Does Master or Professional Mini DV tapes make a big differe

[blackout]

I haven’t been able to find any professional or Mastering tapes at local stores . I wanted to see if they make a huge diffence . My Camcorder is one of the Panasonic 3ccd cams

Thanks

[Anonymous]

They are easy enough for me to find in LA…

I haven’t used them but I would think the mastering tapes would be good for creating and archiving your masters (duh). They probably last longer and can withstand more wear and tear than standard tapes.

[SteveMann]

blackout Wrote:

I haven’t been able to find any professional or Mastering tapes at local stores . I wanted to see if they make a huge diffence . My Camcorder is one of the Panasonic 3ccd cams

Thanks

The most significant difference from Plain Old DV tapes and Mastering or Professional tapes is the gratitude of the tape reseller for the huge difference in profits.

For the type of video production that most of us shoot, there is absolutely no difference except the price. We, in general, don’t tend to reuse tapes. We shoot, we download, then the tape goes on a shelf or box for storage. As a result of this light use, the durability of the coating or “robustness” of the tape stock is of little value. If, on the other hand you tend to reuse tapes until you can see through them, then go for the more expensive stock.

Most of the stuff you read in the marketing hype is just that – marketing hype. Signal to noise, for example, is an analog measurement and means nothing in the digital realm. Yet, a better S/N is used to sell you the perception of a better (more expensive) tape product. The most ridiculous one is a major tape manufacturer that claims you will get better color if you use their MiniDV tapes. Digital is digital, and the data are identical no matter what tape brand it’s written to.

Don’t believe anything your tape supplier says – they only know the marketing hype and want to sell the product with the highest margins.

Steve Mann

[BrotherMatthew]

Hi ther I did you the Pro tapes coule of times and to be honest with you guys I didn’t see any difference what so ever except I paid a lot more money for the tapes. It’s just waste of $$$$$.

[i43Productions]

while you might not THINK there’s a difference for the cost. the difference is in durability and quality construction. any new car you buy looks and works great when you drive it home…wait a year and the cheap ones have problems and the good ones don’t. cheap tapes WILL burn you at the worst possible moment. i’ve had a couple times where a tape that seems like everything’s perfect when i record and even some minor playback, but it’s filled with errors becasue the tape itself was messed up. most cameras and decks have error reducing technology when you playback so it looks great, but you don’t want to run that kind of risk when you’re mastering out to tape.

[i43Productions]

Hi ther I did you the Pro tapes coule of times and to be honest with you guys I didn’t see any difference what so ever except I paid a lot more money for the tapes. It’s just waste of $$$$$.

WHen i started shooting, i couldn’t see the difference between a single chip and 3 chip camera…until i started editing and working with it in depth. then the limitations show up.

[SteveMann]

“…wait a year and the cheap ones have problems…”

As I said earlier, most of us do not reuse tapes, and that those who do should probably buy the more expensive “more robust” tapes.

Also, your allegory to the difference from one-chip to three-chip cameras is a non sequitur. There IS a difference in image quality, even if you couldn’t see it, but there is absolutely no difference in the data recorded on the tape.

Steve

[Author]

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