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.
Thanks, I'll do that.