DV Info Net

DV Info Net (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/)
-   The Long Black Line (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/long-black-line/)
-   -   Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them (https://www.dvinfo.net/forum/long-black-line/534222-videotapes-becoming-unwatchable-archivists-work-save-them.html)

Andrew Smith June 7th, 2017 10:12 PM
Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
VHS Tapes: How Archivists Are Working To Save Them : All Tech Considered : NPR

Quote:
Kidd and the others are archivists and preservationists, and they're part of a group called XFR Collective (pronounced Transfer Collective). Most work professionally, but they volunteer their free time to do this. And while the mood is light, there is a sense of a deadline.

"In the heads of all Transfer Collective members, we do have kind of this 'tick-tock,'" Kidd says.

That's because research suggests that tapes like this aren't going to live beyond 15 to 20 years. Some call this the "magnetic media crisis," and archivists, preservationists, and librarians like the ones in the XFR Collective are trying to reverse it.
Will there be another wave of institutions etc realising that their video tapes need to be transferred before it is too late?

Andrew

Bruce Dempsey June 8th, 2017 01:50 PM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
spin them all the way forward then all the way back every year. Helps prevent seepabe

Andrew Smith June 8th, 2017 07:51 PM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
seepabe? Is that a Twitter thing?

Andrew

Bruce Dempsey June 9th, 2017 05:31 AM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
seepage is a term we used way back when tape was what you used, unless it was film

Charles Papert June 9th, 2017 08:40 AM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
Seepabe is the new covfefe.

Jeff Pulera June 9th, 2017 12:47 PM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
"I spilled covfefe on my VHS tape collection and they were ruined by the seepabe"

Derek Heeps June 13th, 2017 06:03 AM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Dempsey (Post 1933182)
seepage is a term we used way back when tape was what you used, unless it was film
I guess that is what we used to call 'print through' where one layer of tape on a spool magnetised the adjacent layer and the recording 'printed through' to the next layer ?

Derek Heeps June 13th, 2017 06:07 AM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Smith (Post 1933133)
VHS Tapes: How Archivists Are Working To Save Them : All Tech Considered : NPR



Will there be another wave of institutions etc realising that their video tapes need to be transferred before it is too late?

Andrew
While I agree that old VHS and Betamax tapes ( and others ) can degrade badly over a short period of time , I have to say that my archived Video 8 , Hi-8 , DV and HDV tapes have thus far been problem free, perhaps due to the greater recording density on metal tapes ?

The flip side is what do you propose to archive them to ?

Optical discs such as CD and DVD are known to degrade over time too , and hard discs are just magnetic recordings , only on a different medium , and not without their own problems .

Film , of course , can be attacked by moisture and fungus if not stored carefully .

Is anything truly permanent ?

Andrew Smith June 13th, 2017 07:35 AM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
We have this archiving discussion every now and then. I archive to two physical HDDs (a clone of each other, effectively) and that works very well for me.

Andrew

Bob Hart June 16th, 2017 11:17 AM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
I had two identical HDD's fail. A third also became almost unreadable, some files munted. I was lucky I had a courier drive which also had its issues which was why I had not re-used it and copied over the original material. It was usable one more time which was enough to save that archive.

Brian Drysdale July 10th, 2017 04:36 PM
Re: Videotapes Are Becoming Unwatchable As Archivists Work To Save Them
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek Heeps (Post 1933330)
Film , of course , can be attacked by moisture and fungus if not stored carefully .

Is anything truly permanent ?
To date B & W film with colour separation is the best method.

Nothing is truly permanent, even stone erodes.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:03 AM.

DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2025 The Digital Video Information Network