Archival Video Status?

Archivists who keep videotapes for 50 years or longer have different needs then do Broadcasters who may think of “archival” as anything that is not on-line and who consider ten years to be the lifetime for most video. This paper informs technical people in the Broadcast Industry about issues in long-term storage of videotapes. Among these issues are physical problems with tape, including binder breakdown, fungus, and thin basefilm. Another issue has to do with equipment-both obsolescence and proper alignment and cleaning. Video formats are an additional major area of concern, particularly because the machines that meet criteria as an archival format are too expensive for archives or the video is compressed and degrades the original analog material. Is there a truly archival video medium/format in the near future?

Published

2000-10

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M00157

ISBN

978-1-61482-933-1