Phew It’s Warm Out There! Why You Should Avoid Heat Damage to Your Tapes and Archives NOW

Oxford Duplication Centre LtdTue 19th Jul 20222 min

How heat can damage your video and audio tapes, and precious family archives. Video tapes that are stored in a hot environment for an extended period of time can cause visible color deterioration and audio degradation in your tapes. If the tape has suffered from extreme heat, such as being exposed to hot attics and […]

How heat can damage your video and audio tapes, and precious family archives.

Video tapes that are stored in a hot environment for an extended period of time can cause visible color deterioration and audio degradation in your tapes. If the tape has suffered from extreme heat, such as being exposed to hot attics and garages, the chances of recovery are a bit slim, because as soon as it’s hot enough, the thin Mylar backing the tape will warp and curl.

The best way to avoid any sort of unnecessary heat exposure is to keep your tapes in a dark, cool place with low humidity.

Magnetic Damage

Magnetic tape stores information (Video/Audio) in the form of a magnetic strip. The VCR has special heads that can pick up on these magnetic signals, and translate them into images and sound that plays on your TV. While magnets are used to write information to the tape, they can be erase footage from your tape. Since VHS uses an iron oxide as its formula, this makes them very susceptible to magnetic damage brought on by heat damage.

A tape that has been exposed to magnetic damage is nearly irreparable. There is no way to recover footage that has been magnetically erased or damaged.

Digitised Tape Transfer

Avoid your VHS tapes degrading by making the decision to get them digitised! Digital tape transfers are very popular as families hold value in preserving their old memories. Transferring your tape memories to a DVD or digital file will preserve the quality and give you the ability to share with generations to come.

Kind Regards

Cheryl-Lee Foulsham

Director

Oxford Duplication Centre

Corporate, Consumer & Heritage Digitisation

29 Banbury Road Kidlington Oxford OX5 1AQ

T: +44 (0) 1865 457000

W: www.oxfordduplicationcentre.com

E: cheryl@oxfordduplicationcentre.com

Vat Registration Number 982 1644 05

Office Hours Monday – Thursday 8-4pm Friday 8-3pm

Collections and Deliveries 10-3pm by appointment

Closed Saturday and Sunday

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Oxford Duplication Centre Ltd

From 1 family wedding VHS tape to 1000's of archival collections. Helping preserve future archives and memories to industry standards by digitising once and preserving forever.

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