Most Hi8 tapes were an early formulation of EM (evaporated metal) and as such do not have any binder system to get SSS from. There are other issues (such as scratching - the surface was very vulnerable). You may have some MP tapes, and if this is the case they are essentially vulnerable to the problems of other MP tapes, so  SSS would be possible as it would be with pretty much any MP type product. Having said that, Hi8 is really a problem format on many levels - the density of the recording was very high and the tracks were very small and particularly vulnerable to all sorts of mechanical issues of alignment. 

All things considered... one of my very least favorite formats.... and let me tell you that my least favorite format list is very long.



Jim Lindner

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On Dec 21, 2010, at 4:16 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:

> On the topic of Hi-8....
> 
> I've been digitizing some of mine and some are just dreadful for building up gunk on the heads of the player. I find myself having to clean frequently.
> 
> Do Hi-8 tapes develop SSS or something like? What is the solution?
> 
> joe salerno
> 
> 
> On 12/20/2010 3:56 PM, Michael Biel wrote:
>> On 12/20/2010 3:15 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>> Wasn't this the time that we had composer Gerald Marks as speaker, and
>>> ARSC didn't provide him a piano?
>>> Don
>>> 
>> 
>> Oh my, yes. That was so funny -- he made the funniest comments about the
>> situation. I'm glad it wasn't my year to be program chair! I have that
>> on tape too, he went up to the front of the stage and was about 10 feet
>> from me.
>> 
>> Joe Salerno asked what I was going to do with these recordings, and from
>> some suggestions by several IASA execs at the last conference, we need
>> to find a grant to get them professionally digitized. I left the VHS and
>> DV tapes up with Leah and I have the 8mm here, and probably also a
>> couple of the VHS that were in the box of 8mm that I had planned to
>> bring up there but forgot. We'll work on an inventory over the winter
>> and see what comes up with the ARSC and IASA boards.
>> 
>> George is right about the permissions, and I have usually worked off of
>> the permission sheets ARSC has gotten for the recordings they do. We've
>> been turned down only a few times, but actually I have not done any
>> distribution except to the presenters themselves if they have asked. (At
>> IASA in Canberra, George really surprised me when he said he didn't want
>> to be taped!! I thought he was pulling my leg at first, then I realized
>> he was serious. So into the bag went the camera.) We used a few snippets
>> in Leah's documentary (and that section is on you-tube), and long ago I
>> did a presentation at the collector's clubs in Sydney Australia and the
>> City of London showing some short excerpts of American discographers and
>> researchers they might not otherwise get to meet. The Fagan and Moran
>> talk is in the Victor project archive and might go on line eventually.
>> Leah's video of the first First Sounds presentation is part of their
>> archive, and David G says he shows it alot (which reminds me that Leah
>> needs to get him the most recent presentation tape.)
>> 
>> ARSC's ARSChive at Univ of Maryland has incomplete audio going back into
>> the 60s, but for me the most exciting thing were the still photographs
>> Paul Jackson took of the MLA "rump session" where ARSC was created. He
>> also took photos of the first conferences thru at least 1972. We need to
>> get them digitized so that we can show them to Paul, and Steve Smolian
>> and David Hall, to get identifications of the people in the photos. They
>> are 1/2 frame 35mm and most of the negatives are there. (And George, I
>> think I have footage of when HAL FLAKSER cornered you at the ARSC
>> opening party in NYC. I tried to run interference but he was determined
>> to get to you once he heard there was someone from Denmark there.)
>> 
>> Mike Biel [log in to unmask]
>> 
>> 
>