Is there a way to fix my 10 year old homemade videos? they are pretty old. can i save them?

Question

well, the tapes are form the late 90s. they are mini vhs (make sense?) from camcorders. they white stuff around the tapes. will it be saved? or should i just throw these bunch of tapes away? :(

Answer 1

You'll need to give us more information - what format are they in, what's wrong with them?  How many are there?    

<edit>

I completely agree with Hazydave, though my first thought was that the "white stuff" was dried adhesive.  That would mean the tapes need to be handled very carefully if you want to recover anything from them - it's not something you could do yourself.

Answer 2

Is there actually mold on the tape or is it just in the tape cassette? The best thing you can probably do is to take the tapes to a reputable video transfer company and have them put it on DVD or to an external hard drive. Chances are, if the mold is on the tape itself they will be able to remove the white stuff and then transfer it to DVD so you have a digital non-deteriorating copy.

Alternatively, you could try to do it yourself. Again, if the mold is actually on the tape, lift up the flap on back of the tape cassette and use a soft cloth such as a lens cloth along with some water to gently clean it. You can use mild soapy water as well, but keep in mind you will have to additionally rinse and clean the tape with plain water. Then you could take it to a video transfer company, or if you're willing to go all the way, you could get a capture card such as the Dazzle:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FC4...

Or the Diamond VC500:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VM6...

And then you will need to capture and edit/burn to DVD.

If I were you, I would first take them to a professional video transfer service, and then if they can't do anything about it, you might as well try to figure it out yourself, since the worst thing that could happen is you end up with a bunch of unwatchable tapes which, I'm assuming, is what you already have. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

"mini-VHS"... that's probably VHS-C. You can fit a VHS-C to VHS adaptor to these tapes to allow them to play in a standard VHS deck.

As for the "white stuff", could be fungus or mildew, depending on how they were stored. I would most definitely ensure they're dry before playing them. If you have a VHS deck you still value, you might pick up a cheap one at a flea market or yard sale, just so you don't dirty your good unit.

Will they play? Maybe. High quality tape itself can last for decades if stored well, but cheaper tape... not so much. And the presence of "white stuff" may indicate they were not stored so well.

The only point of using these tapes would be to get important video from them onto new tapes, or a hard drive. If it's just about the tapes, throw them away and buy new ones (and in fact, that whole VHS-C camcorder is pretty questionable these days.. the quality is pretty bad compared to any of the digital formats).