What Are the Reason of Videotape Decay & How to Prevent It

Unfortunately, we guarantee your videotapes will get worse over time, regardless of how well you store them and how carefully you look after them. 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm tapes degrade quickly, as they were never meant to be long-term video storage solutions. In fact, magnetic videotapes begin to deteriorate in around 10 years. The best possible way to make sure that your valuable home video footage doesn’t fade away is to transfer your 8mm, Super 8, or 16mm movie to DVD as well as your videotapes, as soon as possible.

“THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT AND SAVE YOUR VALUABLE HOME VIDEO FOOTAGE IS TO HAVE YOUR VIDEOTAPES DIGITIZED IMMEDIATELY.”

While you’ll wish to digitize your home videos right away to make sure of their longevity and safety, some people choose to put it on the back burner or want to maintain their original videotapes after they have been transferred. This blog post explains different factors that contribute to the decay of magnetic recordings like 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm, and how you can store and care for them to reduce further videotape degradation.

WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR VIDEOTAPE DECAY?

1. DEMAGNETIZATION
Demagnetization is the method which is used to remove magnetic charge. It is magnetic particles that stores information on a videotape. Magnetic particles can become demagnetized as a result of being too close to a powerful magnet, being exposed to great heat and as a result of time. Demagnetization severely affects the quality of Video to DVD transfer in Mississippi.

2. HUMIDITY
The binder layer of videotapes is the part that experiences direct contact with the playing machine. The binder layer can absorb water quickly, causing it to become sticky. This renders the videotape unplayable and can severely damage a VCR if you try to play an affected videotape.
Similarly, humidity can encourage fungus growth. Any outside particles can cause a loss of information from videotapes. If you have fungus on any videotapes, take it to an expert to have it cleaned before trying to play the tape. Videotape cleaning is included with every video transfer order with scansouth.net.

3. DECAY
Decay occurs over time as magnetic particles lose their charge. As the magnetic particles lose their charge, the color of the movie becomes weaker, distorting the color of the digital transfer.

4. FREQUENT USE
Every time you play a tape, some loss of quality or information occurs. While it is not obvious at first, over time, the quality of the video diminishes. The less you play a tape, the better the quality.

5. OLD MACHINERY
Poorly preserved or old machinery can collect dust particles. This can cause scratches, loss of magnetic charge, and wear and tear on the binder layer. These all can cause loss of information.

TIPS ON HOW TO STORE & CARE FOR VIDEOTAPES TO SLOW THE RATE OF DECAY?

• Make sure your videotapes are stored in a dry setting. A humidity level of about 30% to 40% is recommended to stop sticky shed syndrome from happening.
  
  
• Avoid humidity and temperature swings. Extreme changes can cause deterioration.
  
  
• Store the tapes in sealed, dust fee containers to help protect them from being bumped or dropped.

VIDEOTAPE TRANSFER OUTPUT QUALITY
When transferring 8mm, 16mm, Super 8 to digital format, the output quality is based on the quality of the original source. Usually, you can expect the quality of the digital version to be slightly better as compared to the videotape it was transferred from. Below mentioned are some of the common errors or distortions that might occur throughout the playback of a video transfer from a poor-quality videotape:

1. PINKING/GREENING
This is a fault where the top 10% of the picture seen on the screen flickers green and/or pink. This is usually seen on videotapes that were made on unsophisticated VCRs with skewed heads or just two heads.

2. VERTICAL JITTER
The timing of the tape is corrupted. Usually, we can stabilize the video by making use of a Time-Based Correction filter, which is usual with all of our video transfers.

3. CLEAR-WATER EFFECT
This is an error when parts of the movie on screen are wiggling, like ripples in clear shallow water. This is because of timing errors on the analog tape and cannot be corrected by software.

4. HORIZONTAL JITTER
This error is usually observed on copies of copies of copies, about 10 generations far ahead. Not much can be done to repair this.

5. STATIC LINES
These are glitches seen on-screen because of the tape particles coming off the videotape, leaving little static lines behind. This is usually seen on videotapes that have been reused a lot of times or on inexpensive tapes recorded in S-VHS-ET mode.