[QuadList] OT: "Deterioration" Determination?

[lee williams]

Agreed, 
I'm running tape that has to be 40+ years old. 
 
Even after baking and cleaning, the window for recovering the program off the tape is turning out to be less than 3 weeks after baking before the dropouts and head clogs become imposable. 
 
When you can actually feel the oxide hitting you as you run the tape through the machine, it might be at it's life's end.
 
Lee  


--- On Thu, 5/12/11, Chill315 at aol.com <Chill315 at aol.com> wrote:


From: Chill315 at aol.com <Chill315 at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [QuadList] OT: "Deterioration" Determination?
To: quadlist at quadvideotapegroup.com
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 1:52 PM



Since I have not worked with tape in a number of years, I will give my thoughts on what I have seen in the past.  My biggest thing was when the binder broke down and the oxide came off the tape.  That is what I used as the failure mode for a video tape.  I saw a few other things such as excessive dropouts or the binder being cracked by being played before the tape had warmed up to room temperature.  There were other things that were minor but these were the two biggest things that I have experienced as to tape break down.  
 
I understand that there are others but none that I have experienced.
 
Chris Hill
 

In a message dated 5/12/2011 2:27:22 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, walterforsberg at gmail.com writes:
Hello All-

Just wondering what the group's thoughts were on what constituted "deterioration" of videotape.

Obviously, this term is a super-vague one, yet one that the Copyright Law employs to qualify exemption for duplication-without-permission under Section 108 (c). The existentialist in me would like to say that all videotape is deteriorating from the point of inception, aka "we're ALL dying from the moment we're born," but this all-encompassing definition doesn't make a good legal argument. (I've been told by lawyers that this is called an argument weakened by "over-determination.")

So, what things can we point to as hard evidence of "deterioration"? Dropout may have been original to the recording process, but maybe also a symptom of shedding. Storage conditions may have not been ideal, or in keeping with IPI temp. & humidity standards, yet if a large number of tapes were stored in the same bad conditions, how could one determine deterioration without a control tape perfectly stored for the same amount of time? 

Any comments on what is undeniable evidence of "deterioration," other than, say a tape being melted? Is there anyone out there with a Magic Bullet?

Thanks in advance,
Walter Forsberg



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