We choose the Cinepak section which offered a 160GB HD AVI.
Nope. Cinepak is big because it's an old codec. Archives offer it simply because they have it, made eons ago. Go back and get something better. Choosing an archival download based on file size is highly problematic. Old codecs have bigger file sizes and worse quality. Many will not be full resolution because they were made years ago. The archive offers them simply because they have them and they don't know your needs.
In most archives, h.264 is going to be the best direct download version. If they offer h.265 (or HVEC), this is at least as good, possibly better. In some cases you might see a JPEG sequence (often JPEG2000) and this may be the biggest and best source. These are usually scans rather than traditional transfers. Some will offer ProRes, though usually not for direct download because of bandwidth.
I frequent find myself downloading multiple versions because it's impossible to know which one is best until I open it. The codec is not the only parameter that matters and archives generally don't describe the files meaningfully.
Cheers,
tod
Tod Hopkins
Hoptod LLC
443-472-5978
Hoptod LLC
443-472-5978
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