[Ti] Was Vhs to dvd-and back again?

[David]

On 1/4/04 1:50 PM, "T Molnar" <tam at em.ca> wrote:

> Different people have told me that dvd or cd's are mediums with a
> maximum of quality play life that is very low.
> 30 plays ( 10 years or so) and it's toast so to speak.
> 
> I have no idea of veracity of such statements.  My music cd's seem fine.
> 
Last summer (if I recall properly) there was a long discussion about CD-R
media. You'll probably want to take the time to look at it. Remember, there
is a big difference between MOST of the music CDs you own and the CDs you
burn on your computer. Audio CDs are manufactured, not burnt, and they do
last a very very long time. I'm still playing some of the first CDs I
bought. 

CD-R media uses organic dyes which do deteriorate over time. I have some
burnt CDs that have lasted close to 5 years (these are Sony and Kodak Gold
media) and others that have failed in under 2 years. My current plan for
digital photos and music files is to use CD media that is archival quality
and reburn them every 5 years.
>
> I am wondering what is the best long term storage for digitized things
> like imovie clips/home movie things.
> 
> VHS?

VHS begins to fade after a period of years. I was shocked last year when I
watched some M*A*S*H episodes I'd recorded back in the 80's. The picture was
washed out. I checked out some of my other tapes and saw similar
deterioration. Movies I'd purchased seemed less affected.

> DVD?
> CD?

See above and I'd assume that DVDs are the same as CDs

> other?
> 
> Any comments on this from people that know?
> 
> On a side note - My wife's uncle just got hired to the tune of $20,000
> to do black and white photo archiving of a government information
> because negatives last forever pretty well.  I laughed because I was
> looking into whether this branch was going to digitize everything.
> 
> comments on good long term storage methods?
> 
Well, photos fade with time as well - so do color negatives. B&W negatives
and photos don't seem to be affected as badly.


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