Tapes and cleaning heads?
- Thread starter w1nd
- Start date
Allan Black
Veteran
Hi .. the seller should include his JVC cleaning tape with the sale because when changing DV tape brands it's best to run the same brand DV cleaning tape then run your new DV recording tape. If you can't get that organised, just buy a new Panasonic DV cleaning tape and follow its instructions before you run your new Pana tapes.
Any Panasonic DV type is OK to use 63 or 83mins, it's just recording 1 and 2s not an analogue signal. Always use SP speed, LP is just a gimmick following the other cam manufacturers.
One important tip, keep the camera body free of dust, especially clean the top just before you open the tape compartment .. micro bits of dust will most definitely cause tape dropouts.
Also don't leave tapes lying around out of their cases, I keep mine in an airtight plastic fridge container with some silicagel in a temperature stable cupboard. They should last for 30yrs+ :thumbsup:
Cheers.
Any Panasonic DV type is OK to use 63 or 83mins, it's just recording 1 and 2s not an analogue signal. Always use SP speed, LP is just a gimmick following the other cam manufacturers.
One important tip, keep the camera body free of dust, especially clean the top just before you open the tape compartment .. micro bits of dust will most definitely cause tape dropouts.
Also don't leave tapes lying around out of their cases, I keep mine in an airtight plastic fridge container with some silicagel in a temperature stable cupboard. They should last for 30yrs+ :thumbsup:
Cheers.
Allan Black
Veteran
Yes, but follow the instructions .. and buy 2 cleaning tapes, when you get to the end of the first one throw it out despite it possibly saying you can use it twice through. That's marketing spiel to settle ppl who baulk at paying bucks for a tape you use only once.
And you don't want to deposit crud back on your DV recording heads .. and you don't want to get stuck when the cleaner tape runs out, it's hard to see inside the little window.
Cheers.
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blondie.
Active member
Taken from Zaza's post in another thread:
"From the panasonic site: http://www.panasonic.com/business/pr...4qaboutdv1.asp
"From the panasonic site: http://www.panasonic.com/business/pr...4qaboutdv1.asp
17. What is the best blank videocassette media to use with the AG-DVX100.
The AG-DVX100 is compatible with all brands of mini-DV videocassette, but for optimum performance we recommend the use of Panasonic DV Master Series videocassettes. The elimination of traditional "wet" oil based lubricants in favor of modern "dry" synthetic lubricants leads to greater resistance to tape dropouts, and more reliable operation in high humidity environments."
As for cleaning heads, I'd stay away from head-cleaning tapes. They are rough on the heads and can "overclean," scratching and damaging the head. I strongly recommend taking the camera to a certified professional to have them manually cleaned by hand. It's obviously more costly, but you'll be more happy with the results.
As for cleaning heads, I'd stay away from head-cleaning tapes. They are rough on the heads and can "overclean," scratching and damaging the head. I strongly recommend taking the camera to a certified professional to have them manually cleaned by hand. It's obviously more costly, but you'll be more happy with the results.
Allan Black
Veteran
Hi Blondie, after 46yrs dealing with all types of magnetic recording tape, I respectfully disagree.
Not using DV cleaning tapes makes no sense and it's just not practical for me and people like me who clean their heads on the average of 10-15hrs of record/play .. to send their Cameras in for pro head cleaning.
Imagine 100s of DV cameras turning up at the pro shops each week for cleaning, never happen.
The Pana DV cleaner tape instructions say, run the cleaner for 10secs, which means that 10secs will clean them, but if not try twice more for 10secs each time, if no joy THEN 'service may be necessary' In 30yrs I've never had to re-run any cleaner tapes or send any of my cameras in for pro head cleaning.
Cheers.
Not using DV cleaning tapes makes no sense and it's just not practical for me and people like me who clean their heads on the average of 10-15hrs of record/play .. to send their Cameras in for pro head cleaning.
Imagine 100s of DV cameras turning up at the pro shops each week for cleaning, never happen.
The Pana DV cleaner tape instructions say, run the cleaner for 10secs, which means that 10secs will clean them, but if not try twice more for 10secs each time, if no joy THEN 'service may be necessary' In 30yrs I've never had to re-run any cleaner tapes or send any of my cameras in for pro head cleaning.
Cheers.
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blondie.
Active member
Raster,
Good info, and you're probably right. While I can't say I have 46 years of dealing with anything, I will say that in my experience this has been the case. My cleaning usually came out of necessity, when I was already dropping frames, as opposed to prevention. When I did use cleaning tapes, they didn't work properly - now that I think about it maybe the fact that my camera was already dropping frames was the reason the cleaning tapes didn't work well; who knows?
Thank you for enlightening me, though. You pose good points.
Good info, and you're probably right. While I can't say I have 46 years of dealing with anything, I will say that in my experience this has been the case. My cleaning usually came out of necessity, when I was already dropping frames, as opposed to prevention. When I did use cleaning tapes, they didn't work properly - now that I think about it maybe the fact that my camera was already dropping frames was the reason the cleaning tapes didn't work well; who knows?
Thank you for enlightening me, though. You pose good points.