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cfinke | January 21, 2009 05:33 PM | in Camcorders

What's the best way to store Mini-DV tapes so that the tape quality doesn't degrade over time?

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BEST ANSWER chosen by asker | krystyne20 | January 21, 2009 06:03 PM

Under ordinary circumstances you can simply place the tapes on a shelf, much like a book, on its edge in its case with the spine label facing out. DO NOT store tapes near any magnetic fields. (i.e. Speakers, Electric motors, magnets, computer monitors, network hubs, audio or video cabling or anything else that can generate a magnetic field.) Short term exposure has few deleterious effects, but over time even a modest magnetic field can seriously degrade the tape.

When you store for an extended period you have to take more care. Panasonic Digital media recommends archival at 10-25° C at 40-60% Relative Humidity. Care should be taken to minimize temperature fluctuation over time and keep the storage area dust free. This will minimize expansion and contraction of the tapes base film.

All tapes should be completely rewound before storage for any period of time. If you don't it can lead to uneven stretching of the tape. Tapes should be periodically (not less than every 3 years) fast forwarded and rewound completely. (You should do this for any tape you plan to re-record on that has been stored for any extended period of time.)

Bryco 50 Tape Mini DV Storage Rack:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ILK1NM?ie=UTF8&tag=kryssehowarti-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000ILK1NM

source(s):
http://www.zenera.com/dvtape.html#store_tape

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spoon | January 21, 2009 05:43 PM

Mini-DV as a medium is slowly going away (as did VHS) and storage is extremely important in order to protect the history that you have. To be sure you keep the videos that you have for the future I would strongly suggest converting it to digital and getting away from the analog format that it is in now. There comes a time (think floppy disk) when it becomes difficult to even find the technology to read old formats but if an item is saved in digital you can convert the format with relative ease, that way it continues to be viable with new technology.

If you still want to keep the mini-dv tapes you need to try and keep them in a dry area that has minimul temp change... plastic containers with lids work well to keep them dry and make it easier to store on a shelf.

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johnsonaaron | January 24, 2009 03:12 AM

Reality is, even the best storage method in the world is only going to give you the max life out of the tapes, which at best is like 25 years. If you're like me and would like to have home video around longer than that, you should really consider converting all that data. Just about every DV camera on the planet has a Firewire or USB output so you can dump those videos onto your hard drive. At that point I would then recommend a combination of online backup services (like Amazon s3 with jungledisc) and a local hard drive based backup system (as DVD's have a limited lifespan as well).

Cool, dry and dark is the best place to keep DV tapes, but it would be best not to keep them at all.

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