process of degrading. The hits, by the way, are caused by the oxide coating on the tape actually coming off of the tape due to the shrinking of the actual tape. This problem will increase as the tape ages. It not only degrades the quality of your video, it also clogs the heads of the device you are using to transfer the video.
If your tapes are over ten years old there’s a better then 50/50 chance that the tapes are probably damaged to the point of not being usable. I recommend that if your tapes are over five years old that you at least begin the process of transferring them to some other format remembering that once these tapes are gone, they are gone. Now that you know the risk and are running to your closet to begin the preservation process, the fun part begins.
Since most of us no longer have the original device that was used to