Now is The Best Time to Transfer Your Old VHS Tapes, Here's Why

Nothing lasts forever and childhood memories captured on video tape are no exception! It turns out that life’s most important moments, once captured on tape with the hope of lasting forever, in fact do have an expiration date. As technology evolves, becoming more manageable and mobile, it’s important to understand why preserving our family memories is essential to ensuring that our memories live on for the next generation. 

A simple transfer of your video content from VHS tape to a DVD/digital format is possible. At Tri-Toy Productions, we have been doing this process for over a decade. We can create DVDs or digital files such as .mp4 or .AVI etc. to store on an external hard drive/flash drive. We can create files to watch and share with friends and family for years to come! The time is now to transfer your family videos, here is why!

Why VHS Tapes Degrade Over Time

The material with which video tapes were made, allow all kinds of degradation scenarios to occur. Sadly, whether you watch your home videos 1 time or 100 times, the tapes are going to degrade for a number of reasons. Do note that good preservation techniques such as, “Keep away from direct sunlight and moisture. Keep out of the reach of the children” only go so far to extend their lifespan.

VHS tapes are made of plastic outside and the ribbon inside has the information – pictures, video and audio encoded on it through magnetic technology.   The inside ribbon is made with Mylar, a type of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and the outside case is made of polypropylene (PP).  When you dissect the layers of a VHS tape, there are three components; the binder, the substrate and the backing.  These components are specific to analog tape to help survive the friction and stress of repeated playback, winding, and re-winding. The binder layer is where the data is stored and is in direct contact with the play back heads on a machine (i.e. VCR). It has magnetic particles and as these magnetic particles lose their charge, (know as remanence decay) the quality drops. In some cases, the magnetic particles lose their magnetic properties altogether causing playback to ‘delete’ portions of video/audio from the recording. The binder layer has lubricant and multiple playbacks can cause the lubricant to dry out and this loss impacts the magnetic properties. Magnetic exposure of your tapes could also cause damage. For instance, storing your tapes near another magnetic source like speakers can cause playback issues because it causes the magnetic binding technology to degrade,become weaker and potentially demagnatize.  This happens often when VCR machines are not maintained properly.  Unfortunately, if you playback tapes too often before cleaning the VCR, the damage is already done.

Often, tape degradation is instigated by bacteria that gradually breaks down the components that turn to dust. The picture and audio quality begin to drop gradually and eventually the tape is rendered useless or unreadable by the VHS player. In cases where the atmosphere of storage is moist, the binder layer absorbs the moisture, and this makes playback difficult. Exposure to heat and cold alter the strength of the ribbon gradually and with flucuating temperatures over a span of 20+ years, you will see that the images that started out strong have now lost detail and color.

Every time you play a tape, the friction and the movement ensure that the ribbon weakens. Rewind and playback operations can also cause the other layers – the backing and substrate - to stretch and hence the quality of the content is reduced and causes tracking errors. Playback becomes difficult as colors and sound change, because the magnetic components break down into dust particles.

Avoid Degradation by Doing a VHS Tape Transfer to Digital Files

Also, have you ever transferred the content of one tape to another? Did you make copies of a video capture for family and friends? If yes, then quality loss has already occurred in the transfer process.  

Unfortunately, the one issue we have no control over is time. Our tapes literally have no choice but to age since VHS tapes have a limited lifespan. Time is not a friend to this media format and loss of quality is inevitable.  So, let’s look at a solution to these issues… Transfer! Transfer!! Transfer!!! ASAP!

The technology utilized in DVDs/digital files, makes it possible to reach the forever point at least till technology tells us there is something better coming!

DVDs have no moving parts and hence do not have the problem of degrading by friction like VHS tapes. They do not have the magnetization problem so you can watch your favorite moments repeatedly, because you do not have to worry that continuous playback would cause them to wear out. That being said, DVDs/digital documents have their own set of challenges. Be aware, issues with DVD playback are almost always due to user error. So, be kind to your DVDs; store them individually in cases, keep them in a climate-controlled space, hold them by the outer edge and inner hole, and do your best to avoid scratches and moisture on the discs. If you can manage to do this, your DVDs will maintain quality for years to come.  If you begin to experience problems with DVD playback, there are steps you can take that will hopefully fix your discs!

Additionally, it is very likely that your favorite non-living companion in 2019 happens to be a laptop, tablet, smartphone or all of the above. If this is you, then you are likely a member of the cloud storage, streaming only club, and that means we also have solutions for you! Your memories can be stored, shared and carried with you everywhere you go, literally. Whether you prefer QT, .AVI or .mp4 files, you can be sure that your memories will go where you go!

Oh and if any of your tapes happen to be in non-NTSC formats such as PAL and Secam, we have you covered! So, don’t waste time. Call us and book an appointment today to have your memories transferred before it is too late!