[prutz11]

Hey people,
A couple questions about using mini dv's...

Someone told me that it was bad to use more than one brand of mini dv tape in your camera... because the chemicals they use might be different and mix badly or something like that... is this true... should I feel bad for using a couple brands of tapes? or is it misinformation to get me to stay with one brand?

Also... is it bad to leave a tape in the camcorder while you are not taping? like if I let the camcorder sit around for a week with a tape in it am I doing damage?

Is it worth getting one of those mini dv tape rewinders?

Are there any tips you would offer up to someone new at dealing with mini dvs?

Sorry if this was rambling,
Will

[dlefebvre]

I don't think there's a problem with using different brands of tape. Just be sure not to use cheap tapes (the metal particules of the tapes might flake off with cheap brands). It's not a bad idea to use the same brand of tapes than the camera but you can go with companies that specialize in magnetic support like Fuji.

The problem you might get are for example using a tape recorded on a Cannon camera and played back on a Sony camera or vice versa. You'll noticed that playback won't be stable, you'll lose sound etc.

Also it's better to remove the tape from the camera if you're not going to use it for a while. But it's not dramatic. It's just that in the long run (I mean very long run) some mechanical pieces of the camera might become magnetized.

Make sure to shoot a few seconds before and a few seconds after your shots. That way, you might avoid syncronising problems while capturing your media.

DV is a great medium, but be carefull, it's fragile.

[prutz11]

Originally posted by dlefebvre:
DV is a great medium, but be carefull, it's fragile. [/B]

Thanks a lot man. Good information.
-will

[zorn]

another important tip is to blank all your new tapes before shooting in the field.

Pop it in, hit record, and let it tape the wall (or black if the lens cap is on) for 60 min. This will produce a solid timecode on the tape.
By not doing it you could turn the tape off and start a new time code half way through, and when logging your footage FCP will complain and make it very difficult to log your footage.

[warnergt]

From: http://www.adamwilt.com/Tidbits.html

"Mixing different brands of tape: In DV's early days, Sony and Panasonic tapes used different lubricants, and if you used one brand a lot and then switched to the other, incompatibilities between the lubricants (which get deposited on heads and tape guides) could cause VTRs to jam up or the heads to clog, sometimes permanently. Supposedly the lubricants were made compatible starting in 1997, but I'm still hearing horror stories about these problems in the summer of 2002."

See anatomy of a MiniDV tape here:
http://www.high-techproductions.com/anatamy.htm

[digimage]

Originally posted by zorn:
another important tip is to blank all your new tapes before shooting in the field.

Pop it in, hit record, and let it tape the wall (or black if the lens cap is on) for 60 min. This will produce a solid timecode on the tape.
By not doing it you could turn the tape off and start a new time code half way through, and when logging your footage FCP will complain and make it very difficult to log your footage.

You can also black a tape if you have final cut. There's a button for it and everything.

[prutz11]

hey guys... thanks much for the information... so when I blank? or black? the tape the timecode remains even though I record info over it? why dont they sell pre blanked tapes? wouldnt that make more sense?


really thanks a lot for the information,
will

[dlefebvre]

It's preferable to blank the tape with the same recorder (camera) you're gonna use. A blacked tape is kind of a reference (30 frames of black a second with continuous ime-code), if the machine you used to blank the tape is not calibrated exactly like the recorder of the camera (head adjustment, tension, angle etc...) you might end up with syncronisation problems. Since the tape is very narrow, it doesn't take a big offset to mess things up.

[skalie]

Wish I had known about this blanking business a year ago.....

So I've got a few hours of archives stored on mini DV, the time codes are all over the place.

So if I transfer the footage to my iBook then transfer the footage back to a blanked tape I'll end up with a readible timecode?

It is possible to blank previously used tapes?

Er, 60 mins won't fit on my hard drive (10 gigs free), can it be done in two operations which will involve swapping tapes in the camera?

[dlefebvre]

Originally posted by skalie:
So if I transfer the footage to my iBook then transfer the footage back to a blanked tape I'll end up with a readible timecode?

Yes. It probably wont be the same timecode as the original material, but at least it will be continous.

Originally posted by skalie:
It is possible to blank previously used tapes?

Nope. Because «blacking» a tape involves erasing it and recording a stable black signal on the tape.

Originally posted by skalie:
Er, 60 mins won't fit on my hard drive (10 gigs free), can it be done in two operations which will involve swapping tapes in the camera?

When you'll output the first pass on your MiniDV, make sure to leave a few seconds of black after. So later, when you're ready to output your second pass, make sure you cue your tape somwhere in those few seconds of black.

[skalie]

It is possible to blank previously used tapes?

Originally posted by dlefebvre:
Nope. Because «blacking» a tape involves erasing it and recording a stable black signal on the tape.

Possible, but all data is lost.

"Black and code".

Thanks for the answers dlefebre, the book I've been studying for digital video doesn't mention blacking till chapter 11, when it seems to be a necessity before even beginning to record.

One lives and learns.

[dlefebvre]

Originally posted by skalie:
Possible, but all data is lost.

You're right, I was a little slow on this one...