Video 8

In the late 1980s and through most of the 1990s the Gorse Fox had a video camera that recorded on Video 8 tapes. These were great at the time, but even though he has captured most of them, the quality of the images was poor. The Gorse Fox decided that enough was enough. These tapes contain significant family stories: holidays in Florida, in Arizona, in Poughkeepsie, in Toronto; days out at Waddesdon Manor, at the Vyne, in Boulogne; and family get togethers such as Christmas.

He read an article last year saying that the compound used for the Video 8 and Super 8 tapes was suspect and that they were deteriorating at an alarming rate. Many snapped as soon as they were played, others had a type of mould that destroyed the images. This needed to be addressed. The Gorse Fox found a small independent company in Durrington that would process these tapes and convert the to DVD. He had sent them two tapes to start with. He had the opportunity to collect the finished DVDs today (and deposit a load more tapes for processing).  The guy that runs the place said how difficult it had been and the first few machines he tried to use wouldn't't extract the images, only the audio. Finally, one of his big professional decks was able to get the image and record to DVD.

The Gorse Fox has had the opportunity to rip the DVDs into his compute and look at the finished article. Boy oh boy! The quality is fantastic. In fact he thinks it is better than the images projected from the tape originally (using the camera). Now, he has the challenge of editing the hours of original film into sensible video films... but at least the images are saved for posterity.

The Gorse Fox recommends that if you have any old Video 8 or Super 8 tapes tucked away in your cupboards, and the content has value to you or you family, the get it transferred to a medium that will not deteriorate.

The Gorse Fox does not advertise, but he does recommend places and services that he has found to be of genuine value. The Gorse Fox strongly recommends: The Cine Film Factory; Email: transfer@cinefilmfactory.co.uk