So I've got a VCR that I can control over serial. If I got a second one, I could stick tapes into them and cross-wire them so that each plays into the other.
I could then set up a program to record from tape 1 onto tape 2, then back from tape 2 to tape 1.
Attach a capture device and I can get video files of each generation.
Then we just watch the generational loss compound.