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Clean Copies, One Generation to the Next (page 3)

It's Worth the Effort

So you've invested big in a high-quality camcorder and used only first-generation shots recorded on quality tape. You've connected your editing gear with cables three feet long and about an inch thick. Those cables link S-video output and input ports. You've taken all unnecessary boxes out of the loop. At the assembly end, you've confined yourself to second-generation tapes, re-laying the entire show to produce each release tape.

So, is all this hassle worth it? Will we actually see enough reduction of generation loss to justify all the effort? You betcha. While no single stratagem will make a decisive improvement, the cumulative effect of good editing practices will be obvious.

And if you care to do only the minimum to control quality, at least limit the number of tape generations. If you need further convincing, try this: copy a shot of a colorful floral arrangement, then copy the copy, copy that, and copy that again. By the fourth generation, you'll see dramatic quality loss, and somewhere around the seventh, your subject will threaten to disappear into a sea of fuzzy edges and video noise. You can see our format comparison on page 87.

If that doesn't convince you, nothing will.

1st Generation 4th Generation A7th Generation
VHS
S-VHS
8mm
Hi8
DV
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