Some degree of VHS deterioration is inevitable, despite your best efforts to extend the lifespan of your favorite movies.
If you want to preserve video tapes for posterity, your best option is to convert them to a forever digital format. When you choose ScanCafe to digitize old VHS tapes, we do our best to ensure the viewing quality is better than the original!
Anatomy of a Video Tape. How Do Magnetic Tape and VHS Tapes Decay Magnetic particles gradually lose their charge through remanence decay, which results in color shifts towards weaker hues and a loss of overall detail As the lubricant layer erodes, the binder becomes more prone to wear and tear, which directly affects the magnetic particles and causes loss of information The polymers in the binder absorb water even in a moderately humid setting, creating a sticky, unplayable mess known as sticky-shed syndrome Repeated rewinding and playback can cause the backing and substrate to stretch, thereby causing tracking errors and dramatically reduced playback quality Successive recordings and copying can causes progressive generation loss of information and sync signals.
The back coating, which is made up of lubricants, enhances the tape's durability and performance. No two tape manufacturers employ the exact same videotape manufacturing process. Each manufacturer uses its own materials and variations on the process to gain an edge over competitors.
However, the basic manufacturing process is the same for all companies. Essentially, manufacturing videotape involves taking a roll of clear plastic sheeting, painting it with a mixture of binding material and magnetic particles, baking it in an oven until this "paint" dries, and cutting the wide plastic roll into thin strips that are wound onto reels.
The magnetic particles that coat a videotape are needle-shaped. This allows them to be tightly packed onto the tape surface. The greater the magnetic density, the better the tape. The best tapes use smaller particles packed in greater concentration. The manufacturing process, according to Sony, one of the major videotape producers, is a multi-stage process that includes mixing, coating, calendaring, slitting, and finishing.
The components of a video cassette. At some manufacturing plants, during production, the solvent used in the coating process is recovered and purified and then used again in the manufacture of more tapes.
The solvents are evaporated in dryers that use air currents. This creates a mixture of air and solvent that is carried through pipes to a solvent recovery station. At this station, the solvent and air are separated. The solvent is then distilled and stored for use. Computers, x rays, and lasers are used to monitor various stages.
Ingredients are also tested. At Sony, before the manufacturing begins, ingredients are checked by the quality control lab against specifications in the tape's formulation. Oxide and metal particles are checked for evenness and size. Magnetic "footprints" are tested to make sure they conform to magnetic characteristics.
Binders and lubricants are checked for purity. The polyester base film is checked for consistency and strength. Recent advances in technology and manufacturing are making even better tapes possible and are pointing the way to the future.
By the turn of the new century, most of the tapes people have been using were oxide tapes. The active magnetic coating has been some form of oxidized metal. How Cassette Tapes Work The tape is arranged in a pattern of tiny magnetic particles. The tape plays back when it touches the magnetic spindle heads in the tape player, moving and causing an electromagnetic pulse that is interpreted as sound. The important thing to note here is that cassette tapes are recorded and played back essentially by arranging and interpreting magnetic particles.
Even a standard ceramic fridge magnet is powerful enough to damage the tape, if left in direct exposure. The same types of magnets should prove useful when erasing thinner audio cassettes. In the case of MiniDV tapes, smaller cube or disc magnets you can clutch between the tips of two fingers should be all you need. The tape within these miniature cassettes is quite small, so there's no need for a large magnet.
Check out our full magnets for crafts or fix it with magnets sections of the blog for more activities and creative ways to use magnets. And if you want to read more about Apex Magnet's common categories and their uses, check out this blog post. Business Customers Our Blog Videos. VHS and Cassettes As these tapes are quite large, you'll want to use a strong magnet that covers a lot of space.
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