[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Chris

Once the BBC started archiving on videotape (as opposed to wiping tapes for re use and archiving only select episodes on film), their future was secured. You'll never see Fawlty Towers in HD, but it can at least be replayed whenever required without the recoding medium going off.

Unfortunately videotape is also subject to deterioration with time especially if badly stored*. Re-recording to new tape is subject to reduction of quality too. Only storing digitally with minimum compression on HDDs or SSDs is the secure media and even then duplicate copies are a must.

* Variations of temperature and humidity cause the tape pack to move against itself on the reels which results in magnetic "Print through" which can eventually render the tape unplayable. Same applies to video cassettes. including domestic formats.