I just joined the forum and was wondering if anyone had any information on the lifespan of media. Specifically, I was wondering about MiniDV, VHS, and DVD.

I have miniDV tapes reused 15 times. Still working good! :)
Did I answer the question?

I don't want to answer for Shane, but I believe he was inquiring as to the lifespan of a tape in general, I found this, but am not sure how reliable it is...

http://www.cjstechnologies.com/Miscellaneous/DVD%20vs%20MiniDV.htm

It compares the miniDV and DVD formats and claims the miniDV lifespan to be 20-30 years. That's not too surprising considering I have VHS tapes from when I was a kid (18-20 years ago) that still work. Being that the new format is digital, as the tape ages, you will experience dropouts instead of degraded picture quality. What still plays after 30 years will look as if it had never aged a day.

Thanks Jesse!

Being that the new format is digital, as the tape ages, you will experience dropouts instead of degraded picture quality. What still plays after 30 years will look as if it had never aged a day.But on the next day it won't play at all. You can see the effects of analog material slowly fading away. Digital will play fine one time and the next it's gone. Digital either works fine or it doesn't work at all.