DV Cam w & w/o IC

[Jeff Carpenter]

It’s a computer chip in the tape that you can record information on. So, for example, with the right camera you could make “marks” as you record and return to those points later at the push of a button. The timecode and info you marked would be recorded in the chip. It probably saves other information too, but I don’t really know what.

The bottom line is, if you’re not upset that you’re missing those features then there’s no reason to buy the tapes with chips in them.

[Meesta Joe]

Thanks Jeff!

[Bouncing Account needs new email address]

Using the high-priced tape WITH the IC, some camcorders (DV or DVCAM) can write a “table of contents” file that contains the location of start/spot points on the tape, the location on the tape of still images that may have been captured to tape, and maybe a couple of other things that were designed into the system.

This feature has been virtually UNUSED by video pros in general (in part, due to the much higher price for the IC tapes, as well as the fact that the IC “features” can really be partically duplicated by capturing a tape into an NLE.)

I’m posting here asking if ANYONE has ever needed the IC features (enough to pay extra to get them).

[Jeff Carpenter]

I think the real problem is that it’s not set up to be exported to anything. If I could log the tape as I go and then have Final Cut Pro suck up all that information over firewire from my deck and use it to create a batch-capture list then yes, I WOULD use that feature all the time!

But it doesn’t work that way. Perhaps you can do something with the Sony editing software, but as a Final Cut user it seems to me that anything I’d do on the chip would simply be useful when I’m watching the tape in my camera. Well, that’s not a good enough reason, so I’ve never used it.