Sony lube job on an HVX200-- ugh

jameswmulryan

Active member
Forced to use Sony DV tape on a three camera shoot.
Want to go back to Panasonic DV tape. Shot three hours total on the Sony stock.
Shot a small test with Panisonic Tape prior to the Sony, total hours on deck since new: 3.5 hours.
Should I stick with the Sony lube job from here on in, or use a head cleaner and switch back to Panasonic or just switch over to Panasonic without using a head cleaner?
Thank you.
 
Yes, use a head cleaner and stick with Panny tapes. Always have Panny tapes on hand in case whoever is supposed to bring them, doesn't.
 
For what it's worth, I have had bad luck with Sony media since 1972. I have seen bad reel to reel tapes, cassette tapes, dat tapes, CD's and DVDs on a consistent basis. In the last 5 years I have used only Panasonic and TDK mini DV tape with my XL1 and have only had 1 brief (2 second) blocking issue. Sony is great if you need a new alarm clock radio... In all fairness I have an old Hi8 camera that I purchased in 1990 and it is still functioning perfectly. They do some things right.
 
Sony tapes are terrific but they dont play well with others. I have used Sony almost exclusively and probably have shot more DV than anyone on the planet over the last 10 years with very very few problems. Most people who do have problems are ones mixing tape brands...



ash =o)
 
Wow. That's odd. I used to shoot tons of hi8 in the nineties. All my TDKs still play while most of the Sony's have horrendous sync lines and dropouts. Oh well. What do you mean they don't play well with others? (Seriously, I am curious what you mean by that)
Cheers
 
From what I've seen, Panasonic is the way to go with JVC being pretty good as well. That said, I've heard it argued that using a Sony once or twice won't really hurt your head. Someone actually argued to me that the Sony lube was good every once in a while to counterbalance the Pansonic lube (no idea if that's true). God I'm glad I'm shooting P2 now and don't have to deal with this crap.
 
Panasonic tapes are what I use, never failed me. There was this one time that they did but that was because I had spent some time in some very humid places in Europe over the summer and didn't use a cleaning tape after returning home to a totally different climate. Use cleaning tapes people, they're lifesavers.
 
I've used nothing but TDK in my DVX100A. I finished shooting my first feature a few weeks ago and totaled 31 tapes, recording about 50 minutes on each tape. Only one dropout.
 
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