My school give me an assignment of video making, which we need to submit a copy with Mini DV Tape. I had found Sony Mini DV Tape, it's quite expensive compare to TDK tape. Just right after I bought TDK brand DV Tape, I heard my friend told me that TDK brand DV Tape is not that good. So is it good enough to use TDK mini DV tape to submit my assignment?
Mini DV Tape
- Thread starter YuiHuan
- Start date
Here's the thing with MiniDV tape: The tapes are manufactured with built-in lubricants that keep your video heads running smoothly. While there are some differences in tape quality in general, of much greater concern is that you choose a tape brand and use only that brand in your camera. The reason is that the lubricants from the various manufacturers differ in their chemical make-up and do not necessarily work well together. Using different brand tapes all the time increases the frequency of data errors and runs the risk of clogging your video heads.
Having said that, I tried TDK tapes early on and was not happy with them; too many dropouts. I personally settled on Maxell brand and have had excellent results -- use them in all 3 of my cameras. Sony may be good as well, but I haven't used it.
Having said that, I tried TDK tapes early on and was not happy with them; too many dropouts. I personally settled on Maxell brand and have had excellent results -- use them in all 3 of my cameras. Sony may be good as well, but I haven't used it.
I am not sure how my lecturer gonna let me record my video to the tape. My group plan is using a Canon EOS 550D to capture the video, and record the final video into the Mini DVtape just to submit the assignment. So the video won't be recorded to the Mini DV Tape using a camera.
Same thing holds true with a MiniDV VCR. However, since I presume it's not your own equipment there's no sense worrying about it. Like Uranium said, the TDK will probably be fine.
I only use Panasonic AY-DVM63MQ.
Does your friend have experience with many different brands?
Is your friend someone you trust with what tape is best? If so,
I suggest you take his opinion seriously.
Find out what you are using to record to tape and use the tape
most used in that machine. Since it's a school project it's likely
that the machine is used by many different students who use
many different brands - very often the cheapest available. In
that case it really doesn't matter what brand you use so you can
go for the cheapest.
Does your friend have experience with many different brands?
Is your friend someone you trust with what tape is best? If so,
I suggest you take his opinion seriously.
Find out what you are using to record to tape and use the tape
most used in that machine. Since it's a school project it's likely
that the machine is used by many different students who use
many different brands - very often the cheapest available. In
that case it really doesn't matter what brand you use so you can
go for the cheapest.
Ditto. For pro projects when money is on the line, these are my go-to tapes. But probably not for long since everything is moving to files on SD or P2 cards.
Didn't know about the Lubricant part! That's interesting!
I use Maxells, haven't had a problem. I remember when I studied Media Fundamentals, we have V300 and 500 Cameras, V500's ATE tapes like you wouldn't believe, so when we signed out our camera, we all after the V300, the 500's got left in the dust
I use Maxells, haven't had a problem. I remember when I studied Media Fundamentals, we have V300 and 500 Cameras, V500's ATE tapes like you wouldn't believe, so when we signed out our camera, we all after the V300, the 500's got left in the dust
As 2001 said, as long as you use the same brand all the time
in your camera, you won't see many problems. I suspect the
issue with the school camera was that everyone was using
a different tape. I know the one time I put a Sony tape in
my camera it gummed the heads and then ate my Panasonic
tape later. My business partner uses nothing but Sony tapes
and has never had a problem.
I only use sony's, but buy them in larger quantities for $2 - $2.50 each. Not too bad.
Oh, yes they were definitely using different tapes-but the interesting part is I don't recall having any problems with the V300's, which everyone used as well with different tapes. Mind you the 300's were obviously newer so maybe that helped the 500's were a bit older (and trying to lug those monsters around wow!)
I'm not questioning the quality at of production when they DID work, because when tapes DID work they were fantastic cameras 
I have read on the internet that newer model cameras are less susceptible to problems related to the lubrication issue. Paranoid dinosaur that I am, however, I figure I'm better safe than sorry.
I have read on the internet that newer model cameras are less susceptible to problems related to the lubrication issue. Paranoid dinosaur that I am, however, I figure I'm better safe than sorry.
Oh, yes understandably!
I'm happy I learned about the lubrication part of it, so I know what to do when the times comes I buy my next camera (of course it will probably be an SD card camera, as DV's, if not on the way out, seem to been less visible to buy-though some of the higher grade cameras have both no? (SD and Dv capability).Hey, in case anyone out there uses Sony tape, I just got this in my email today (3/24/11):
http://www.supermediastore.com/prod... 002 1867X4&utm_campaign=110324 Media Madness
Seems like a pretty darned good deal to me. I've bought a ton of stuff from this company over the years, so I can assure you they're on the up-and-up. They ship fast, too.
http://www.supermediastore.com/prod... 002 1867X4&utm_campaign=110324 Media Madness
Seems like a pretty darned good deal to me. I've bought a ton of stuff from this company over the years, so I can assure you they're on the up-and-up. They ship fast, too.
