Post by Fluff Not Alf on Sept 1, 2005 20:01:16 GMT
Well.... I did keep them safe for an awful long time until I had a chance to verify the contents.
Philips 1500 series recorders in good working order are like rocking horse manure, and if you have one you need to treat it with kid gloves.
I have transferred the more interesting tapes, but many of them required baking (mainly Philips brand - BASF and Scotch are not so bad) and I must have spent hours and used gallons of isopropyl alcohol cleaning oxide from the heads and transport.
I really do not think it's in anyone's interest to run these tapes on a working recorder to recover material that exists on film or Quad anyway. The playback is about as good as you'd expect on 25-33 year old tapes that have not been well kept for much of their lives and which probably were not very good to start with (in fact a couple are annotated as poor recordings from the time). In other words, pretty sharp, but lots of dropout and the usual wide head-switching band.
If we were talking about VHS tapes where cheap players are 10 a penny, I'd agree they might have a certain attraction to collectors, but these tapes (now we know there's no unique or missing material on them) are a liability.
Furthermore, they weigh a bloody ton and shipping would cost an arm and a leg. Honestly, in this case, the tip is the best place for them.
Philips 1500 series recorders in good working order are like rocking horse manure, and if you have one you need to treat it with kid gloves.
I have transferred the more interesting tapes, but many of them required baking (mainly Philips brand - BASF and Scotch are not so bad) and I must have spent hours and used gallons of isopropyl alcohol cleaning oxide from the heads and transport.
I really do not think it's in anyone's interest to run these tapes on a working recorder to recover material that exists on film or Quad anyway. The playback is about as good as you'd expect on 25-33 year old tapes that have not been well kept for much of their lives and which probably were not very good to start with (in fact a couple are annotated as poor recordings from the time). In other words, pretty sharp, but lots of dropout and the usual wide head-switching band.
If we were talking about VHS tapes where cheap players are 10 a penny, I'd agree they might have a certain attraction to collectors, but these tapes (now we know there's no unique or missing material on them) are a liability.
Furthermore, they weigh a bloody ton and shipping would cost an arm and a leg. Honestly, in this case, the tip is the best place for them.
