Do you guys blank your tapes?

A

araujofh

Veteran
Hello folks,

I was just curious. Since I read an article on a magazine about 2 years ago, I started blanking my tapes to create continuous SMPTE time code. Since we are doing that the first time, and then we record over it, we basically re-using the tape, right?
How prone is it to drop frames when we do these? And is it really a good thing to do?

Do you guys do it, or you guys just record it, then at the end of each shot you guys leave the camera running for a little bit so that you can re-record on top of this little bit?

What is the best option?

Thanks in advance.

Fidel.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

I don't think it's necessary. You end up with the same time code anyway. If you're careful, there won't be breaks. Why put double use on the heads?
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

Yes, that is what I thought. I guess I will stop doing that.

Thanks a lot for your reply

All the best

Fidel.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

The whole reason to "stripe" your tapes is to avoid the possibility of blank gaps where the tape lacks time code. If you don't have a continuous time code across the entire tape you have no way to provide a continuous reference.

Another recommendation is to stripe the tape with color bars so you can see where you have unrecorded tape and tape with dark sections.

These seem to work well for me and I'm not too worried about burning my tape heads over not having problems in the edit.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

I don't blank my tapes, the only thing I always do is record 30 sec. of color bars at the beginning of the tape. Main reason being, that you get most dropouts at the beginning of the tape. Plus you make it easier for your deck to catch on the timecode when logging/capturing footage.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

Hi Joachim,

I have experienced this too. Most dropouts happen in the beginning of the tape.

All the best

Fidel.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

Haven't done that since Hi8 days. There the blanking would help eliminate drop outs. The DVX has no probably creating continuous TC, so I (personally) don't think it is necessary.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

As long as you do pre and post roll there and make sure that every time you hit record the timecode picks up where you left off there is no need to stripe the tape.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

I find that striping the tapes helps Adobe Premiere capture footage from the camera to the HD. Sometimes Premiere can't find the timecode when I have gaps in between footage, etc. I always stripe...and would recommend it.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

The tape end function on the DVX does an excellent job. There's no reason you ever need to have gaps between footage.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

David mentioned head usage, that's true, imagine everything you record, you're doubling the wear. I feel bad if I forget my monitor and use the camera for playback!

Also stripping or blanking means you're using the tape twice, increasing the chance of dropouts...I don't want to chance that either.

Edit:someone already mentioned dropouts.
 
Re: Do you guys blank your tapes?

By the way, the original reason blacking tapes was needed was not to prevent show-through, but because the original portable field decks could only insert edit, not assemble, without leaving gaps in the tape. Basically this was back in the early to middle 1980s, when Umatic portables were just coming down in size to where they could be carried. I think the first model I ever saw was the Sony 4800, but I could be wrong on that number. This u-matic honey massed like 14 kilos, and could run 20 minute tape loads for the amazing experience of 300 lines of resolution. The deck could crash record (basically hit play and record) and you would not need a blacked tape, but if you wanted to have a clean tape for edit or use LTC, you had to black the tape back at the studio. Ever since that time, people just did that without knowing why, and generation upon generation (well, only one generation) or engineers warned the new production people to black their tapes, even when VTRS started to be able to backspace in the early Betacam days.

I think the need to black tapes went with the middle portion of my hair and the dinosaurs, since I have seen none of those three in recent years.
 
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