VHS or Video Home System was invented in 1956 by AMPEX Corporation

 

Filming you own home videos became popular in the 1990s meaning that any tapes from that time need to be copied before they degrade.

 

Degrading happens over a period of 10-20 years so copies need to be made to preserve your footage.

 

Video recording tape is made up of 3 layers: plastic backing, substrate and top coat binder. Over time the glue that binds the magnetic particles to the plastic backing degrades and when the tape is played the video heads can strip off the magnetic coating, this is called shredding.

 

Another reason video images degrade is because the magnetic particles gradually lose their charge over time, this is called magnetic particle remanence decay, this results in loss of colour and image sharpness.

 

Extreme temperature changes and humid conditions over time can also cause serious damage to your tapes: mould, stretching, buckling for example.

 

We all know how the years rush by so now is the time to hopefully save those precious video memories.