Longevity of VHS players

[Dougcho]

Greetings! It's important that I come to a conclusion on ...
What's the shelf-life of my 8 top-of-the-line Sony VHS machines
not being used (but are plastic-wrapped, sealed from dust, etc.)?
TDK guarantees my TDK-EHG T-120 tapes will last a lifetime,
but what about the VHS machines?
To be sure that I'll be able to watch my 1000 precious VHS movies
(mostly B&W) for the next 20 years, should they be copied to DVD?
NOTE:
The VHS tapes look great on our 27" Sony WEGA flat screen,
and are A-OK also (in the store using one of my Sony players)
on a 52" HDTV Samsung DLP ... DLP technology is said to do
the best job of reproducing the VHS format.
Thanks, everyone!

[GMichael]

VHS? Um.. Welcome to AR. But VHS?
Not sure of the shelf life. But my Sony VHS lasted about 10 years.

[edtyct]

They're mechanical instruments. They have motors that can run down and tape heads that can deteriorate, as well as a host of other parts subject to failure. Depending on how much you use them, they will die sooner or later. Get yourself a good DVD player/recorder and/or a DVR. They won't last forever either, but they are higher on the evolutionary scale.

[Woochifer]

If it's not used for anything, presumably it can sit and be in operational condition for decades. The VCR attached to my bedroom system dates back to 1994. It still works (though not in constant use) and the batteries in the remote are the originals as well (Mitsubishi made a point of including Duracells).

I would guess that the primary issue with longievity for something sitting on a shelf would be how rapidly wear-items like the rubber belts deteriorate.

P.S. TDK only guarantees a warranty on those tapes for life, not that they will actually last a lifetime. Magnetic media will deteriorate over time. If you open that tape 50 years from now, you might find it unusable. If TDK's still around, you can send it back to them and they will mail you a new one. Those lifetime warranties are no big issue for them because they know that most consumers won't bother exercising a warranty on a item that costs less than $2 and will cost nearly that much in postage to send back.

[StanleyMuso]

I bought a top of the line JVC Hi-Fi 2 speed machine in 1984, which cost a mint at the time. It has proved to be the most reliable piece of hi-fi equipment I have ever owned, and it is still in working order. The picture quality on some recordings these days is not that crash hot and the hi-fi sound tracks often drop out forcing me to listen to the standard tracks, but it may be more the result of my ageing collection of tapes. A newer Panasonic (about 8 years old) is in much worse condition despite being used less.

However, if you have tapes which you want to keep for posterity, dub them onto DVDs pronto. My wedding films, originally transferred from Super 8, are showing quite a bit of degradation, and I will be tranferring them onto DVD by way of a DVD & Hard Disk recorder which I bought last Saturday. It is my understanding that recordings on tape deteriorate over time, even if they are in storage and not played.

[Dougcho]

I bought a top of the line JVC Hi-Fi 2 speed machine in 1984, which cost a mint at the time. It has proved to be the most reliable piece of hi-fi equipment I have ever owned, and it is still in working order. The picture quality on some recordings these days is not that crash hot and the hi-fi sound tracks often drop out forcing me to listen to the standard tracks, but it may be more the result of my ageing collection of tapes. A newer Panasonic (about 8 years old) is in much worse condition despite being used less.

However, if you have tapes which you want to keep for posterity, dub them onto DVDs pronto. My wedding films, originally transferred from Super 8, are showing quite a bit of degradation, and I will be tranferring them onto DVD by way of a DVD & Hard Disk recorder which I bought last Saturday. It is my understanding that recordings on tape deteriorate over time, even if they are in storage and not played.

Please review my initial thread, which has been edited.
What method, equipment, etc. did you decide on
for your transfer to the DVD format?