System and method to improve quality of a high-availability recording of a media stream, the method including: recording the media stream by at least a first and second recorders at separate network locations, to produce first and second recordings; comparing quality metrics of the first and second recordings; and creating an archival copy of the media stream based upon a comparison of quality metrics. In some embodiments, the method may further include: segmenting the first and second recordings into a respective first and second plurality of coextensive segments; and for substantially each segment of the first plurality of segments: comparing a quality metric of said segment with a quality metric of a corresponding segment from the second plurality of segments; and creating an archival copy of a segment of the media stream based upon a comparison of quality metrics for said segment.