Preserving VHS Recordings For Another 20 Years?

efedora asks: "I have about 650 hours of VHS tape going back about 20 years (no, not my porn collection) and the tape is starting to deteriorate. What are the best options for preserving the contents? Quality is important but not critical, so long as it's close to the original. Very low labor cost/time and simple operation. are important. Is there an easy way to do this?"

"Some of the ideas I've had so far are:

• VHS to VHS tape with an analog 'clean up' box between the VHS machines. This would give me the same number of tapes but should last another 20 years. Quality will degrade.
• Burn DVD's direct from VHS tape. I have software that will do this. Expensive and the DVD's won't even hold a VHS tape if it's 2 hours long. Good quality with no degradation.
• Burn VCD's. I don't know of any simple direct-to-VCD software that will do this so there would be a large labor overhead. Good quality with some degradation. Cheap.
• VHS direct to cheap IDE drives. Good quality with no degradation. Relatively cheap. Probably could use the same technique as burn-to-dvd."

Comments

Re:ATI All In Wonder

[cybercuzco]

lead is too soft, and tends to melt in fire, try nickel

Yes it does equal that.

[nurb432]

While I agree they did not exist in the time of the writing of the Constitution, technology advances over time, and so does the respective arms that exist.

The intent is to be on par with an oppressive government, so 'assault rifle' as you refer toom also falls under the amendment's protection.

Don't get me wrong, responsible use must also come in to play.. The right to keep and bear, does *not* mean you can use them in improper ways.

Defective Software is bad.

[Farnite]

But individual consumers don't enjoy such protections and are essentially left to their own devices when it comes to problems such as Slammer

This is what needs to be changed - Defective software SOLD should not have huge problems like this in it.

Re:don't get TV Wonder VE

[brokenin2]

I've heard the normal ATI TV Wonder is ok though. I just got one off E-Bay for $40 including shipping.

Re:DVD

[nmg196]

> "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."

Jesus didn't speak English. Is that supposed to be funny somehow?

Re:Will DVD Be Around In 20 Years?

[eam]

> I got out of it because I was tired of being
> relatively poorly paid for the same pressure
> and on-the-job stress as a pediatric
> neurologist.

Wow. Think you could tone down the hyperbole there?

A pediatric neurologist is responsible for the lives of children. Very sick children. From time to time said doctor would probably be in the position of telling someone that their child could not be saved. Is that the kind of pressure and stress you experienced?

Re:DVD

[Gleef]

Many Christian denominations teach that the Bible is the true and unvarnished word of God/Jesus. Some (not all, not even most) of the memebrs of these denominations are too clueless to realize that the English translation of the Bible that they read is not the original, that the Bible was not written in English. Some of these people combine their ignorance with zealotry, and make boneheaded statements like "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."

I have encountered this twice already (once indirectly). Former Texas Governor Miriam "Ma" Ferguson has been quoted as saying something similar, "If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for the Children of Texas" when vetoing some legistlation (probably involving the Spanish language in some way).

I assume the sig line was included as a combination of frustration at that kind of person, humor that someone can be so stupid, and pointing out to others that people exist who think this way.