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[BBC Tomorrow's World clip, 1980] In 1980, Michael Rodd of Tomorrow's World looked at the latest video recorders and then at something the programme was sure would replace them: the video disc. It looked like a record, played films on your television, and promised a sharper picture than any tape. It was, according to the programme, the format of the future. It wasn't. But the story of why is worth telling, and it ends somewhere surprising. You can see the full video here:...

[BBC Tomorrow's World clip, 1968] "It's going to do for television what the record did for radio," said James Burke. You can see the full video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=331363491615829 Little did he know where this would all lead, and what incredible technologies lay in the future. What Burke was showing The machine on screen was EVR, short for Electronic Video Recording. Despite the name, it couldn't record anything. It was a play-only system that stored pictu

How Long Do Video Tapes Last? VHS and Camcorder Tapes Explained Many families still have boxes of old video tapes tucked away in cupboards, filled with recordings of birthdays, holidays, weddings, childhood memories, and family occasions. Some are full-size VHS tapes, while others are much smaller camcorder tapes. Whatever the format, these recordings may contain moments you can't recreate. But how long do video tapes last, what causes them to deteriorate, and can you do anyt

WhatsApp is an easy way to share photographs and videos with family and friends. However, if you have had your old family memories digitised, there is an important difference between sharing them on WhatsApp and sharing the actual digital files. When you send a photograph or video as normal media in a WhatsApp message, WhatsApp compresses it. This reduces the file size and makes it quicker to send, but it also reduces the quality. You may not notice much difference when looki

Many people have boxes of old VHS and camcorder tapes stored in cupboards, lofts, garages or spare rooms. Often, these recordings contain family holidays, weddings, birthdays and other special moments that have not been watched for years. A common assumption is that if the tapes are not being used, they remain unchanged. Unfortunately, this is not the case. VHS and camcorder tapes continue to age even when they are sitting untouched in storage. Are VHS and Camcorder Tapes Sti

When you digitise a collection of old family photographs and videos, you end up with digital image files that are much easier to store, copy, and share. But you can do more with those files than simply look at the photographs. You can also add information about them, such as when a photograph was taken, where it was taken and who is in it. This information is called metadata. What Is Metadata? Metadata is simply information about a digital file. With a digital photograph, som

We receive videotapes from customers in every imaginable condition. Some have been stored carefully for decades, while others have spent years in damp lofts, garages or basements. Although most tapes can still be digitised successfully, some require specialist cleaning or repair before they can even be played safely. Here are six of the most common problems we encounter and how we deal with them. Mouldy Tapes If your tapes have been exposed to dampness, water, dust, or humid