Hi--

> ??????????????????
> Now you've got me confused........! ;-)
> Mini DVCAM and Mini-DV tapes can be used for Mini-DV recordings
> (60 min SP, 90 min LP) or for DVCam recordings (40 min); Mini DVCam
> recordings will play in most Sony Mini-DV cameras (I think.....;-).

My theory is that if you slap a mini-DV tape into a camera that is
recording
in DVCAM mode you're going to get mini-DV (i.e. no locked audio etc).
If
that's not the case why pay $12.99 for a mini DVCAM tape instead of just
buying a mini-DV and recording DVCAM over it? Furthermore, if you can
record the DVCAM format on to a mini-DV tape why can the TRV900 read it?
Doesn't DVCAM use smaller micron heads? This is all a bafflement to me
at
the moment.

-Dan

Ah...(the following NOT necessarily correct, but I think it is...;-),
it appears the recording characteristics are determined by the camera,
not the tape, and in a DVCam PD150 (not the PD100), you can record
Mini-DV or DVCam on either Mini-DV tape or DVCam tape, or in a Mini-DV
only camera, you can record Mini-DV in SP or LP. On playback (with some
incompatibilities with some models, but fewer than one might think), the
tape signal switches playback mode (as it does when SP and LP are
mixed).
The tape differences are claimed, but hard to prove since the medium is
digital and the images all look the same, baring dropouts, and Sony
makes
three "grades" of tape PR, EX, and DVCam, all of which in Mini-form can
be interchanged. There MAY be long term storage issues, or dropout-rate
issues, but no solid info on this. I use PR for wedding acquisition and
my own "play" shooting, EX for mastering.