How To Care For and Preserve Your Video Tapes

When you use your video camera to record important family events you are probably not thinking about what to do with that footage 20 years from now. The reality is that your tapes and film can start degrading in as little as 5 years, usually because of poor video storage techniques.
 
The first thing to understand is that videotape was never designed to be a long-term storage solution.  It was primarily designed to be easy to use and easy to copy. The good news is that with proper storage you can extend videotape life (by years... not decades). Storing your videotapes properly is extremely important.
 
Feldman's Photography is one of the premier preservation and archiving services in the country. We believe that keeping your memories alive for years to come is of utmost importance. If you are not able to send your videotapes into us for archiving please be sure to follow these storage and care tips to keep your videotapes and film in good condition.
 

How to Store Your VHS and other Video Tapes

• Do not open the cassette or touch the tape unless it is an absolute necessity.
• Do not let the temperature regularly exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Do not let the humidity exceed 20 to 30%.
• Avoid storing your video tapes in a room with southern exposure.
• Keep tapes in their cases when not in use.
• Label tapes with subject and dates as soon as they are out of the camcorder.

  
  
  How to properly care for video tape

• Keep your video tapes free from moisture, excess heat and dust.
• Never store your video tapes by your Television set.  Magnetic fields generated by your television will damage your video tapes quickly over time.
• Exercise your video tapes by fast-forwarding to near the end of the tape, and then rewinding close to the beginning of the tape.  This will reduce reel-tension and reduce the tendency for tape adhesion.
• Do not let the machine fast forward all the way to the beginning or end of the tape since this could rip the tape from its take-up spools.
• Never store your video tapes in your car.  On even a moderately sunny day, the temperature can easily exceed 90-100 degrees when in direct sunlight.
• Smell the container in which your video tapes are being stored.  If you smell vinegar or other odors, chances are your tapes are in an accelerated stage of decay and should be transferred to a DVD or hard drive as soon as possible,

  Tape Degradation

• Do not let the temperature regularly exceed 70 degrees.
• Tape degradation can be broken down into several categories:

  Time, Storage, Handling and Use.

  
  Time: Over time the components of a video tape degrade.  Most importantly the magnetic particles that contain data become instable and their physical properties changes.

Storage: The environment in which you store video can accelerate the degradation process.  The magnetic particles respond to environmental factors such as temperature  fluctuations, extreme temperature, humidity, pollution, and sunlight.


Handling: Poor handling can expiate degradation.  Avoid dropping the tape or handling the tape.  It is easy to transfer dust, dirt and, grease onto tapes.


Use: The quality of your tape deck is important.  A misaligned deck can stretch/tear tape and pack tape poorly.  A dirty deck can turn small debris into large scratches.  Each time a tape is played friction occurs assisting the degradation process.


While there are many factors that contribute to the longevity of a video tape most experts agree that the life span is 8-12 years.  However as time passes tapes continue to degrade.  We recommend transferring your tapes to digital within the five years.