Analog Video Tapes

Analog video tapes, such as VHS and VHS-C and other formats, are made of a thin mylar film strip covered with a magnetic oxide material imbedded into a material called binder. The binders job is to hold the magnetic particles on the tape in the arrangement produced by the recording video heads. Many things work against the binders longevity. For instance water molecules in the air interact with the particles on the tape making the the binder 'sticky'. When you have a 'sticky' binder there is more friction created when the tape is run through the tape transport and the binder can easily clog video heads and rub off on the capstan and capstan shaft which pull the tape along the path. In sever instances such as bringing a cold VCR into the house and then immediately popping a tape into it, you can completely destroy the tape and possibly the video heads as well. This can also occur when the tape is stored in a high moisture location regardless of the condition of the VCR. Have you ever had a VCR "eat" a VHS tape?

The magnetic oxide in the binder that is read by the video heads is subject to deterioration when contacted with any magnetic field, which will re-arrange the magnetic particles. If a video tape is left on top of, or adjacent to a television set which is turned on and off a few times, the magnetic field created when the television's picture tube is degaussed will cause damage to the tapes integrity and information can be lost forever. How many of you have your VCR adjacent, under or on top of your television set? Modern televisions and computer monitors automatically degauss when turned on. This process neutralizes the magnetic field around the picture tube - and in the process destroys your tapes.

When a VCR reads your video tapes, the tape does not actually make contact with the video heads on the drum. If they did, the heads would get clogged and the tape ruined almost immediately. The distance between the heads and the tape is so small (microns); about a hundredth of the thickness of a dollar bill. A human hair on the tape or a strand of cotton (from a swab incorrectly used to clean the video heads), between the tape and the head will cause part of the binder to deteriorate. Even dirt particles cause this to happen. The unseen oils from your fingertips when transferred to the tape would be like trying to put a rock between the tape and the heads, that's why you are NEVER supposed to touch the video or audio tape.

You can see that besides just running the tape through the tape transport in the VCR, the environmental effects, and the normal deterioration that comes from just viewing the tapes cause a loss in quality. This does not happen when digital video is stored on a DVD. Mini DV tapes are also subject to the same problems as their analog cousins because they too, use a magnetic binder. As a matter of fact, because that digital video is completely made of ones and zeros, whereas the analog tape has a frequency imbedded in the tape, losing any part of the digital recording is catastrophic, you lose everything. Worse than the VHS tape which will first exhibit drop-outs, artifacts and a washed out picture. Mini DV does not lose ANY quality when it is properly captured, edited and authored onto a DVD. From there, with proper care of the DVD, you can have a permanent archive which can be copied without any loss what-so-ever. So, do not think that because you have a Mini DV camcorder that the tapes are safe, they are not. Handle with care and transfer to CD or DVD as soon as possible.