, to be sure the archives are safe and don't get corrupted, and everything doesn't get lost if one of the drives gets stolen or broken, preferably SSDs with USB-C connectors cuz it's the future.

Save them in folders separated by age, and on each folder put the videos you record plus some photos of you and her, text files with tips or anything you want to add that you think will be important in that moment of her life, without passwords or encryption just in case.

Good luck and enjoy your time to the maximum, wish you a lot of happy moments bro.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Apple’s 1080p in HEVC is extremely high quality and you can record a ton of it.

I’d try it out and compare it to 4K because you might find it to be more than sufficient, and you’ll save a ton on space.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I like this idea! Although I have no setting that I can see that allows me to select “HVEC” format particularly. I just have a setting that lets me choose between “High Efficiency” and “Most Compatible”. I keep mine on the high efficiency and in the description one of the formats is HVEC.

I’m seriously debating filming some really important videos in 4K@24/30fps and then record most of the videos in 1080p@30fps. This way I can save a ton of space, yet still get some really high quality videos in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

HEVC stands for High Efficiency Video Coding so the "High Efficiency" setting is the correct one.

I think that's a good idea.

Test out filming in 1080p@30fps and 4k 24@30fps and try to discern if you even see a difference.

I have plenty of space on my iPhone but I still only ever film at 1080p@30fps because it's already such good quality.

HEVC allows you to save around 40-50% of space compared to the "Most Compatible" mode without losing any quality because it's a more advanced codec.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

If you’ve got the finances, buy her an Apple Vision Pro when released and film videos in the format that spatial video format, will be like you are in the room with her

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

4K 60 HDR would be enough for future proof.. Top it with Spatial videos as it'll be the near future fav Don't just take 4K videos; sometimes pictures are worth more than a video. It leaves to the viewer's imagination. I'd suggest taking 48mp heif pics of your candid moments with your daughter.

Small advice, don't think one can teach another human a life lesson, even if it's your kid. The world is ever evolving and circumstances change and your (our) beliefs and perceptions won't be as similar as the next gen. You just better share good moments that they'll be enjoying and keep missing you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

While many have already pointed out, most likely 4k60p without ProRes is enough to be future proof. You do not need the ProRes extra info for editing.

But there are some other respects regarding to the archiving that might be more concerning. Any flash storage like SSDs or flash drives might loose the stored information if not used frequently.

Cloud storage or private YouTube sounds like a good solution, but there is a risk that the current rules for storage that you agree to might change in the future and this means that you might lose some videos if the storage rule changes or there are new activity requirements.

By looking at the past few decades I can see that the best archive media (taking into account accessibility and availability in past 20 years) would be a physical optical disk such as a DVD/BlueRay. So I would also strongly recommend to also prepare some physical disks as backup. Now the next question is where to store them long term.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Trust me, she won't care about whether you're in 4K or not.

If it's that big of a concern, save them on an external hard drive.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Hey, I think this is a beautiful idea and a lot of people gave good advice on the format. So here is another thing you might look into:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/104993#:~:text=On%20your%20iPhone%20or%20iPad,instructions%20to%20record%20your%20voice.

I have no experience with it and cant tell you if it is good or not or how to keep it/make backups, but I guess you can figure this out.

In short: you read some texts out loud and your phone creates a profile of your voice. When it is done, you can type in a text and it speaks in your voice. I am not sure if this is awesome or creepy, but you might give it a try and see for yourself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

The biggest problem is, where to store it?

SSD can and will fall over time

As do all hard drives/CDs DVDs eventually

You will have to find a solution to this, I don’t have it

On cancer: have you read into fasting + zero carb? It is supposed to help since the body will then “eat” the cancer. Read up on it, I’m no doctor but I heard it prolongs the life tremendously. Good luck my friend

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Use the Spatial Video option on your video settings. It will most certainly achieve what you described as much as possible. Apple Vision will probably be mainstream in a few years. And if not the video still will be of high quality and playable non the less. But with this, she will get to see you in a more "3D, real space".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

This is really beautiful u/KentuckyKlassic. I wish you all the best. I’m reminded of the Violet Evergarden movie and the story of Ann Magnolia.

It seems your biggest limitation here is iCloud. Apple gives a limited amount of storage space and charges a bunch of money for it. SSDs would be cheaper and last a long-ish time (not as cheap or as long as tape drive but tapes suck to deal with). Plus you’d lose the infinite backup convenience of being in the cloud.

I recommend making a YouTube channel and make all of the videos unlisted. You can upload an unlimited (technically sorta) amount of video there and it wouldn’t cost you forever. You could get the high quality and the cloud access that way and you could always keep higher quality local copies on SSDs and BRDs.

I think your focus should be on having the best audio quality (so a separate mic) and lighting/backdrop right now and just leave the storage stuff to YouTube.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Sorry for your situation.

Just wanted to suggest that you should create a youtube channel, private the videos and share the link/login info with her.

Youtube is (at least today) the ultimate "free" video server. Crazy that I still have a video recorded in 2008 just because it was uploaded on youtube back then.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

You should have the link to this post saved too so she can read it eventually.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I make vLogs on my IPhone 12, Selfie Camera. For things like this it isn’t important to have it Cinematic 4K etc. Go for 1080p, that is already a lot.

Most usable is anything recorded mp4 Videos, something I get with the Hohem App and Gimbal. It works on mist devices.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Sorry for the situation. Do you think you can record yourself with each letter separately. Technology is not ready yet but with AI , it can be used to generate new videos for the future. I would also read entire book and record it. No matter what you will be remembered.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Now you can also record Spacial Videos using 2 lenses to create the 3D effect to watch on VR Googles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Record to an external drive, since you have the new iPhone 15 Pro max. Get multiple SSDs and fill ‘em up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I find 4k60 to be very realistic and it really puts you in the place. At least for nature shots! Also I like the idea of spatial video for Apple goggles coming out. Hoping to film some before my dad leaves us.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I just wanted to chip in and say you’re doing an amazing thing!

No matter what the quality or resolution these are going to be so special.

We still watch DVDs on 4k tvs - and that’s something like 480p (or maybe 5 something - I don’t know).

Big love to you 🥰🥰

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I see a lot of comments but I suggest a thunderbolt 4 drive, it works to record directly from iPhone to the drive, and then it being thunderbolt 4 and being compatible with older usb generations and thunderbolt 4 devices like Mac or iPad, there it’s future proofed and can use a ton of storage if you get like a tb or 2 and it’s backwards compatible

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Shit why am i crying 😭

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Aw man..heartbreaking

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

First off I’m so sorry for your situation, and I think this is a really awesome and loving thing to do!

I would stick with 4K and whatever frame rate you feel like. I personally prefer higher frame rate but if you’re going for a cinematic feel then stick with 24fps. I wouldn’t record in apple ProRes since it’s proprietary. While it’s unlikely, it’s possible apple (or apple ProRes) may not be around in the future, so not using it keeps it as compatible as possible. As for file formats, mp4/mov is the most compatible right now, but HEIC SHOULD become the standard in the future. I don’t think you need to worry too much about that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I don’t have any tips, but I wanted to tell you that I really appreciate your plans. Your daughter will love it and I think you are a wonderful parent. I am sorry for your situation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

This is heartbreaking to read and I am so sorry. Please make sure you assign a legacy contact so someone you assign has access to your account. All the best.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

One thing to consider is High Efficiency (HEIF/HEVC encoding) vs Most Compatible (jpeg/H.264). The former will have smaller file sizes, but may have to be converted to be read on some systems. The option is found in Settings:Camera:Formats, and specifies the one format used for Most Compatible. The High Efficiency setting has a range of options for recording formats.