Re: [ARSCLIST] U-matic audio mastering

["Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:46 AM 2008-01-31, Jeff Willens wrote:

> Unfortunately, the major label archives have many hundreds of 
> thousands of one-of-a-kind digital masters still on this format (and 
> nowhere else) that it's going to become an archiving nightmare very 
> soon. Sony wants to pretty much forget it ever made the 1630, so 
> they won't support it anymore. Hopefully, someone can take up the cause...

Hello, Jeff,

That is indeed bad news considering how many U-Matic tapes are 
developing sticky shed and other maladies. It was starting to get bad 
5-7 years ago. I can only imagine how much worse it's getting.

PrestoSpace did a large analysis of U-Matic tapes and apparently, 
even by brand/model there were differences -- some batches were 
sticky, some not. I don't know if they ever came up with the "pool 
test kit" to determine life expectancy.

Is VidiPax equipped for 1630 transfer?

Cheers,

Richard


Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.