[mythtv-users] Anyone archiving to Blu-Ray Disks?

[Brian Wood]

On Thursday, July 08, 2010 08:58:06 am bhaskins wrote:

> 
> I watched a program about the Smithsonian and how they archive all kinds
> of data.
> Even they could not predict how long optical data storage would last.
> Different test samples, even from the same manufacturer, seemed to vary
> all over the
> place.
> Some test pieces failed after as little as three years.
> Makes you wonder about all the wedding, kids, etc photos that are stored
> on DVDs and such.
> Maybe mylar tape wasn't so bad after all.

Do you happen to recall the title of that program? I'd love to see it.

I've never taken seriously those "estimated" lifetimes based on accelerated aging, they seem more like marketing than 
engineering.

I do have magnetic audio tapes (the older ones are acetate, the later ones mylar) that are over 50 years old that work 
fine, as long as you FF/RW them before playing them to eliminate "stiction". I've also seen old 2" Quad video tapes from 
the 60s that can still play back, provided you can find a Quad machine to play them on.