Sony LP Mode?

[johnjackthom]

Having never found the time to play with the LP mode on my TRV33, I wonder if any FMs could comment on their experience of using this feature, ie any quality or reliability issues.

I've promised to video a performance of a pantomime later this year and it looks like at least one of the halves is likely to run well over 1 hour without any tape changing breaks.

If it turns out there's good reason to avoid LP recordings I'll probably end up just buying some 80 minute miniDV tapes, but before experimenting I thought I'd ask for advice here first.

 

[MarkE19]

I never use LP, but these are some of the Pro's & Con's

Pro's:
No loss of PQ
Can record for up to 90 minutes on a single (60 min) DV tape

Con's:
Any dropouts will show up more in LP (and there are likely to be more of them)
LP recordings can't be played on all camcorders (diff makes use diff LP system)

I would therefore suggest that if you do need to use LP you always use brand new tapes to try and avoid any problems.

Mark.

 

[toadoftoadhall]

not sure if I am right, but isnt there an important difference in the audio in LP?

not sure what it is, but if I record LP and then SP, I cant import it at the same time in the same set of files.

toad

 

[johnjackthom]

Thanks for the replies Mark and toad, I'll probably end up playing safe with the longer (and rather more expensive) 80 min tapes. I suppose there had to be drawbacks with LP recordings otherwise they would have become the standard.

Re-reading the manual, the only difference I can find regarding audio is that audio dubbing is not possible in LP, but that's something I've never used.
I don't know yet whether or not the audio track actually recorded is 16-bit in this case.