Tapes, tapes, and more tapes...

O

oneinfiniteloop

Veteran
I know this might be heresy, but I'm stuck in a dilemma. I live in Jax, FL and there is no local dealer that supplies Panasonic MQ tapes. I have a shoot Sat, and the cost to overnight the tapes from EVS is just too much. I'm renting the DVX (the rental house sells Sony pro tapes), and I was curious what the "next best" tape would be? Maybe Panasonic DVC tapes (standard consumer type) or some others?
 
Don't all Panasonic tapes use dry lube? I can't remember. :confused:


Anyway, does anyone else know of any other brands that use dry lube?
 
I'm confused with EVS, if I order tapes and enter in 100 as the quantity and the case quantity is 5, is it 100 tapes or 500? (i think it's 100, but shoot, 500 tapes for 500 bucks would be sweet!)
 
VoodooXT said:
Don't all Panasonic tapes use dry lube? I can't remember. :confused:


Anyway, does anyone else know of any other brands that use dry lube?
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As far as I know Sony is the only company using wet lube on their tapes.
All others are dry lube.

Yeah - okay - commence with the jokes now....
 
Yeah, they should be fine.
You'll be find with pretty much any kind of tape.
I wouldn't go to Sonys after having used Panasonics consistently - but you'll be fine with pretty much any other kind of tape.

Don't forget - digital is nothing but 1s and 0s, so every tape records the same information.
The only consideration when it comes to tapes is really the robustness of the tape shell itself, and the lubrication method.

But for the most part - tape is tape.
The information recorded on a 10 DV dollar tape is exactly the same as the information recorded on a 1 dollar DV tape.
 
But for the most part - tape is tape.
The information recorded on a 10 DV dollar tape is exactly the same as the information recorded on a 1 dollar DV tape.
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I've known this, but since I'm on a one day shoot I would hate to get to cutting room and find drop outs on footage I have no chance of getting again.

Thanks for the reassurance!
 
You said you are renting the CAm. & that the rental house sells Sony. It is a good bet that the camera has had Sony tapes through it before, if not exclusively. If you get the chance, use a cleaning tape first & then use whatever you can get.
 
oneinfiniteloop said:
what the "next best" tape would be?
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There is a Panasonic "Professional" PQ series which is in between. Any Panny tape should be fine, although I've heard (not sure how far it is true) that the higher quality tapes have more metal particles and that their edges are cut with sharper razors (to reduce dropouts, especially towards the tail-end of the tapes).
 
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