On Sun, 23 Jan 2000 09:40:37 -0700, Michael Rosenberger
>We have been toying with the idea of getting a mini dv setup as a second
>system to compliment our BetaSp and replace or SVHS. I have seen a few
>articles about drop-outs and generation degradation, and was hoping a
>few of you would not mind sharing your experience. My only experience
>was a client brought in a Mini-DV tape for an editing project and it had
>several very bad drop-outs. This was a new tape from a VX-1000. I was
>hoping this was an isolated incident.
On my web page, under the "I babble" index, is a comparison
review of seven mini-DV camcorders (and a Beta SP...;-)
you may find interesting... And, yes, the kind of drop-out
problem you described is VERY rare, from what I gather from
my own experience (180 rolls of tape, or so), and others'
reports. This very bad dropout (most are barely visible, if at
all visible - DV generally covers them well) is most
often caused by mixing older Sony tape with other tape
brands on a given device - it is not inherent in the
medium or the hardware.
>So here are a few questions:
>
>* Brands you have had experience with and what that experience was, good/bad?
See the camcorder review, and the note that the same roll
of tape was used in all the mini-DV camcorders, without any
visible dropouts - the Beta SP tape (used before...) showed
MANY dropouts...
>* What equipment you use?
VX-1000, TRV-900, TRV-9, PC-1, EZ30U, XL-1, GL-1 + others
mentioned.
>* Do you pack tape? I have always ran the tape forward once and rewound?
>I know I saw the thread on it, and I know some of you do not, but I was
>taught this years ago and it is just a habit. I am not asking if you
>think it is right, just yes/no if you do it.
No, nor do I find "blanking" useful - head wear is an
issue with the small and fast-spinning mini-DV heads...
>* Extended durability. Have had experience with this as an archive? How
>many passes do you get before drop-outs, if any?
Two questions... I've played some three-year old tapes that
were unplayed since made, and I have repeat-played individual
tapes MANY times (15-20?), both without problems.
The only problems I've encountered have been when mixing
tape brands, and when re-using tape (I've posted on this
before...), and the problems with that were above zero
in number (close to the usual number with mini-DV...;-),
but generally not serious.
>* Any other thoughts, time code reliability, audio, etc., tapes are too
>darn small?
It does seem there would have been benefits from the tape
being larger in terms of long-term storage durability and
camera handling, but in practice, I have not noticed
problems - but I sure could use a longer tape load than
one hour (though LP-mode can be a partial solution...).
Having excellent 2, and even 4, channel recording ability
with mini-DV is a pleasure...
>I have used Beta for years and am very comfortable with our current
>setup. Even after 3 runs, Beta tape drop-outs might be nothing more than
>some white line static. The digital drop-outs I saw where unusable. The
>issue is cost, which is why we were looking at Mini-DV instead of what
>seems to be a more robust DVCam or DVCPro. If reviews are bad for the
>Mini-DV we will just update our SVHS equipment.
A local film-then-Beta-SP company has just gone mini-DV, I
suspect for the reasons you gave. The system gives excellent
results, close enough to Beta SP to mix with it, and/or to
broadcast (though mini-DV picture may not be as free of
digital artifacts as edited Beta SP, the lack of dropouts
and the size/cost differences are LARGE). There is no
comparison with SVHS - if you have seen good-quality
shooting on mini-DV, it is very impressive (and, heck, you
can even point these little things at the sun or other
bright lights with minimal problems - highlight burnout
may be less of a problem than with what you use now...).
>Thanks for your time folks. We already know what equipment we are
>getting. I do not want this to get into a "you said you had drop-outs on
>your XL-1, but mine's fine" discussion. Just YOUR experiences with YOUR
>setup and tape. Results will almost always vary amongst people.
>
>Regards,
>Michael Rosenberger
>Phoenix College Media Services
>Arizona Upland Hunting and Outdoors Productions
Yes. I think you will not regret moving to mini-DV, though,
especially if you do not copy it to another format before
editing (one of the advantages of mini-DV is its ability
to be copied through several generations with minimal
losses). You may at times miss the Beta SP picture
"smoothness", but the gains can be well worth it.