Comment on NSA Claims It Can’t Watch a Tape It Recorded in the 1980s
Sanctus@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Whoopsie! History just slips through your fingers like sand sometimes, huh?
Complete incompetence that it wasn’t digitized already.
Comment on NSA Claims It Can’t Watch a Tape It Recorded in the 1980s
Sanctus@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Whoopsie! History just slips through your fingers like sand sometimes, huh?
Complete incompetence that it wasn’t digitized already.
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
That tape is old and degrading. If it’s not digitized soon, it will be lost.
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 2 months ago
I don’t think tapes degrade that fast. Yes, the quality will get slightly worse but it can be played until it becomes too brittle.
Vorticity@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Video tape isn’t really that durable over time. Most of the info I can find comes from digitization services, but they are fairly consistent in saying that, for tapes that are stored in “normal” conditions, you can expect 10-25% degradation in 20 years. These tapes are 40 years old. They have likely degraded significantly already and may fall apart when played.
Sanctus@lemmy.world 2 months ago
These bad boys have been screaming for preservation since the 90’s tbh. There’s no reason this shouldn’t be public domain. Its our history, its computer history.