Comments

farss wrote on 6/29/2011, 2:59 PM
I believe there's a world wide shortage of tape due to an earthquake and a tsunami. We've sold our last packet of Sony MiniDV tapes and don't know when Sony will be able to supply more. Sony have said production should be back online end of July.

Bob.
johnmeyer wrote on 6/29/2011, 3:42 PM
My favorite place for buying tapes:

Tape Resources

Has a notice at the top of their home page describing exactly what Bob just said.

Kimberly wrote on 6/29/2011, 5:46 PM
Prior to January 2011, I purchased all of my Sony mini DV tapes at Costco. I was away for a bit and missed the chance to stock-up before they disappeared from the shelves. Hoping to find them again at Costco when manufacturing recovers post-tsunami.
craftech wrote on 6/29/2011, 6:51 PM
I buy Panasonic PQ tapes from:

Visual Interactive Dynamics

and

Supermediastore.

John
Spot|DSE wrote on 6/29/2011, 7:46 PM
how much tape do you need?
We have a few cases in the tape locker
Kimberly wrote on 6/29/2011, 8:47 PM
@Spot/DSE:

My needs are small -- about 2 dozen per year. If you let me know where I can buy them I will definitely have a look!

Regards,

Kimberly
bsuratt wrote on 6/30/2011, 9:59 AM
http://www.tapeandmedia.com/

Also Amazon.com seems to have good supply of Sony

CVM wrote on 6/30/2011, 10:06 AM
I always bought at Wal Mart for onesies twosies. Otherwise, I purchased from a host of on-line retailers.

I can't tell you how pleased I am not to have to use tape anymore! 64 gigs of HD memory storage and a ten hour battery means I go all day without changing a thing. Me happy.

Kimberly wrote on 6/30/2011, 12:21 PM
I can't tell you how pleased I am not to have to use tape anymore! 64 gigs of HD memory storage and a ten hour battery means I go all day without changing a thing. Me happy.

I would love get a new housing and camera system, but first I must make a payback on my new lights : )
Kimberly wrote on 8/27/2011, 11:57 AM
Can anyone share some experience on the various quality levels of Sony MiniDV tape? What are you MiniDV folks using, and why?

http://tapeandmedia.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/what-is-the-difference-between-sonys-mini-dv-tapes/

I'm about to buy a supply and am now wondering if I should spend more or less. Of course I'm not making LOTR, but I do want to use a media that will capture at a level comensurate with the best that my Sony HDR-HC3 can deliver. The Sony recommended tape is the DVM63HD, but I always assumed that was because they wanted to ensure higher annuity revenue : )

Regards,

Kimberly
bsuratt wrote on 8/27/2011, 1:10 PM
I have used hundreds of DVM60PRR tapes in my HDR-FX7 camcorders in HDV mode with no issues. (I do not reuse tapes) About $2.00 - 2.20 in qty)

TapeandMedia.com
Costco (sometimes)
Amazon.com

Settle on a tape then never use anything else!
Randy Brown wrote on 8/27/2011, 1:23 PM
I too have been using DVM60PRR for many years and find them the best for the money
TheHappyFriar wrote on 8/27/2011, 1:25 PM
A user here send me ~1.5 dozen Sony miniDVCam tapes because they didn't need them any more. I recorded ~5 or 6 times on them before any dropouts appeared in HDV. Might not of been the tape though, could of been the camera had a dirty record head. I've also used the Digimasters, those are even better but much more expensive. Most of the times I buy some ones from Wallyworld and use those. They are, in general, just fine.
farss wrote on 8/27/2011, 4:46 PM
" Of course I'm not making LOTR, but I do want to use a media that will capture at a level comensurate with the best that my Sony HDR-HC3 can deliver."

In the world of things digital the quality of the tape makes no difference to the quality of what is recorded on it. Better quality tape is more robust, will withstand being shuttled, recorded to multiple times and has a more rigid base.
We use the DVM85HD tapes in our HC5 for none of those reasons, the longer length means the better half doesn't have to change tapes so often during live shows. We do buy the tapes at a hefty discount, I think they're now discontinued.
For everything else we use the normal Sony MiniDV tapes. I will say the "HD" tape does seem to have less dropouts, never seen one when using it. I've had maybe one or two with the standard DVM60 tapes. The price difference though is so great and the very rare dropout a minor annoyance at worst there's no justification for using the "HD" tape.

Bob.