For those that capture a lot of tapes...

[VHS-Digital-Buddy]

Hi folks,
Just curious to know how many tapes do you record per day ?

To get as much done as possible, is important, but even more important, is not to burn out the machine. Not so ?

I've read that 3 is the safe spot, even 4, but beyond 4 is pushing it.

Thanks for any advice, as always.

Buddy

[Sharc]

You can run your gear 24/7. After the initial warm-up phase the temperature stabilizes, and switching equipment on and off in cycles, running through temperature cycles, is doing more damage/aging.

[dellsam34]

The only limiting factor is the tape transport, So if you capture that many tapes per day stack up on VCRs and the parts needed to fix them. Additionally if you are using mechanical HDDs to capture and/or edit, consider a potential failure at that front end as well.

Heat can be manageable if you work in climate controlled environment, Allow enough space for cooling between devices and don't stack them on top of each other blocking air flow.

[Sharc]

The only limiting factor is the tape transport, So if you capture that many tapes per day stack up on VCRs and the parts needed to fix them. Additionally if you are using mechanical HDDs to capture and/or edit, consider a potential failure at that front end as well.

I don't quite see the logic here: If the OP has to capture 100 tapes the mechanical wear of the tape transport is basically the same when he captures 1 tape per day, 5 tapes per day or when he captures all 100 tapes in a row. The mechanics do not "recover" or "regenerate" during breaks or pauses in the process.
If a tape takes 1 hour to capture the total opearting time (which determines the wear) is 100 hours for the 100 tapes, independent of the capture cadence, IMO.

Added: A different scenario concerns the learning curve. If one captures a few tapes and then revisits the result and takes corrective action for the next series of captures etc. one would avoid having to recapture all 100 tapes just to eliminate the flaws of earlier captures, virtually doubling (or worst case multiplying) the overall operate time and wear of the equipment......

[dellsam34]

What part you didn't understand? capturing more tapes you are going to wear more VCRs, it is plain simple. I just mentioned if he goes through that many tapes a day, it is a pretty damn heavy task. I did not get "per day" logic either, so don't ask me, ask the OP.

[VHS-Digital-Buddy]

I did not get "per day" logic either, so don't ask me, ask the OP.

I will be doing a lot of capturing, as I am getting a lot of tapes soon. So, I want to spread the workload, but not over-work the machines to the point of them breaking down.

[Sharc]

I did not get "per day" logic either, so don't ask me, ask the OP.

I will be doing a lot of capturing, as I am getting a lot of tapes soon. So, I want to spread the workload, but not over-work the machines to the point of them breaking down.

You have received the answers. Imagine that every capture causes a tiny bit of wear (of the mechanics mainly). So the accumulated wear depends on the number of captures (aka accumulated machine operate time) rather than on how many captures you do per day.
As I wrote, the machine does not recover or self-regenerate its wear when you introduce breaks by extending the process over a longer period.
In other words, when you capture 5 tapes it doesn't matter whether you capture these in one day (5 per day) or in 5 days (1 per day). The accumulated wear is the same.
But first of, make sure that your capture process is stable and technically correct before starting your capture series. Otherwise you may have to do too many re-captures causing more wear .......

[VHS-Digital-Buddy]

Thanks all. Appreciate the answers.

[Alwyn]

Additionally if you are using mechanical HDDs to capture and/or edit, consider a potential failure at that front end as well.

SSDs fail as well, and the time one failed on me in just went dead with zero warning. Instantly. At least with the one HDD failure I've had, I could tell it was coming and I changed it. Other that that one, I've had dozens of HDDs over two decades and all have worked flawlessly for capture and video editing generally.

Absolutely nothing wrong with HDDs for video.

[wcndave2]

Additionally if you are using mechanical HDDs to capture and/or edit, consider a potential failure at that front end as well.

SSDs fail as well, and the time one failed on me in just went dead with zero warning. Instantly. At least with the one HDD failure I've had, I could tell it was coming and I changed it. Other that that one, I've had dozens of HDDs over two decades and all have worked flawlessly for capture and video editing generally.

Absolutely nothing wrong with HDDs for video.

Right, but always keep a backup, no matter what. Always