DVCam vs MiniDV. Couple questions.

[Debe]

If no dropouts are crucial, then stick with DVCam tape stock. It’s more robust than miniDV and is designed to withstand the faster tape speed DVCam uses.

debe

[Jimmy Guarasci]

Have you had any problems?

[Debe]

As a matter if fact, yes I did.

I had a two camera shoot in an operating room. The producer didn’t pack extra tapes. When we burned through the DVCam stock we had, I offered up the new, unopened miniDV tape I had put in my bag that morning for just such an occurrence.

When I went to edit the footage, huge garish dropouts peppered that last tape, making several of the good shots that I needed unusable. The three DVCam tapes that came before it were pristine. It wasn’t an error of the camera, it was failure of miniDV to hold up to the extra stress DVCam puts on the physical tape.

Now I carry backup DVCam in my bag.

debe

[Jimmy Guarasci]

Very good point. I will be shooting with DSR 300’s and a DSR 570. If I am correct, they can not be switched to shoot in MiniDV. Unlike the pd150 which has different record settings. I did not think of that. Thanks

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

Wow.
You, of course, can use any tape you’d like.
Choose your gear and expendables as you see fit.

But, I have never, ever, EVER, heard of anything like this.

Physically there shold be no “EXTRA STRESS” involved in “DVCAM SPEED”.

Absolutely nothing is “different” in the camera except the tape MOTION (past the heads) is increased by 30% in DVCAM vs DV SP.
The heads are still rotating at exactly the same speed.
If MOTION was a factor, you could never fast-forward or rewind a tape in the camera for any reason… it would “stress” the tape.

I HAVE had some head-clog/drop-outs using certain BRANDS of tapes (never Panasonic or Sony) but it had nothing to do with using a tape marked “DVCAM”.

I have personally shot hundreds of miniDV tapes, at either DVSP or DVCAM speed… no difference whatsoever.
I am involved with many production houses and shooters who have never reported any problems like this either.

To continue the “scope” of this, the question has been discussed
many times on many web-boards over the years since DV DVCAM DVCPRO, etc. has been available…
The times that I’ve heard from anyone who actually reported a “problem” with using a DVSP TAPE at DVCAM speed was…
ONE
and that was today.

[Debe]

All I can say is what happened is what happened.

Maybe it was a bad batch if miniDV, however, it was a from a brick of 5, and the other 4 recorded in a miniDV camcorder did not exhibit any errors.

I posted a similar question when this happened, and that was the answer I was given.

If I”m passing bad information, I certainly apologize.

debe

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

[debe] “If I”m passing bad information, I certainly apologize.”

Its not so much “bad” as its the kind of thing that “sounds right” and takes on an Urban Legend kind of status if there’s no “counter-information” posted with it.

And, again, everyone is entitled to choose her/his own tools and supplies.

There are many who only choose tape with “DVCAM” labels, and that’s certainly cool.

I (and many others) have good experience using tapes with DV SP labels.

Cheers!

[Debe]

I was trying to find an answer for my client. He was all out of sorts because we were having these horrible problems with the tape. I had no other answer than the one given to me to explain how different the experience was from one type of tape to another.

To each his own.

debe

[Ben Oliver]

in my five years of shooting and editing…

ive had very little issue with tape, and moreso with dirty heads in cameras. i’ve always been told to shoot the same type of tape on “your” camera. ive had great success with maxel, sony and believe it or not, tdk.

are you shooting the audio 48k? sometimes that can cause loss of sync issues.

i do think that if your shooting dvcam with a dsr, its safer to use dvcam stock, maybe moire costly, but theres just costs that unavoidable.

have you thought in investing in a firestore, and bypass tape (other than a backup) altogether?

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

As I briefly mentioned in my first post, I HAVE had some problems with individual tapes NOT branded Panasonic or Sony.

I literally have shot, and output finished product to, hundreds of both of those brands (DV SP) with “statistically” ZERO problems.

After years of working with the “DROPOUTS R US” format (some folks call it “BetaCam SP”), I was shocked at how reliable a tiny format like DV could be.