PM> JE>> What happens when the tape get brittle and starts breaking? I
PM> JE>> have some old reel to reel stuff that is beginning to get that
PM> JE>> way.

PM> GM> I have some reel-to-reel tapes from the 50's and early 60's that
PM> GM> got brittle after only a few years. But I've had no trouble with
PM> GM> stuff from the 70s and later.
PM>Same here, worst stuff is Ampex Grand Master from the late 70s early 80s.
PM>I have some early Ex ABC Byer/Rola paper based tape thats still in good nick.
PM>Maybe paper is a more stable medium? but thicker and you dont get as much on a
PM>reel.

PM> JE>> Also movies will deteriorate much the same way.

PM> JE>> The movie industry has lost quite a bit of their earlier
PM> JE>> productions because of film deterioration.

PM> GM> Many of the colour movies are deteriorating badly as the dyes
PM> GM> fade. Fortunately the silver oxide in B/W movies is very durable
PM> GM> and if the stock stays in one piece they should last almost
PM> GM> forever.

PM> JB> some of the old films are succeptable to fungus attack, I'm not
PM> JB> sure if it eats the substrate or the emulsion.

PM>I have many movies that have gone pink, seems to be no way to stabilise them.
PM>Color by Deluxe was the worst/first one Kodachrome seems the most stable.
PM>I was really upset when I borrowed the Apollo 11 lunar landing from the State
PM>Film Library, it had gone so pink it was virtually unwatchable.
PM>I bought video copies as well, but they are poor quality. Why would you spend
PM>so much money on sending someone to the moon only to document it in such an
PM>amateurish way.

PM>I've seen the fungus as well its sort of an orangey color.
PM>Theres also a lot of more recent film, last 10 years, 35mm that gets vinegar
PM>syndrome. I have some, its a result of the plastic bases breaking down.
PM>I have reel to reel video tapes 10 years old that are unplayable and squeal on
PM>the head drum. Hate to think of the fate of our recorded history.

PM> GM> But how long will CDs and DVDs last? Does anyone know?

PM> JB> early CD have already begun to fail, later ones are reportedly
PM> JB> better quality.

PM>Like my "spare copy" of Windows 98...no scratches but cant
be read properly by
PM>some drives.

PM> JB> if you want your data to last millennia engrave it on gold foil. 

PM> GM> And if the technology changes would anyone be able to duplicate it
PM> GM> to play them in, say, 100 years time?

PM> JB> dunno, it's kind of hard to buy a phonograph (cylinder) player, but
PM> JB> one could probably built given specifications.

PM>I have two Edison cyinders but no way to play them back. I've seen people with
PM>various rig-ups for playback, problem is with hill and dale recording, later
PM>stylii/cartridges are designed for lateral recordings.

PM>Changing standards are a big problem.
PM>My dad filmed all his stuff in the late 1950s early 1960s on Pathescope 9.5mm
PM>film, (sprocket holes down the centre) the Pathescope Ace projector suffered
PM>from that "die cast cancer" (inter-granular corrosion) in
the gate and never
PM>worked again. I was able to get some footage transferred to super 8 in 1979,
PM>now its even difficult to find a good quality working 8mm projector. When the
PM>belts break and the lamps blow.... where do you get parts?

Lamps are still available.

PM>Most of my stuff was filmed in standard 8mm, I later upgraded to super 8mm and
PM>played with reel to reel EIAJ video as well.

I have a good 8/super 8mm projector.

PM>My sister recently asked if I could convert the 8mm to video, but thats almost
PM>eclipsed by DVD already. You start looking at layers of degradation as well,
PM>each time the media crosses formats.

There is a company here that has a projector that converts
8mm to VHS - pretty darn good quality too.  I used their
setup and copied all of our 8mm to VHS - and that is part of
what was stolen!!!

PM>What if the stupid VCR chews the tape?

That why to convert to DVD.

PM> JE>> We lost all of out VHS tapes when we were burglarized this last
PM> JE>> summer so I can't save mine now.

PM> GM> Why the h*** would burglars want to take private videos? They
PM> GM> probably do it to cause annoyance to the people they rob, just to
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