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From: stassen@trwspp.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Re(2): VHS vs. Beta, Copying tapes
Message-ID: <579@trwspp.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Sep-84 17:47:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: trwspp.579
Posted: Mon Sep 17 17:47:51 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 06:41:10 EDT
Organization: T R W, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 28

[]

> After a few years, you'll have to copy your tapes anyway, regardless
> of what type of vcr you use.  Magnetic tapes are NOT long, long term
> storage.

	Oh really?  My father-in-law (the producer of "Benson") has tapes
of many of his episodes, as well as tapes of some other things that he
has produced (some as old as ten years).  He bought a VHS recorder when
they first came out (he was using an old 1-1/2 inch studio taping machine
before then, and copied his whole library to VHS several years ago).

	The tapes are ALL fine, with no noticeable loss of signal.  If
you care for your tapes properly, they should be good for MANY years
(more than 10).

	Besides, I would suspect that several generations of copying
will degrade the quality of the recording much more than the small
amount of print-through, stress, and drop-out that will occur.

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The opinions expressed in this document are my own.  They are not intended to
reflect the views of my employer - TRW - or anyone else.  Intelligent and
responsible commentaries should be directed to me;  Flames to the bit bucket.
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Christian W. Stassen	[decvax!trwrb,vortex,ihnp4!vortex]!trwspp!stassen

	"If we knew what the hell we were doing, then it wouldn't be research."