On Sun, 22 Oct 2000 18:43:03 GMT, babylon wrote:

>1) I'm thinking of using the same miniDV tape to shoot rushes then
>export them to my PC, edit them under Premiere and output them to a
>"Master" miniDV for archiving.
>How many times can I do that and not experience drop-offs (right now
>sony premium miniDVs)

I would use fresh tape for masters (I make two, for safety).
I reuse tape without many dropouts, but there are more, and
more serious ones, with used tape ("blacking" or erasing
the tape may help with this). I reuse tapes with material
that does not need to be without breaks.

>2) I was thinking of archiving in LP mode to gain space but then got
>concerned that I might experience drop outs, so I swithched to SP.
>Does that make sense ?

Yes - dropouts or time-related storage problems are much
more likely to appear in LP than SP - and your LP tapes made
now may not be playable on another camcorder, or even on
your present one after a repair... I use LP only in
emergencies, and try to get it copied to SP soon after
shooting it.