Tape

S

Sawra

Active member
hey guys; i have been shooting with sony min dv tapes and i have no problem with them and price was good. It usually cost me about 20bucks for five tapes but since i got my A1, i am willing to spend more on tapes. So today i went and bought some panasonic tapes that cost about $5 a tape. What do you guy use to shoot? Is there is a quality difference in the tapes. Once again thanks in advance.:) </IMG>
 
I use Sony tapes in my A1 and my DVX. I like that I can pick them up at Walmart anytime I need them. I haven't had any problems.
-Kevin
 
Clean your heads between changing tape brands. Sony uses wet and Pansanic dry and if their chemicals combine, it can dirty your heads up.

I've been told to use Panasonic AMQ tapes (Panasonic's best) for anything important. I've also heard there's not much difference between the higher and lower priced tapes and that the higher priced ones are for suckers and worry warts, LOL. Still, it might be worth buying the AMQs (or Sony HD) for insurance, "just in case."
 
You know, this question comes up every so often but here is what I always say. On my DVX, I have logged over 700 hrs of shooting, I always used Panasonic MQ or PQ tapes and to this day I can count the number of dropouts that I have had on one finger. Every 30 hrs or so of head wear there might be a shiney pixel but that was very rare. On my A1 I have gone through about 25 tapes so far (sorry don't know the hour count anymore :( ) and I have not had a single drop out.
I always read about people having dropouts, or better yet, I have seen them on other peoples footage that gets sent to me for rescue. 99% of the time there is only one culprit, poor tape stock. So sure you can buy cheap tapes for 5 for $10 or so, but when you work in a professional world I feel much better knowing that my tape stock is not going to have a drop out at a critical moment.
Is $25 too expensive for 5 hours of footage? I havn't tried the AMQ tapes yet, havn't really fealt the need to, I believe they are about $7 a tape.
Sure there is no visual difference between tape stock, the only thing separating the TDK wallmart special and Panasonic Master tapes is reliability, but thats something thats really important to me.
 
I've shot 300+ hrs. using sony premiums, had exactly two dropouts in 3+ years. They're less than $2.50 a piece at taperesources, expensive tape is a bit of a scam IMHO.
 
I've used a fair amount of cheap tape, and really haven't had many dropout experiences. And these dropouts have often been mere data burps upon capture that were corrected on another pass.

I haven't had any dropouts with MQ tape stock. If your footage is truly valuable to you, it certainly is worth the extra money for better tape. That said, I don't think it's necessarily going to be disastrous using cheaper stock, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
 
I've been using Pany PQ tapes since the time I've used it on my DVX and now with my A1, I don't see any dropouts. I do have MQ tapes but I plan to use those for "printing to tape" function for transfer to digibeta later on. But I'm sticking with my PQ tapes for all around shooting.
 
hmmm very interesting, i have been using sony for so many years and no problem yet but i always wondered if the grass is greener on the other side:huh: </IMG>
 
Sawra said:
What is your main reason for this Elton?:)
Click to expand...

Abject fear. ;) Seriously, I know PQ's are basically fine, but I have a little more confidence in the MQ's since they've never failed me.

But neither have PQ's...I just haven't used them as much.
 
i guess it is a comfort thing. i will keep the tapes i bought this week and i will see what comes out of them.:beer:
 
What I don't understand is the '+4 db noise reduction' on tape, more density in particles and a higher s/n ratio. I do believe that it is the case but when do I meet those s/n specs? Only after heavy shuttling and editing or in cold situations during friction with tape on the head? The difference in AMQ tape and MQ tape is its underlayer that is stronger in the first one.

But MQ fans...: this tape is out of production!
 
Well in Japan we dont have PQ or MQ anything. I use the Panasonic Super DV ME60s only. Cost me around $8USD per tape, and that price doesnt bother me in the least. I would pay double to ensure quality.
 
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