OT: Tapes.

UlfLaursen wrote on 11/16/2007, 5:13 AM
Hi

Sorry if this has ben brought up before.

I last week bought the Canon XHA1. I have already 3 Sonys, in where I use sony only tapes, the DVCam and Excelence tapes.
I wanted to try out the Sony HDV tapes for my Canon, but the dealer where I got the XHA1 was out of stock. He resommended some JVC tapes, M-DV63HDE and I bought 4 pcs. for a start.
Does anybodu know if theese tapes are good, and if would be ok to mix them with my Sony tapes in the different cameras? There has been a lot of discussion reg. to mix or not to mix - I'm a bid confused...

Thanks.

/Ulf

Comments

jrazz wrote on 11/16/2007, 5:32 AM
I've always been told not to mix tapes due to the different types of lube used on the tape as it has the potential to gum up your head and cause dropped frames. Now whether or not this is still true today or if it was only an issue back in the day I don't know... although, I still only use 1 tape type- Panasonic PQ's.

j razz
farss wrote on 11/16/2007, 5:59 AM
Some people swear by Panasonic tapes.
Some peope swear by Sony tapes.

They're both correct, take your pick.

The rest just get sworn at, I've never had an issue with either Sony or Panasonic tapes unless they were "LP" or "EP" tapes.

If the 'don't mix tapes' thing worries you and I do see it cause problems regularly, clean the heads for 5 seconds before changing to a different tape. If you use a Sony camera, use Sony tape, if you use a Panasonic camera us their tape. It's technically BS but then if you have problem and they try to blame the tape you use you have a very good honest answer. For other cameras take your pick of those two.
In the end if you use tape sensibly, record it in the camera and capture it in one pass you'll probably not have a tape problem no matter what you use. Shuttling tapes is where I've always had things come unglued, now I don't even rewind tapes unless I have to.

Bob.
UlfLaursen wrote on 11/16/2007, 10:29 PM
Thanks a lot, Bob and Jrazz - I'll stick with Sony then...

/Ulf