Facts about video tape deterioration? (from ikenvideo.com)
Myths piss me off, especially when it comes to video.
I was shown this item tonight, and it's mostly hogwash. Quote:
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This is a tired old trope, and plagiarized almost word for word from much early nonsense dating back 15-20 years online.
To put it bluntly, it's FUD to scare you into using their service. Company: "WARNING: The boogeyman is eating your precious family memories!" Unsuspecting consumer: "Oh no, whatever shall I do?" Company: "Why send them to us, of course!" But it's bullshit. Complete, total, utter, 100%, grade-A bullshit. :no1: Let me dissect it: Quote:
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But it takes a long, long, long, long, long time. Not mere years, or even mere decades. The primary issue of degradation is referred to as oxide shedding. That's where the magnetic tape literally flakes off (sheds) from the mylar tape. But for that to happen at an accelerated rate, the tapes had to be stored in horrible conditions: the attic, the basement, outside in a garage. And even then, oxide shedding isn't the worst that can happen. Those same storage conditions are far more likely to induce mold growth, and only a specialty lab are able to handle tapes infected by mold spores. There have been some cases of oxide shedding happening without bad storage, but it tends to be an immediate issue, caused from bad tape stock. Certain early Sony Video8 tape stock, for example, was lousy. Some of the cheapest VHS tapes in the late 90s, the kinds of no-name brands you'd find in gas stations, would have issues. Either sticky, or outright shedding. But it didn't take years to set in, it was fairly quick. Quote:
Color data is stored on tape as YUV in a subcarrier frequency. No amount of science, or magic, could alter the color once recorded. It's not film. Film can fade, because it's an optical format. Light harms it. But color data in a tape is immune to such things. This is the part of the "tape are degrading" myth that I most hate. Quote:
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Mylar is resistant to heat and moisture, and rarely gets brittle over any length of time. And tape breakage is generally caused by faulty players. Quote:
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You think Denver has wild temperature swings? :laugh: Denver has a cool climate, and low humidity -- two things ideal for any archive. Video tapes from states like Colorado are generally in far, far better condition that tapes in coastal states like Florida, or in southern climates like Arizona and Texas. But, even then, it only matters if you stored the tapes in a garage, attic, basement, or other non-temperature-controlled location. BTW: This company is in Michigan, so they seemingly stole/plagiarized this BS document from some other company. Like I said already, this is disproven garbage that has been stolen and stolen again by shyster companies on the interwebs for over a decade now. Quote:
This is unscientific jibber-jabber from a person that has zero idea how video tapes (and VCRs and cameras) actually work. It's not "coded", and "different factors" is meaningless doublespeak. Quote:
Illustrations? Photos? This is analog tape, not a book. Quote:
Grain was a trait of the tape itself (with Fuji Pro probably being the worst grainy VHS tape I ever saw), or the quality of shot video. For example, underexposed video is often confused with being "grainy", and underexposure was very common with amateur shot footage. Quote:
Again, more text written by somebody that has zero knowledge on how optical media work. For starters, a DVD is not a CD, and you cannot use the term interchangeably (unless your a tech-inept grandma). DVD is encoded as MPEG-2 video, and many of the traits common to analog formats are actually very similar to their disc-based brethren. Most notably, the asinine idea that "colors fade over time", a falsehood that is commonly (mis)stated as a problem of both media types. Quote:
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It's only a "tough question" if you're not aware of the science and ample anecdotal evidences (dating the to the 1950s) that exists. Quote:
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Film is indeed a fragile format that has many problems, including image fade. There are entire documentaries dedicated to film salvation, because it was being lost at a much faster rate than was expected by movie studios. The most famous is probably the original Star Wars trilogy, which was in a miserable state after only 15-20 years. Video tape, by contrast, doesn't have the same issues. Issues, yes, but nowhere near as dire as film has proven in recent decades past. Quote:
Buried under the exaggerations is a single thread of truth. Yes, oxide shedding can happen, and I explained that earlier in this post. But the item that you'll open a box to find nothing but dust is ridiculous. Quote:
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The longevity of the tape depends on the format. Some tapes, like DV, are sadly quite fragile, and the digital data is far too finicky even after 15 years. Others, like Ampex, which were used to shoot episodes of The Twilight Zone, and many others, are often still fine more than 60 years later. VHS tapes from the 1970s are still fine when played. The generally accepted lifetime of a VHS tape is 35-65 years -- at least those with actual scientific knowledge of the nature of the format, such as archivists and professionals within the studio industry. Quote:
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Tape is tape. It doesn't matter if the data is analog or digital. If anything, digital is a "all here, or all not" sort of format. At least with analog, the content is still present, even if disrupted. Quote:
Again, just more pulled-from-butt numbers. Tape is tape, digital or analog. And the grade of tape matters just as much as the storage, in terms of improving/degrading the longevity. Quote:
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Depends on bitrates. Quote:
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Both VHS and DVD have 480 lines of vertical resolutions. VHS is not measured in pixels, and in fact analog was not measured on the vertical axis at all. Analog NTSC is equivalent to the same 486 lines you get with digital NTSC. It's the horizonal where the big difference happened. VHS was theoretically 240 lines, but that was only SP when all conditions were idea. For those that insist on factoring in Kell, which I disagree with (and Kell is NOT universally accepted), it was still less than 350px. DVD has a max palette of 720, but the content can of course be less resolved. And when you're converting VHS to DVD, that is always the case. VHS doesn't magically become 720px when it was a mere 200-300px source. And FYI, 720px is the same as about "500 lines of resolution" in an analog horizontal measurement. Quote:
The length of video that fits onto a DVD-R is solely determined by the bitrate. Also: You can actually stored 3 hours of VHS as 352x480 (ie greater resolution that the VHS source), using a 4.0mbps bitrate, or it will look better than 2 hours stored as 720x480 at 5.0mbps, due to the bitrate allocation. Quote:
Mwahahahaha. :devil: |
An excellent post my friend!!!!!!
Either these people have been lied to and are spewing the garbage they have been told or they have an agenda!!! |
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