Shooting SD with HDV Tape?

[McCord]

Quick question-

I have a Canon XL2 and was wondering if it is worth using the Panasonic AY-HDVM-AMQ compared to the AY-DVM-AMQ? Any quality difference at all? Thanks!

 

 

[thinkbetter]

The HDVM will give you a better looking result. Better resolution. I have a an XL2  that produces good looking HD ( sometime rivals HD in the close up shots), but it's in the wide shot where you see the difference. Go with HD every time…….you won't be sorry.

[imagrapher]

McCord…I made a mistatement…I meant to say that my XL2 produces good looking  SD (not HD) and  sometimes rivals HD in the close up( the resolution for XL2 is 720 x 480 which is considered low end SD even though we call it SD ). But  always shoot with an HD camera a much as possible.

[SafeHarbor]

HDV tape at $10 a pop does not look any better than DV tape at $2 or $3 each. Digital is Digital. DATA is recorded to the tape, just ones and zeros. I've had HDV cameras for 5 years and have never used an "HDV tape". Have always used DV tape only to record HDV. 

 

So why do they make "HDV" tape? It is supposedly a higher grade of tape stock. This has NOTHING to do with video quality – the same digital ones and zeros get recorded the same to either tape. The ONLY difference would be less chance of a "dropout", or glitch in the recording, but I  rarely get any dropouts as it is.  And a speck of dust  on the record head is still a speck of dust regardless of tape stock being used and can still cause a dropout. So save your money and use a good grade of DV tape. Many swear by Sony DV Excellence. I've had good luck with the Pansonic DV63 professional stock. 

 

Thanks

 

Jeff Pulera

Digital Vision

[SafeHarbor]

After 8 years of only ever using DV tape in my two HDV camcorders..yep, pretty confident. If anyone tells you that HDV tape will record a “better picture” or “better resolution” they are full of beans.

Consider this: you have a video clip, say an .mp4 file. You have multiple copies on hard drive, USB stick, CD data disc, SD card, cloud. ALL copies will be identical quality – it’s a digital file. Like a Word doc – the text doesn’t change when you copy to a different device, right? Same with DV versus HDV tape stock. SAME content on either. As mentioned in earlier post, supposedly less chance of the occasional dropout if using HDV tape for HDV recording, otherwise it’s marketing hype to get more money from the consumer. Stick an “HDV” label on a DV tape and triple the price…

I won’t argue for a moment that back in the day when I started in video shooting ANALOG (Hi8, SVHS) that quality tape stock recorded a better image than cheaper tapes. It mattered due to the way the analog signal was recorded to tape. But apples and oranges, we are now talking DATA with DV and HDV recordings, and ones and zeroes are always ones and zeroes on any tape stock. Many years ago, I would shoot DVCAM video onto $45 Sony DVCAM-184 cassettes, then make Firewire dubs to a cheap Digital8 HandyCam using Hi8 tape stock. SAME IMAGE recorded to either tape, identical data, different medium is all.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Digital Vision

[McCord]

Thank you! I wasn't sure if it would be worth using HD tape on an SD camera but since you have first hand experience with the Canon XL2 I'm going to take your word for it- I appreciate your input 🙂

 

Happy Filmmaking-

[imagrapher]

Are you still sure about the no real diff between DV and HDV tape ? HDV tape getting hard to find now and only seems to be
available at a few places.

[Trevor]

HDV tape and Mini-DV tape are one and the same. The only difference may be that if you use a regular consumer level tape vs. one marketed as a professional level or Master Quality tape is that you may experience a few more drop outs on the consumer-level tape than the Master tapes, but in the past I’ve found that both have performed the same. And the brand may effect your performance. In the past, just in SD recording Mini-DV, I found that Maxell-branded tapes, both consumer and Master tapes, provided a great video, whereas JVC-branded tapes I found had a lot more drop-outs.

[Author]

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