[MacDV] Re: Sony DV Tape Stocks (HELP!)

[Richard Brown]

Danny's post was an excellent comment on current DV tapes. I have used 
pretty much all the Sony tapes listed, and some of the Fujis, from the 
equator to frigid climates, from the ocean to the rain forest to the 
desert. I have experience mechanically derived bit-error through minute 
tape damage only with the consumer tapes verified as error on three 
separate machines, on the
Sony Excellence tapes. Never with the Sony DVCAM tapes. Are they 
better? My experience has led me to believe so. This is not to say I 
treat media badly, quite the contrary. MiniDV is fragile, without 
question. Better packaging is better protection, and I would still 
maintain you are best served eliminating potential problems.

As to the price difference, consider Kodak's price for a 10 minute 
camera load of 5274, around $700, without lab or transfer. In film, the 
stock price is what it is, and it is professionally priced. The 
PDVM-40N Sony DVCam tape (40 minutes) is priced similarly to Beta SP 
camera tape (30 minutes.) DVCam is intended to be used in the same 
workflow as Beta, and for me, I do not see any issue here.  When 
shooting commercially, whether for corporate America or an 
entertainment title, the cost of stock should be next to moot. In 
independent DV feature project of 100 minutes, at a nominal 25:1 
shooting ratio, the feature will have a tape cost of around $700, which 
is less than insurance or even catering on say, a 20-25 day shoot, by 
far. So cheap as to say, "why use less?" Any edge I can get, if even 
just for proper and convenient labeling, I'll take.

Fiddling with the micro cases the Excellence and other MiniDV stocks 
use, can lead to undue hassle primarily in production, but also in post 
especially if mechanical issues affecting digital playback arise. If 
Sony Excellence tapes had a good case, perhaps I might think 
differently, but I am not sure the difference between cases account for 
the errors I've seen on the Excellence tapes. Yes, it's a digital 
format, and I'm sure Murphy's Law will now make the next DVCAM tape I 
use go bad somehow, if even just a frame or two (which is in the range 
of the defects previously mentioned, more or less), but even then, if 
just for just the labeling differential, I'll be sticking to the DVCAM 
tapes and their professionally oriented boxes. Good labeling is 
especially useful, if not important, when you're working with third 
party editors.

Richard Brown