On Wed, 24 Jan 2001 12:09:40 -0800, "Gene E. Bloch" wrote:

>This is a digital medium, so you wouldn't lose any quality until your tape
>coatings start flaking away. I don't know who has hard facts (I don't, I'm
>really just being speculative here), but I'd guess that with a reasonable
>amount of reuse (not over a dozen times per tape, say), you'd never see a
>problem. And of course, for your one time thing (trip to Rome, wedding,
>whatever) you would always buy fresh tapes, right?
>
>Maybe someone who actually knows - or who has a good URL - will add to this
>thread...
>
>BTW, many posts and my camera manual say that digital LP is a bit
>undependable, i.e. it cannot be trusted to play back on a second camcorder.
>It has been pointed out on the NG that if your first camcorder were to die,
>you might therefore be unable to view your archived LP tapes. I bet that
>means if your 'corder died and was repaired you might be out of luck too...

With Sony camcorders, and with a Sony repair on one of them,
I have had good luck - I can record/play on 5 (+ 1 repaired)
different Sony camcorders in LP mode in any combination
without problems. BUT, I would still avoid shooting important
material in LP-mode that could not stand dropouts,
and I would not shoot in, or master in, LP-mode for
archiving...