80-min mini-dv tapes

[Dennis R. Cohen]

On 2/11/04 at 4:08 PM, Malcolm Hamilton <malcolm_hamilton at cbc.ca>
transmitted the following electronic message:

>
>Hi everyone -
>
>I can't seem to get 80-minute Sony mini dv tapes here in Canada, but 
>I can get 80-minute Fuji mini dv tapes, for $8.68 (Cdn.) each.
>
>A couple questions.
>
>1.  If Fuji a good brand?  Comparable to Sony?
>
I haven't tried their miniDV tapes (get a great price on TDK at Costco),
but would expect fine quality. Their DVD-Rs, VHS, and Beta tapes have
all been top-notch products. They also make very good 35mm film.
Generally, I prefer Fuji to Sony, sight unseen.

>2.  I want to record in LP mode, which will give me 120 minutes 
>record time.  The reason I want to do this is for the purpose of 
>dumping all my aging Hi-8 tapes, most of which are 120-minutes long, 
>onto mini-dv, for safe keeping (I know I won't get around to editing 
>them for years, and don't want the stuff to keep degrading on the 
>shelf).  Going from one 120-minute tape to another 120-minute tape 
>will be so much easier than 120 to 60, or 120 to 80.
>
>But, to finally get to my second question:  will recording in LP mode 
>mean loss in  quality?  (Again, in case it makes a difference, I'll 
>just be recording onto these tapes once.  Just to archive the stuff).
>
It shouldn't cause a quality loss, so long as you play back on the same
device with which you recorded. My experience with LP has been that
taking the tape to a different camcorder causes problems, but that a
closed environment is fine.

>I'm sorry if we've gone over some of this ground before.  I just want 
>to be perfectly clear before I spend all this money (I have about 175 
>Hi-8 tapes to transfer!) on mini-dv tapes.
>
Man, that's a bunch!

-- 
Dennis R. Cohen