On Mon, 26 Feb 2001 07:58:12 GMT, "sten" wrote:

>Just bought myself a Sony TRV20, which I am very happy with so far. I am
>using my PC to edit my films, a big change from the 8/HI 8 -> VHS days!
>
>Questions:
>
>1. How many times can you re-use a "Sony Premium" DV cassette without any
>loss of quality?

The only "loss of quality" *may* be increased rate of
dropouts with increased times of use - unlike analogue
media, the noise level, etc. will not change...

>2. How often do you need/should you run a cleaning tape through your
>camcorder?

Not often - wear can be an issue (these small heads spin
FAST!), I hear, so keep it to 1-2 5-second passes maybe
every 10-20 hours of use (?), or when you see an obvious
dropout (very rare, if you keep gear clean). There is not
really solid info on this - but I would avoid overusing the
Sony cleaning tape. BTW, since you have started with Sony
tape, never use anything else - mixing brands alone may
cause problems...