Video tape has many of the same problems, and some that are unique  
because it is magnetic. Most of the archives for TV is held on video  
tape. Tape recovery is what my brother does for a living.  
SPECSBrothers has a better than 90% recovery rate (and in most cases  
you can't tell any data was lost). They do everything from archives to  
family VHS damaged in fires and floods. If you have questions they  
have a web site.

On Jul 26, 2008, at 4:47 AM, geoff carver wrote:

> I've always been sort of fascinated at some of the work these guys  
> have been
> doing, and - although a different sort of heritage - they're also  
> dealing
> with problems of archiving, etc., but also some of the image  
> processing & so
> on which some of us are trying to do (& if nothing else, Hollywood  
> might be
> provide a source of inspiration [thinking laterally, outside the  
> box, etc.])
> Anyway:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7525143.stm