MiniDV tapes

[Peter Copestake]

Can I just add that cassettes are supposed to be rewound back and forth occasionally
(?yearly). Two of my master Hi8 tapes at least have stuck at the start causing flashes over the picture. One was put in a new cassette and was no better so I suspect the spindle gets dry. If I'm right this does limit their archive value.
It is a pain to have to rewind but it does seem necessary or perhaps they should not have been recorded on for the first two minutes. Our reel to reel sound-track tapes from 1962 are still good.

[Geoff Addis]

Peter,

In the past some magnetic tape formulations have absorbed moisture from the air over a period of time resulting in a sticky surface necessitating in the need to 'cook' them in an oven before dubbing to new media. This absorption has normally taken a period of some years, but even so, I strongly recommend that tapes are archived in a dry environment - following a bad experience with 1/4 and 1/2 inch master audio tapes some years ago, my master tapes are now kept in a controlled environment that does not exceed 60% humidity at 70C maximum. I have to say that I have not heard of such problems with more recent tapes, but it could be that you have had one or more from a bad batch.

Geoff

[Michael Slowe]

First of all Dave. The Sony S x S cards that I am record on to can be re used many hundreds of times Sony advise, and without any degradation in quality. They are expensive it's true and they now do a cheaper S x S card but, Sony warn, without the assurance of as many re records.

Geoff, we are informed by the experts that DVD's as burnt by us will degrade for certain, the only doubt is the timescale which will vary according to storage conditions. I'm sure as careful a man as you will have back ups of productions either on tape , hard drives or multiple DVD's.

[Alternative4u]

One of the biggest worries most of us film makes have is what media to leave our treasured movies and family records on.
Kodak carried out some very interesting tests in the 90's on DVD disks, and what they found did scare myself and lots of other people, and that is the fact that DVD disks will not last much more than 14 to 16 years, even after just 7 years disks failed at around 4% on loading in a PC, and that cannot be good news.
I have DVD and CD's with PC files on them I made as late as 1998 and I have just found around 3 in 10 say that the disk is blank, yes blank, empty, gone vanished.
I know they once run okay because I have put a nice coloured label on the disks and case with photographs on from my Family Tree I made in 1995.
I have also had 3 DVD's (one was a bought game for my PC ) that just split in half when I was taking it from that middle bit in the disk case, that game was 8 years of age, used often, so I think the DVD goes brittle with age.
If you really do want your films to be safe after you are gone, then you need to record only on tape cameras (8mm is the best for wear and tear) or the good old fashioned 16 mm film, we know with care they last.
I worked with Rank at an Odeon Cinema for over 20 years, and made movies on cameras of 8mm film, and 8mm tape, and all are 100% good and viewable even today.
David

[Ian Woodward]

Geoff, you say "my master tapes are now kept in a controlled environment that does not exceed 60% humidity at 70C maximum".

I am curious to know what the nature of this "controlled environment" IS exactly.

Is it worth sharing the info with other IAC members with the same concerns about the longevity of archiving?

Ian Woodward

[Geoff Addis]

Ian,

I have a small sound recording studio and editing suite in the basement of my home. Built into the side of a hill with only one side leading out to ground level, the temperature remains at 60F +- a few degrees throughout the year without any additional heating, but the humity does change during the summer months if I don't switch on the de-humidifier. All my masters are kept in an area well away from what little sunlight that enters the room. Although not relating to the longevity of tapes and CD/DVDs, the room is very well sound insulated from outside noise, the only problem that I used to have was the 12 o-clock flyover by Concorde, but we eventually managed to sort that out!

Geoff

[Trev52A]

With the general consensus being that (home-produced) DVDs have a relatively short life, which rules them out for serious video archiving, I was surprised to see that my local Pound-Stretcher store has the "Mr. DVD" brand of single use DVD-R (at 4 for 99 pence) claiming a "lifetime guarantee".
So what's that all about, then?
Is this just marketing hype (surely prohibited under the Trade Descriptions act?) or should we all use Mr. DVD and sleep easily at night?

[tom hardwick]

Lifetime guarantee used to be applied to VHS tapes years ago. It means the DVDs are guaranteed to last their lifetime, so that should they fail within a year they'll be replaced. It's nonsense speak, as you'll agree.

[Ian Woodward]

Thanks for your reply, Geoff - sorry it's so late but I've just returned from two weeks abroad.

Mmm...I don't think I'm going to be able to replicate those seemingly ideal archiving conditions.

So it's back to the drawing board!

Ian