MQ tapes disconinued? what do we do now?

[NewYorkLion]

So, as most of you know, the MQ tapes have been officially discontinued. I'm a little worried here since I've been using them is all 3 of my cameras. Now here's the question, is moving down to the PQ tapes going to mess with my heads, or do I have to stick with the AMQs? which are pricey

 

[vidled]

There's also the AY-DVM60XJ which aren't much less than the AMQ though.

So they finally stopped the MQ, eh? That was talked about almost 1.5 years ago!

 

[smpproductions]

New York Lion,
I asked the same question just a few days ago. I've had luck finding some MQ's on ebay, but you can use AMQ's, PQ's or any professional panasonic tape without messing up your heads. By the way, are you a fellow Turn Here filmmaker? Seems like i've seen that picture before.

 

[bilgami]

amq is the way to go anyway.

 

[Eastside Parkway]

I've always used PQ anyway. They're cheaper and I could never figure out the difference between MQ and PQ.

 

[NewYorkLion]

will the PQs put more wear on the heads than AMQs?

 

[matt s.]

i doubt the PQs would do any more damage faster than the oter tapes. Im about to switch to them. Id say if you do a lot of tape shuttling and editing from tape etc. id stick with AMQs

 

[Chris Stearns]

That sucks, I just ordered 5 from Amazon last week and now they're unavailable.
I see that 83 min MQ's are still available. I might grab up a few of those. Oh well, I guess that's another toll of the bell for old miniDV.

 

[SilverWolf]

I spoke with andrew from Spec Comm when I went out there and we talked about the difference in the MQ and AMQ tapes. He told me that the AMQ tape is a lot more robust and when you start to work with the tape multiple times it starts to break down. The AMQ tapes don't break down as easily as the MQ tapes

 

[dvpixl]

so that's why? just so we can be forced into buying the better tape? I've used the AMQ for my short film- felt good about it. but that's it.

 

[Scott F]

Oh well, I guess that's another toll of the bell for old miniDV.

Ha ha, well put. I'm just going to use PQ's as soon as my MQ supply runs out.

 

[johnny]

Wow, didnt know about this. Something tells me we'll see a lot of threads on this topic before too long... as people's stashes run out and they/we can't find anymore. Ha. Oh well. I can't decide yet PQ vs. AMQ....

 

[HorseFilms]

I see that 83 min MQ's are still available. I might grab up a few of those.

Panasonic advises against using 83 min tapes in the DVX. There's a possibility of the tape jamming.

 

[craigbowman]

I bought my MQ's by the case. Since I now mostly use DV Rack for shooting I expect the last case I have, should last me until I'm finally up to my armpits in Red Ones.

 

[Scott F]

To the client: "I'm sorry, you're just not MQ-worthy."

 

[NewYorkLion]

I'm wondering if using both PQs and AMQs would be a bad idea, since i know one of my major clients wont want to pay 8 dollars a tape, but some wouldnt mind paying 10. So I would use the PQs for the cheaper clients and the AMQs for the bigger ones. do you think using both would be detrimental to the heads?

 

[Ming]

I'm wondering if using both PQs and AMQs would be a bad idea, since i know one of my major clients wont want to pay 8 dollars a tape, but some wouldnt mind paying 10. So I would use the PQs for the cheaper clients and the AMQs for the bigger ones. do you think using both would be detrimental to the heads?

They both use the same dry format- should be no issues whatsoever. The AMQ's are just more resilient.

 

[mars305]

will the PQs put more wear on the heads than AMQs?

But I wonder here: what's the panic for?
Haven't you read the proper Panasonic AG-DVX100b Users Manual recommending the two kind of tapes to be used with the rig?
Check it up, even in first place they put the PQ's type and as second one was the MQ.
So, if the manufacturer itself recommend the PQ's, then what's the worries about?:furious3:

 

[NewYorkLion]

my concern is that my camera, having only eaten a high-class, healty diet of mq tapes (and she's eaten almost 400 of them at this point) might get wierd on me when i start feeding here the cheap stuff.

 

[Padre]

Panasonic advises against using 83 min tapes in the DVX. There's a possibility of the tape jamming.

been using 83min tapes for as long as i can recall.. as teh Mq's are now gone, Pana are cashing in on the fear and paranoia stemmed from hdv dropouts.. so theyve repackages and repriced MQ's to AMQ's and will soon also be ditching the PQ"s
So i went nuts and bought tonnes of tapes to last..

at teh moment im using 83min PQ's and ive been using them for abotu 5 months and im yet to have a problem...