Mini DV tape - good and bad?

[Mr Pleasant]

I'm looking to buy some more tapes for my mini dv camcorder and was wondering if there are some types or brands to steer clear of. I plan to keep the raw footage on the tapes for years to come so don't want to buy something cheap only to find it is unreadable in a few years time if I need to restore something...

[GaryB]

Because of the relatively low Sales quantities, the cheapo manufacturers have largely stayed away from the DVC tape market. If you stick to the well known brands, JVC, TDK, Fuji, Maxell, etc. you can't really go wrong. Many of them come from the same factories anyway.

[MarkE19]

I have also heard that most DV tapes are made by 1 company and then badged by the larger brands. I do not know which companys do this.
One exception to this is Sony. They do make their own tape and I also believe they do not make them for others.

It is recommended that you try to keep to 1 maker of DV tapes as they leave a residue on the heads of the camcorder and differing residues can cause problems. So if you have used Sony tapes until now then you are best to stick with Sony (even though they do tend to be the most expensive ).
When I bought my camcorder I was given 10 Sony DV tapes, so guess what I'm stuck buying now . Well at least they have come down in price. Dixons were selling them for £15 each a few years ago

Mark.

[Mr Pleasant]

Thanks for the advice. I've just ordered a pack of 5 Panasonic tapes from Dabs for a total of £13 inc VAT etc. These are the DVM60s which generally sell for about £20 for 3. Rang Panasonic and asked what the DVM60FEs are (Dabs Manufacturer's code) and the guy told me they are the French version, i.e. DVM60s for the French market (unless of course all the English dialogue I record comes up with French subtitles...!) Anyway, if a DVM60 is a DVM60 then I'll happily take an imported pack from Dabs at half the price.

[JayX]

dixons do em for £24 for 5 so not too bad at all.

[Orbitalzone]

I think that Panasonic are one of the few companies that make the tapes then other companies rebadge them....Sony make their own too....

[m@rk]

The one factory many brand things is true.

The ones I know are all the same are Panasonic, JVC, Fuji, Maxell, Canon and TDK. I was told this by Panasonic who also buy them in and brand them.

Having said that, unless you are 100% that the tapes you are using are all out of the same factory, don't mix (as others have said).

I currently pay £2.29 each for them and buy 10 at a time from www.pricebuster.org.uk but watch out as there shipping charges can be a bit high so either buy in bulk or they do have shops in Manchester, Harrow and London.

[JayX]

i was always told pricebuster had closed down! thats great news, i'll be buying from there from now on.

personally i dont touch tdk tapes as one retailer said they were dreadful, and my experience with tdk products in the past has been shocking. awful awful company. usually buy panasonics, but have some sony's from when i've not had the choice. probably didn't do my camera much good :/ i'll try not use em from now on

I'm surprised that TDK are considered bad - they are, after all, the company most likely to be actually making the tape that gets branded by others! Panasonic, JVC etc. make electronics products, whereas TDK are primarily world experts in magnets and magnetic tapes.

Nevertheless, just like photographic film, it would be interesting to know who actually makes what...

[JayX]

well their CDRs are utter crap i know that first hand. i've had data corrupt itself on the disc a few days after its been burnt! no scratches, nothing. disc was working fine, then one day... dead. their burners aren't much cop either.

[uczmeg]

For tapes, try eBay.

Some surprisingly good deals.

I've used this guy:

http://tinyurl.com/m11k

6 Panasonic, JVC, TDK or Sony tapes for £17.95 delivered.

Works out a little better than Pricebuster unless you want quite a few tapes. A little more than Dabs mentioned above (if you calc what 6 tapes would cost.) But they expect 3 to 4 weeks for stock.

Cheers
Marc

[whatdoiknow]

I have used, JVC, BASF and many TDK and never had a problem until I tried some from Sony and the data on the screen went berserk.

Martin

P.S. I have also used allsorts of tapes in my D8 cam and have never had a problem.