Does anyone know how long VHS tapes last?

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Socopool79

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have a bunch of accu-stats tapes and was wondering what the shelf life is?
Also does anyone know if accu- stats has a trade in policy for old tapes to DVD for a fee of course?
 
Dont know exactly how long the life span is but my parents owned a video store for over 20+ years and still have old time vhs tapes that work.

I know there are programs to convert vhs tapes to dvd and maybe even store them on a hard drive, which might be a good choice as vhs players are a thing of the past with bluray players and media players.
 
VHS degrades over time, they can still be watchable after 20 years, but you start to see lines and fuzziness after 5. Rewatching them frequently will make it even worse, even after 3 years you would notice loss of quality.

I don't know of any trade in policy, they opted not to convert their back catalog of old vhs tapes to DVD (well, most of them, maybe a few major ones got remastered/converted?). So if you have something old enough to be on tape, there's no official DVD version of it that they could trade you.

There are several options though for playing on your TV and simultaneously recording it to the computer, where it's a file you can burn to DVD or just play back on the PC. If you already own a camcorder you can do it without spending any additional money. If not there are devices you can buy, the cheapest is maybe 100 bucks.

Let us know if you end up capturing the video to your computer. Some old videos never made it to DVD, you may be the first one to convert some of the matches.
 
This is a timely thread for me. :grin-square:

I recently acquired a job of 40 VHS tapes consisting of oral history interviews. After studying what is out there available to dub these VHS tapes to digital, I ended up purchasing a Toshiba DVR620 for about $170. This is a fast-speed dubber of videotapes to DVD. It has some other features on it that allow one to do a cut-and-paste, but I won't be using that feature quite yet.

I also have pool VHS tapes. One, in particular, was sent to me by a kind man in Mississippi of Keith playing, I think, Mike Sigel or Earl Strickland on ESPN. He said it was an entertaining match, funny at times. I can't wait to dub it.

As soon as I dub that, as well as the others I have, I am going to post them on YouTube.

If you store the videotapes in a non-smoking area, if anyone smokes, and keep them protected, they should last longer. I have mine in a stackable legal cabinet, which is enclosed in glass. This keeps them free of dust and other environmental things that could deteriorate the tape. If you have venetian blinds, check out a venetian blind after 10 or 12 years if it has not been cleaned. I had one in my attic, and it was dirty and sticky from the particles in the air.

I know the pool VHS tapes I have are older than 20 years, so I hope it is still in good condition. Time will tell.

I am going to ask Pat Fleming of Accu-Stats if I can post snippets of the X-rated Accu-Stats tape of Grady Mathews, et al., commentating a match between Keith and Gary Nolan. Now, that one is funny as heck! :thumbup:
 
I have some that made it thru a house fire,including the one that was IN my VCR when the fire happened,and they STILL play.

That's because I learned to clean the heads on audio cassette machines as a kid,and figured out how to do video players.

I clean them before I play the tape using alcohol and 8" long cotton swabs,and use one of those head cleaner tapes afterwards.

I still have 40 Accu-Stats matches,and a bunch of matches I recorded off the tv.

I lost 60-odd Accu-Stats tapes,and practically everything on tv from '85-'98 in that fire. Classic stuff like the '88 Brunswick World Open (2 matches with Keith),along with the rest of that tournament (QF-F,7 matches total),and the whole '86 Resorts tournament(8 matches total).

Both of which had Jean Balukas in her absolute prime,including the last match she played in competition. Tommy D.
 
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Tommy-D said:
I have some that made it thru a house fire,including the one that was IN my VCR when the fire happened,and they STILL play.

That's because I learned to clean the heads on audio cassette machines as a kid,and figured out how to do video players.

I clean them before I play the tape using alcohol and 8" long cotton swabs,and use one of those head cleaner tapes afterwards.

I still have 40 Accu-Stats matches,and a bunch of matches I recorded off the tv.

I lost 60-odd Accu-Stats tapes,and practically everything on tv from '85-'98 in that fire. Classic stuff like the '88 Brunswick World Open (2 matches with Keith),along with the rest of that tournament (QF-F,7 matches total),and the whole '86 Resorts tournament(8 matches total).

Both of which had Jean Balukas in her absolute prime,including the last match she played in competition. Tommy D.
Click to expand...


Holy Pool Balls, those sound like vintage American pool matches. What a shame they were lost in the fire. :frown:

I can't wait to see what the VHS tape is I have that the gentleman sent me from Mississippi. He said he taped it from ESPN.
 
If you have a VHS player and if you have some type of machine that will record and burn a DVD, you can buy a relatively cheap converter that will connect the output of the VHS player to the input/receiver of the DVD recorder/burner.

By the way, don't be confused by thinking DVDs last forever and are invulnerable and last forever. They don't and they aren't. Better than VHS though.
 
vhs to dvd converter

Like the kaznj said all you need is a DVD burner on your computer a vhs player and vhs to dvd converter. The converter will hook up between the video player and your computer and has software to help with the conversion.
Do a google search for "vhs to dvd converter", a few years ago I bought the Honestech version and it's been working pretty well. You can buy a good one for around $50.

Good luck.

Stan
 
I have some super old nba and pro wrestling (dusty Rhodes!) VHS tapes from 83 or so that still worked when I popped them in an old VCR a year ago.

These were cheapo tapes too, and recorded on slp (? It's been forever, not sure of right term, the slow record version that allowed a 60m tape to hold 4 hours of stuff) mode. Quality wasn't great but they still worked.
 
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