miniDV Recording

[csgaraglino]

Today I got out and shot my A1U for the first time. This is also my first time with tape.
funny thing, I was out for 6+ hours and only shot 20 minutes of tape; but I did get every shot I needed.

My questions is, do I keep recording until the tape runs out and the rewind/record or do I rewind and record now (over this 20 minutes)?

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Hi Chris. Bearing in mind the realtively low price of tapes I think that most of us here that use tape tend to use it once and when it is full, file it. This is especially important (IMHO) when recording in HD as used tapes will be more prone to dropouts.

Equally important is to select one brand of tape and use it to the exclusion of all others. The reason here is that diferent tape manufacturers use different tape lubricants and there have been reports of the lubricants interacting and gumming up the works. This may now be a problem that has been solved but speaking personally I don't take the risk.

By the way, I have the same camera as you. How are you finding it?

[Chuck Engels]

Bearing in mind the realtively low price of tapes I think that most of us here that use tape tend to use it once and when it is full, file it. This is especially important (IMHO) when recording in HD as used tapes will be more prone to dropouts.

That's exactly what I do, use the whole tape, capture the tape, and file them away.

Equally important is to select one brand of tape and use it to the exclusion of all others. The reason here is that diferent tape manufacturers use different tape lubricants and there have been reports of the lubricants interacting and gumming up the works. This may now be a problem that has been solved but speaking personally I don't take the risk.

Excellent advice John

[Steve Grisetti]

I've got a drawer full of old tapes -- most of which I've only used a fraction of the footage from in past projects.

Every once in a while, I get one out at look at the outtakes. There's some great "lost" footage of our family in there! I'm glad I didn't record over any of it!

[csgaraglino]

Ok great, I'll take that advise.
So, what is relatively inexpensiveness?
Right now I have two and of the Sony 63DM Digital Master Tape and I can get them locally for just under $20

Being new to Video, I see hours and hours needed to learn this exciting art, so.
For general projects is there a tape that will better meet the needs of a beginner?
Is there a better resource than BestBuy? (I don't have a local video shop within 100 miles of me)

[Steve Grisetti]

You can get a 5-pack of Sony miniDV tapes for about $10 on Amazon, Chris.

But even if you pick them up at Best Buy, you shouldn't pay more than $4-5 a cassette. (They sell a 6-pack for $30.)

[csgaraglino]

I saw that BestBuy does have miniDV tapes for very reasonable prices, but none of these state that they are for HD.
Can I use the standard tapes? Are there any disadvantages to using a tape that does not state HD on it?

[Peru]

Read this thread for more discussion about tapes:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6154&p=55307#p55307

[csgaraglino]

That helps a lot... Thanks