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Tape Stock & Airport X-Ray


Brook Aitken

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Usually we Fed Ex our tape stock (Beta- HD- DV) but certain producers would like us to carry it around the world with us. Eventually .. I had a tape come back with some weird disturbances on it & I think its probably from the super X-raying at the airports. What do people think? Carry on, hand check etc?

 

Trolling for thoughts....

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Guest Frank Gossimier

I've sent dozens of digital tapes through the carry on x-ray with no problems at all. It's certainly a lower dose than the big machines they use for checked bags.

 

I always believed that x-rays do not harm video tape. Maybe analog tapes going through the checked bagage machines can harm them?

 

Frank

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What I've heard is that there's a big electromagnet in the x-ray machine, and that's the problem rather than the actual x-rays. Putting your tape on top of the machine may actually put it in a stronger magnetic field than sending it through.

 

 

 

-- J.S.

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Metal detectors at airport or other security posts can damage tape rather than x rays, maybe like John says, an electromagnet on x ray machine can harm your tape data, I dont know how this machines are built but I had one tape once with some weird disturbances after going through metal detector machine on an airport

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Metal detectors at airport or other security posts can damage tape rather than x rays, maybe like John says, an electromagnet on x ray machine can harm your tape data, I dont know how this machines are built but I had one tape once with some weird disturbances after going through metal detector machine on an airport

 

A metal detector can damage a recording???

Where is the evidence?

 

DV HD or Digibeta Digital recordings cannot be harmed in any existing xray machine or metal detector.

 

A hand held metal detector reaptatly passed over a tape for hours will not harm the recording.

 

Hundreds of thousands of beta SP and Digitapes have been shipped hand carried for 20 years.

Really we would have noticed something by now! and no matter how you crunch the numbers they are not within 1/1000 of the energy (even at 2mm distance) required to damage a digital recording on metal tape.

Even if metal detors are run out of spec they really are low powered devices. The magnet in the speaker in the offline has more of a electromagnetic field.

 

I've run a large hand held audio tape eraser over a digibeta cassette a few times... no damage!

 

Here is a test of digital media and xrays done in December 2004 by i3A, a trade body for companies involved with any type of media, Kodak is one of the founding members.

 

http://www.i3a.org/itip.html

http://www.i3a.org/pr_12_15_04.html

 

Seems this myth will not lie down!

 

Mike Brennan

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