It's important to preserve, digitize, and transfer your old home videos before you lose those memories forever!
Let's get right to it.
Different generations recorded their memories on different formats. Film cameras were wildly popular from the 1930s to about the 1980s which held 8mm film reels, and eventually Super 8. That is, until camcorders were made accessible to the general public and went through a variety of video formats, including:
• Betacam
• Betamax
• VHS
• VHS-C
• Video8
• Hi8
• Digital8
• Mini DV
• Mini DVD
According to Kodak, on average, video tapes degrade 10-20% over 10 to 25 years. Which means, if you haven't already digitized your tapes, there's a good chance some of your footage has been compromised.
In my experience, film reels do have a longer life span than video tapes. This is because film was made more durable and could be cleaned, repaired, or just generally maintained over time. It is said that film reels can last 70-100 years! Video tapes, on the other hand, have a much shorter life span. This is due to the deterioration of magnetic charge needed for them to work. Video tapes needed a strong magnetic signal between the strip inside the cassette and the VCR to project clean picture and sound. By now, the magnetic particles have dissipated, even if they've been properly stored!
So what's the result? Static, wavy lines through the picture, as well as loss of color, picture, and sound at times. This goes for that VHS of baby coming home from the hospital in 1989, or those Mini DV tapes you brought to Jamaica in 2010, too.
Unfortunately, video tapes were not made to last. I suggest going into your basement, attic, or storage room and get those tapes digitized before you lose your memories forever!
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