Do you have any old VHS video tapes that you haven’t been able to watch? Do VCR’s even still exist anymore? What about the Quality of the VHS tapes? Do they degrade over the years?

If you have some video that you want to preserve that is currently on VHS, 8mm video tape, Hi8mm video tape or even DV tapes you may want to read on further.
 
REALITY* The fact is magnetic tapes as listed above do actually degrade and result in a "severe" loss in quality. I just recently watched a (VHS) video that my daughter decided to pull out and play. The video tape is approximately 12 years old. When we watched it we found that the picture quality suffered around a 20% loss. Some areas would fade in and out with a yellowish to brownish tint on the screen at random. We also saw some area’s where the edges of the screen were actually "foggy" looking. At this rate, in another 5-7 years we may not even be able to see the picture on the screen.

It does helps to store your tapes in a clean and humidity free environment. This will extend the life of you tape but it will not stop the eventual degradation of your tapes.This same phenomena occurs with film for all the major movie makers. Most film houses have gone though intensive programs to first restore the surface of their films and then immediately transfer them to a digital format. They take it one step further by doing intensive restoration processes to add color and improve the sound. Without this process, many of our classic films would not even exist today.

VCR’s are increasingly hard to repair or locate. Have you looked in Wal-Mart or Best buy recently? They are few and far between. Very soon you won’t even be able to buy a VCR except at a garage sale (if you can get it to work).

Once your video is on DVD, it now exists in the digital domain. It is no longer subjected to the degrading process. The quality is stable and more accessible and easier to use than tapes.