How often does one use mini dv tapes

[LicensedTaximan]

Well the above thread says it all, with my old system a s-vhs jobbie I re-used my s-vhs tapes tapes quite a bit, but with my new outfit I would like to know how often it is recommended, by those who know better than I (Senu...Mark), how often I should re-use the mini dv tapes. The tapes I purchased by the way are the Sony HD types. Thanks in advance.

[redsox_mark]

You can reuse tapes... the only problem is that can increase chance of a dropout. The HD tapes should be more resistant to these. I still usually only use a tape once, but I'll occasionally use one a few times.

I am of the opinion that at the moment DV tape is the best archive medium. So until something better comes along I will continue to use tapes once and buy new. Incidentally got a pack of 2 TDK's for less than a fiver at Tescos last week marked down like short dated meat!!

I like TDK tape and like DVD's I doubt that most top TV brands make their own tape but outsource it probably from TDK.

[Johnmcl7]

That's a bit alarming, if I'd realised that I wouldn't have gone for a miniDV camcorder - in fact as it's not been dispatched yet (awaiting stock), I'm seriously considering cancelling it.

John

[Barbs]

Originally Posted by Johnmcl7

That's a bit alarming, if I'd realised that I wouldn't have gone for a miniDV camcorder - in fact as it's not been dispatched yet (awaiting stock), I'm seriously considering cancelling it.

John

I am about to buy one of these myself - so why such a strong reaction to this thread?

[Johnmcl7]

Originally Posted by Barbs

I am about to buy one of these myself - so why such a strong reaction to this thread?

I didn't realise you were only meant to use these tapes once, I've always just used them like vhs tape over and over which is what I planned for the HV10. Hence I'm planning on just going with an HDD camcorder.

John

Originally Posted by Johnmcl7

I didn't realise you were only meant to use these tapes once, I've always just used them like vhs tape over and over which is what I planned for the HV10. Hence I'm planning on just going with an HDD camcorder.

John

Please dont get me wrong ..there is no reason not to use DV tape over and over again like VHS tape but like VHS tape the more you do this the cance of problems increases. My point was that they are so cheap you dont have to re-use them. I dont re-use them as I want to keep my home videos for posterity. Whilst I have them on my external hard drive, that could crash. Recordable DVD's are not very robust and may have a limited lifetime. So the best long term archive media in my opinion is DV tape.

An HDD camcorder is great for overwriting but the only archive you have is either PC hard drive or DVD neither of which I trust longterm.

[Johnmcl7]

I don't find archiving an issue - for my photos (which are far larger than I expect my videos to be) I have them on an internal drive which is backed up regularly to two different external drives. Every month or so I sync the data to a desktop machine, I was planning the same for video - encoding the tapes to the PC then syncing the resulting videos to external hard drives and reusing the tapes. I guess for playing around it's worth using the same tape but for anything particularly important then use a new one.

I need to look into this further as I've seen another few sites now recommending not to use the tapes more than once.

edit: Ha, my camcorder just shipped unexpectedly - been sitting endlessly at awaiting stock, why does this all have to be so hard?!

John

[Barbs]

Thank god for that.... I was getting a bti paranoid and thought that I was missing something. For the sake of a few quid I'd be more than happy to retain the recordings on tape.

John - out of interest (and as I am about to buy) which model did you go for?

[Johnmcl7]

Originally Posted by Barbs

Thank god for that.... I was getting a bti paranoid and thought that I was missing something. For the sake of a few quid I'd be more than happy to retain the recordings on tape.

John - out of interest (and as I am about to buy) which model did you go for?

I went for the Canon HV10 - initially I decided on a standard definition hard drive camcorder as I didn't want the hassle of tape, DVDs were too big and hi-def HDD/DVD camcorders still seem in their infancy. The HV10 seemed to strike a good balance for me as it's small and light plus it's quite a bit cheaper than the HV20. It lacks HDMI, has a smaller battery, no 24P, weaker low light performance and poorer handling but I asked around and it still seems a decent camcorder.

Looks like it's going to arrive tomorrow which typically is my first day back on shift.

John

[rickyt]

I have a couple of MiniDV camcorders and never use the same tape twice .There reasonably cheap and will keep if stored corectly .

[LicensedTaximan]

Well I have bought, (as stated on the original thread) Sony's HD tapes for my new HV20 and I feel that re-using them several times will be ok, especially given their price point (although I paid a relativly low price given the high quality....£8 each, in a shop not the web).
On my old Panny s-vhs palmcorder I used my JVC s-vhsc tapes quite a few times without any problem. If I had bought the cheaper Sony mini dv tapes then maybe I would use them only once or twice, but not these babies.
I should mention that I'm going to edit and then transfer onto DVD (Verbatim ones for family stuff) and I already have transfered all my family s-vhs stuff onto duel layer Verbatim recordable DVD.

Originally Posted by LicensedTaximan

Well I have bought, (as stated on the original thread) Sony's HD tapes for my new HV20 and I feel that re-using them several times will be ok, especially given their price point (although I paid a relativly low price given the high quality....£8 each, in a shop not the web).
On my old Panny s-vhs palmcorder I used my JVC s-vhsc tapes quite a few times without any problem. If I had bought the cheaper Sony mini dv tapes then maybe I would use them only once or twice, but not these babies.
I should mention that I'm going to edit and then transfer onto DVD (Verbatim ones for family stuff) and I already have transfered all my family s-vhs stuff onto duel layer Verbatim recordable DVD.

Whilst I agree that Verbatim recordable DVD's are without doubt IMHO the best they are not very robust! A lot of people make the mistake in assuming recordable DVD's are as robust and long lived as commercially "pressed" film DVD's. They are most definitely not! I hope you are not one of those people? Indeed I have not seen any statistical projections on lifetime of DVDR's as yet.

PS good to see that you like me used JVC s-vhs-c previously IMHO a great format I used it 1989-1999. I have been using DV since 1999 and dont really see anything better other than HiDef around

Originally Posted by Johnmcl7

I don't find archiving an issue - for my photos (which are far larger than I expect my videos to be) I have them on an internal drive which is backed up regularly to two different external drives. Every month or so I sync the data to a desktop machine, I was planning the same for video - encoding the tapes to the PC then syncing the resulting videos to external hard drives and reusing the tapes. I guess for playing around it's worth using the same tape but for anything particularly important then use a new one.

I need to look into this further as I've seen another few sites now recommending not to use the tapes more than once.

john

Sorry to be a bit cynical but where are all these Pc's and external drives? Last month a friend of mine got burgled 4 Pc's and 5 external drives went, they took also every DVD/CD he had. They left 2 recent Sony LCD's though and left his Hi 8 and DV tape collection untouched a lthough they took his DV camcorder. At £2.50 per tape whats the issue?

Also I think you will find that videos take up a lot more disc space than photos. To retain in original DV quality you are looking at 13GB per hour or SP60 tape.

[Johnmcl7]

One external drive is kept at home, one is kept in my office, the internal one is normally with me (it's in a laptop) and the desktop is with my brother (hence it's only done once a month or so). So yes, if I'm mugged, my office is robbed, my home robbed and my brother's flat are all robbed simultaneously then I'm stuffed - I doubt that's going to happen though.

Videos may well take up more space than photos but I'm talking about my personal usage - which is occasional video and a lot of photos, hence why more space will be taken up by photos for me. When spending half a grand on a camcorder for occasional use, I hadn't planned on additional expense and it's pretty clumsy to have tapes everywhere - I had initially planned on an HDD camcorder which offers a lot more convenience, I'm starting to think that's what I should be sticking with.

John