MiniDV Tape Question

Kimberly wrote on 8/27/2010, 9:01 AM
Hello Everyone:

For those HDV users who are shooting in HD, who uses the MiniDV tapes that are specially designed for HD versus using the regular MiniDV tapes?

Per Wikipedia:

Tape manufacturers also offer MiniDV cassettes specifically for HDV recording. Such cassettes have the same Metal Evaporate (ME) formulation as normal DV cassettes, but are manufactured with smaller tolerances. These cassettes are claimed to have reduced drop-out rate compared to standard DV cassettes. Usage of such cassettes is not required by HDV specification.

Also, what brands of tapes do you prefer? I have a Sony camcorder and I always use the Sony brand of tape, but there could be better/more reliable brands to consider.

Thanks for reading.

Kim

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 8/27/2010, 11:18 AM
As long as you are not seeing dropouts in your recordings, which are not due to dirty heads, there is no reason to use a more expensive tape.

2-3 times is about the number you will want to re-use any tape for recording, no matter what you buy.
richard-amirault wrote on 8/27/2010, 1:28 PM
2-3 times is about the number you will want to re-use any tape for recording, no matter what you buy.

Agreed. Personally 95% of all that I shoot is on virgin (new, unused) tape.
musicvid10 wrote on 8/27/2010, 1:34 PM
here is my rule of thumb:

Church picnics and parades -- 3 uses.
Family events and reunions -- 2 uses.
Anything shot for distribution -- 1 use.
ceejay7777 wrote on 8/27/2010, 7:32 PM
Well ... just shot an 8-week series - re-used the same tapes each week. No dropouts.

Panasonic AY-HDVM63MQ tapes.
Richard Jones wrote on 8/28/2010, 3:13 AM
I can guarantee that, if you continue to re-use a tape, you will one day suffer a drop out - and, sure as eggs is eggs, it'll be on an unrepeatable shot.

In many ways the tape is the key to the whole production and without it and the quality you need it will all be for nothing. This remains true no matter how good your camera, PC and DVD writer are or how expensive the editing programme might be. And compared with the cost of all these things, a tape can only be seen as being relatively cheap, especially in view of its vital importance.

Richard
TOG62 wrote on 8/28/2010, 5:17 AM
Apart from anything else I think it's wise to keep tapes some time before over-writing, given that disasters can happen on the PC and you might even want to re-capture.
Kimberly wrote on 8/28/2010, 9:56 AM
TOG62:

You are correct on keeping tapes for some time before writing over them. When I am doing video I shoot Monday to Thursday. I have a tape for each day and only overwrite the following week. By that time I've processed everything I need from the prior week.

The comments on whether folks are reusing their tapes have been very helpful. Thank you everyone.