I would like to offer you some advice.
go dig up those old tapes/reels, find a place that will convert them onto CD, and then you can ged rid of them. We had some 8mm tape from around 1980 of me playing soccer with friends etc....and today it's gone...FOREVER
I recently took several old VCR tapes of family reunions, birthday parties etc.... and had them converted to DVD for $20 each. the quality is fine and now I dont care if the tapes get lost.
To everyone out there that has all there old vacations from the 80's on vcr tape sitting in the basement, do yourself a favor and get them transferred to a CD or other modern median.
It's YOUR history.
Commercial transfers will in all probability use the cheapest blanks which can be found in bulk and are reasonably reliable. A bad strategy. If longevity is the goal, archival blanks are available from a few sources. The most well-known is
The ability to make the copies yourself also is now of modest cost, and I would do it myself if there is a lot of material to back up. DVD recorders are now very easy to operate and reasonable in price.