OK I give up. Where does one find the website for Pro-Tapes? A Google search only turns up a company that sells adhesive tape.

John

Coursedesign: "which has 2 dB stronger signal "

2 dB stronger than... what?

dB is an analog measurement, this is a digital realm. Using analog values in a digital tape is just marketspeak to sell the more expensive tapes.

Steve Mann

Yes, the data is stored as "digital" data, in the sense that the circuitry returns a series of 1's and 0's to the rest of the system. But the data is recorded as a series of magnetic reversals, a strictly analog process. I think the idea is that the more profound the transition, the less chance of errors from confusion ("...was that a positive or a negative transition?").

Also, it's my understanding that the strength of the magnetic transitions gradually fades over time, and is weaker at the LP speed than at the SP speed. So I guess the tape people can argue that their grade of tape is just "better" in several respects than the other stuff.

crafttech, The link should get you there. The company is spelled with a hyphen, Pro-Tape.

http://www.store.yahoo.com/protape/

but not in the link. John.

Taperesources 50@174.50 3.49ea

Ahh, but you forgot Ecost.com, your one stop shop for everything electronic! Great service and free shipping to boot. Sony 60PRL = 10@$25.00 = $2.50 each

crafttech, The link should get you there. The company is spelled with a hyphen, Pro-Tape.

http://www.store.yahoo.com/protape/

but not in the link
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Thanks John,
John

riredale is 100% right.

A stronger signal on the tape means a reduce risk of dropouts.

Somday we'll have data tape recording quality on this. No more dropouts, drums last 50,000 hours instead of 1,500-2,000 hours, much higher capacity, lower price.

Sony consumer cams typically CAN use the "Chip" type tape. It is not required. I believe a few Panasonic units had it once upon a time. I don't know about now.

The chip has two commonly utilized uses.

1) You can tag it with a title or date or whatever that appears if you just play the tape back in the camcorder.

2) When your five year old wants to immediately see what you just shot, you can back it up, play, (repeat until she quits looking), and then press the "Find End of Tape" or what ever they call it button on the side of the camcorder. The camy then automatically backs up a ways, starts playing until it encounters the "end of the last shoot as defined by the time code recorded on the chip." It then stops at EXACTLY the end of the last shot and there is no chance of a blank spot or of erasing too much because you rewound the tape yourself. It is very fast and very accurate.

This is a feature that is very popular among people who like to review the last several scenes and don't want to botch starting in the right place when they have finished viewing.