OT: HDV Cleaning Tapes

jonathan-kenefec wrote on 7/19/2008, 2:56 AM
I've recently experienced some problems with drop outs that had never occurred in one years use of my HV20. I'm not sure what's attributable to the capture software and what's attributable to the camera.

I have recently used my HV20 and Vegas to recapture some footage shot on my old Sony SD camera. I had read that different tape formulations can gunk up the heads so I stick to one brand - JVC HDV rated tapes. However, I forgot that the old tapes were Sony SD's.

In future I'm going to capture my old SD stuff via the old Sony on which it was shot.

My question is: Are there specially made HDV cleaning tapes to clean my HV20 or is it enough just to stick it pause mode for 5 minutes like you used to do for your old VHS players?

Thanks

Jonathan.

Comments

farss wrote on 7/19/2008, 3:47 AM
As far as I can tell HDV cameras use the same transports and heads as SD DV cameras, so you use the same tapes for cleaning the heads.

"is it enough just to stick it pause mode for 5 minutes like you used to do for your old VHS players?"

NO! You put the cleaning tape in, press play, count to 10, press stop and take the tape out. Five minutes of a cleaning tape is a LOT of head wear.

Bob.

jonathan-kenefec wrote on 7/19/2008, 4:02 AM
Thanks mate.

I'll nip to the shops for one.

BTW - I didn't mean pause the cleaning tape I meant just pause on a normal HDV tape for 5 mins. Rumour had it that this would clean the heads just as effectively as a cleaning tape.

Cheers

Jon.
farss wrote on 7/19/2008, 4:54 AM
If you're in Australia (don't know about the rest of the world) Sony have a special on for MiniDV tapes. Buy a box of 5 and you get a free cleaning tape.

If you buy one of these don't do like someone did and pop it into the camera and hit record. The remarkable part of this is we were able to play the tape back and transfer the footage to a regular tape!

Memo to Sony: please make you cleaning tapes with the record lockout ON.

Bob.
jonathan-kenefec wrote on 7/19/2008, 5:11 AM
Newcastle UK mate so a bit of a hike for me!
AlanC wrote on 7/19/2008, 7:07 AM
BigLad, I bought a standard MiniDV cleaning tape from Comet a few weeks ago. It was £25.00!!!!!

Fortunately it did the trick.
jonathan-kenefec wrote on 7/19/2008, 7:20 AM
Cheers Alan.

I've nipped out to Jessops and bought a mini DV (SD) cleaning tape and it has reduced some of the problems I was experiencing with capturing this footage so that's a lesson learned for me - it's not always Vegas' fault :-)

£ 25? That makes me feel better :) This was £16 from Jessops. Not bloody cheap are they?!
riredale wrote on 7/19/2008, 9:16 AM
Why are the tapes so expensive over there? Here is the US, you can find different brands on Google for about $10.
owlsroost wrote on 7/19/2008, 1:59 PM
They're not if you buy from a sensible place e.g. 'Panasonic Mini DV Head Cleaner' for £3.49 from [url=http://www.totalblankmedia.com/panasonic-mini-dv-head-cleaner-p-1053.html] (and they do the '5 x Sony DV 60 Premium + Sony Head cleaner' offer too).

Comet is the UK equivalent of CIrcuit City etc, and Jessops is big chain of Photo/Video shops. Both charge high prices for consumables and accessories - they get away with it because the shops are handy and most people don't realize how cheap blank tapes & discs can be.....

My Sony HC3 came from Jessops, and the salesman tried to persuade me that I had to use 'HDV' tape in order to record in HD (priced at something like £15-£20 each!) - I declined the offer.... :-)

Tony
jonathan-kenefec wrote on 7/19/2008, 6:22 PM
Bugger! Where were you this morning Tony? :-)