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<font face="Tahoma">Greetings, and my very best wishes to everyone
for a terrific New Year!<br>
<br>
I have a lead on dozens of reels of recorded videotape that has
been in storage for a couple of decades. </font><font
face="Tahoma">Some were recorded in the 70s. Some in the 80s. </font><font
face="Tahoma">I understand that the reels are stored individually
in their original cardboard boxes. They may have been in several
locations during their history. I don't know much about
conditions in their current location, other than they are in the
basement of a relatively modern building.<br>
<br>
The goal is to rescue program material deemed worthy (whatever
that is determined to be) from those tapes that have survived. I
have two rather open-ended questions:<br>
<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Tahoma">- When I start opening boxes, what
conditions and characteristics should I be looking for? </font><font
face="Tahoma">I will not have the ability to load them onto a
machine (nor would I feel competent to do so), but, merely to
inspect them visually.</font><br>
<br>
<font face="Tahoma">- What steps, if any, should I take to stop
any further deterioration until we can sort through them and get
them to an expert later this year? For example, should they all
be opened and left out in what is probably a dryer location?
Should they be re-packed into individual plastic bags? etc.</font><br>
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<font face="Tahoma"><br>
And now, for the rest of the story: the tapes are 1" and were
recorded on IVC-860 machines. The tape is likely a mix from
several manufacturers.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Steve<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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