I just found my first incompatible LP record/play
camera combination (of MANY tried...) - the effect
was of a slight horizontal-line "ripple" in the image
after about 5-6 minutes of compatible playback...
The "squares" you see are dropouts serious enough to
be visible (the error correction uses areas of the
previous frame to substitute for the missing parts of
the current frame - and if there is no relative motion
in those parts of the frames, you will not see the
correction). If you are seeing more than 1-2 corrections
("blocks") per about every 5 hours or more of recording
time, you are having greater than normal dropout
problems, and you may want to look into the cause...
(one of the neat things about Mini-DV and its variants
is the VERY low rate of visible dropouts compared
with analogue formats).

On Tue, 18 Jun 2002 00:45:29 +1200, "Greg Sosna" wrote:

>i've seen in some cases that LP played on camera looked fine, but as soon as
>it's been passed thru firewire to another camera it didn't look so great (AT
>TIMES, most of the time it was fine).
>Also I've seen more squares left on LP than SP (is that what they call
>dropped frames?)
>So far I've been using SP, but I only do short videos, so it suits me.
>regards
>greg

>"RGBaker" wrote in message
>news:6njP8.1232$u71.328969@news20.bellglobal.com...
>>
>> > There must be _some_ advantage to DV-SP over DV-LP. Fewer dropped
>frames?
>>
>> The chances of a drop out are reduced in SP, and the reliability of
>> inter-device operation are better in SP -- LP recordings often misperform
>> when played back in a machine other than the one that recorded them.
>>
>> GB