There was a time when the Video Taped Deposition was unheard of. Technology has marched on. Now that the precedents for pre-recorded testimony have already been established, the next big thing in pre- recorded testimony is beginning to make its mark. Digital Video Depositions. The Digital Video Disc allows attorneys to do with depositions what DVD allows home users to do with movies. By allowing specialized scene selection, attorneys can request their Digital Video Expert to break the testimony into easily digestible parts, each part easily reachable by use of the master menu, a button push away. To add to the overall benefit, other information can be added to the DVD as well, such as animated exhibits, scanned pictures of documents, even other testimony to refute the prior testimony. But even this is still just a convenience for the modern attorney. What will drive the market is price. Offsite storage is expensive enough without storing media that can only be played on dinosaur machines. How many legal documents do you currently have on 5 1/4 inch diskette that you will never see again (by the way, The Gecko Group can help you with that), And how many Video Depositions do You currently have in offsite storage, that have already degraded due to inclement conditions? DVD has a shelf life of forever, which is a pretty long time. by Todd R. Hill, President The Gecko Group