MiniDV Cassettes question

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I recently got a new miniDV cam and I was wondering do the cassettes make a big difference? I know the camera is what it is but do the tapes used make all that much difference in the overall quality ? If the tapes do make some difference what tapes do you reccomend and why and which would you stay away from and why.



I know many of you have more experience so I thought I would ask



Thanks for your answers,



Fellows

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I've never noticed any difference in quality among different brands of tape. In theory, it's all 1's and 0's so it doesn't matter on that front. I suppose the only difference in that is if you record over things multiple times. Some tape may have earlier signs of dropout than others. I never record over anything I tape, so that's not applicable to my situation.



    I choose my tape brand by superficial stuff like the labels available, storage case quality, the build quality of the actual cassette, and of course price. I've found I can get a 6-pack of (I think they're) TDK tapes at Sam's club for like $25 or so. I seem to remember Costco has another brand with a similar deal.



    Hope that helps. God bless, FCiB.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    Um it depends what exactly are you shooting and where is it going? I shoot on DV all the time, and yes there is a big difference in quality, but I mean if you didn't spend more than 3,000 on your camera, than you'll never see the difference. There are different type of distessed metals and such, and they have some quotation for the amount of metal particles are on every sq cm I think or something like that. But if you use a consumer miniDV camera than you won't notice a difference. What kind of DV camera do you use? If your shooting stuff outside usually buy the medium grade you can find, as they get a better shelf life. Also its best to buy the same type of tape you bought with your camera, as if your camera is a sony, it can save some different variables in there as well as video and audio tracks, say like certain timecode, audible/video notes and such. Also if you shoot on a wierd camera on the same brand of tape, I've heard of stories with tapes out of a Canon XL1 not working on anything but Canon working because they do wierd exclusive encoding supposedly (which usually isn't true)



    The only difference out there is DVCAM from sony, which is their version of MiniDV but the only difference is if you shot it on a DVCAM camera you'll only get 40minutes from what appears to be a 60 minute tape because the tape speed is marginally faster, to supposedly encode more information and help with the usual timecode breaks, that MiniDV suffers from.



    Hey you're in ft worth? aren't you you might have seen some of the work I've done, Ever see the commercials for The House and Organic Gardening show with howard garret? I made that as well as Austin Schools of Massage, thats the only ads I've made in the DFW market.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    fellowshipfellowship Posts: 5,038member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kraig911

    What kind of DV camera do you use?



    Hey you're in ft worth? aren't you you might have seen some of the work I've done, Ever see the commercials for The House and Organic Gardening show with howard garret? I made that as well as Austin Schools of Massage, thats the only ads I've made in the DFW market.




    I have the JVC in This Link



    I got it for $399.00 at Best Buy I am more than impressed with the quality. I am by no means in need of a professional model.



    I have not seen your work in my area. I will keep an eye out for it.



    Thanks for your info.



    Fellowship
  • Reply 4 of 4
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Supposedly picking one brand and sticking with them helps. Something about gumming up the heads and such. I use FujiFilm DVM60s because they are cheap and because a lot of other people have recommended them.
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