tape stock question

J

jchenier

Well-known member
I see that Panasonic has come out with another stock, the DVM63SQ, and was wondering if it is similar to the DVM63AMQ. I've been anal about only using the MQ tapes, then they got discontinued, and wondered if this was going to happend again?

I need to record a 2 hour project for a film festival, and can submit on miniDV, and the 83 min tape, at LP, can do 124 min, but didn't know if I can use the SQ without having head clogging problems down the road, having always used MQ and AMQ tapes.

Cheers,
Justin
 
For the most part, the issue with using different tapes comes from switching brands. Different lubricants and such.
While I can't promise without talking to Panasonic, I would be confident that you shouldn't have any problems with the MQ replacement.

My biggest concern would be recording in LP mode and the 83 minute tape stock. Is it because you won't be able to stop and change tapes? Especially when shooting Mini-DV, I would never use LP.
I also seem to remember that many here have recomended only using the 63 minute tapes. (That's all we use).
But I've been in the mountains for a few months and maybe I've missed some people saying otherwise.

I would suggest using the 63 minute tapes in the SP mode. JMHO
 
Ted, thanks for the reply. I'm figuring the lubricant on the SQ is the same dry lubricant on the AMQ and MQ, but wasn't sure. Sticking the same brands is important, but I know it's a bad idea to switch between panasonic's PQ and MQ because of the lubricant issue.

As for 63m tapes, I have to submit the final output of the film to the festival and can't cut it to two tapes. It's just for the final output, everything was shot in SP on 63 min tapes.
 
I talked to my Pana representative a few days ago and he told me that the SQ are practically the same (same specs...) as the AMQ-Tapes. He said, that he couldn't understand why those "crazy" (that'S what he said :-) , not my opinion) japanese guys came out with those SQ's at a much lower price than the AMQ's. Being responsable for all Pana tape sales here in Germany (where I live) he said , he also could not understand why people still buy the PQ's as they are only 6 EUR-Cents (0.06EUR) cheaper than the SQ's which are the same quality as the AMQ's...
So, as I believe his words, because he is a reliable Pana representative, I can only recommend using the SQ's (I use them all the time since they came out).
Hope this helps anybody...
Regards,
Manfred
 
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