[OT] Reuse Digibeta

I was wondering if it's generally a bad idea to try rerecording footage onto used Digibeta tapes. I have several tapes with older cuts that I'm not sure what to do with. Of course, if there's a good risk that the quality could be compromised then I'm assuming it's now worth it. Would appreciate any advice!

Thanks!

Depends...how many times were they recorded on / recycled? How old are they? I would bulk-erase the tape and try a layoff to play back and see if there are any drop-outs.

TEST - TEST - TEST!!

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I've only recorded one pass on the tapes and they've been played a few times. Seems like the consensus on Creative Cow is that it's perfectly fine:

[forums.creativecow.net]

If the quality of the recording has been compromised, then why would you ever want to reuse the tape for something else?

At least, don't use it for shooting raw footage or outputting final tape masters. Use the recycled tapes for fleeting purposes like outputting a work in progress.


www.derekmok.com

I've used digibeta tapes many times, and never had a problem. In fact, outside of a deck eating one, I can't think of a time where an old tape has burned me.

Contrary to derekmok - if you have decided that multiple passes on a tape is unsafe - I would not use it to output a work in progress - that's my safety net. I'd hate to go to all the trouble of putting up a safety net, then use something that I thought of as sub-par. (If you decide used tape is sub-par.)

> Contrary to derekmok - if you have decided that multiple passes on a tape is unsafe - I would not
> use it to output a work in progress - that's my safety net.

A better safety net for recording progress is a QuickTime movie, at full quality, and possibly with timecode burn. A tape copy isn't that useful unless the camera masters were only at DigiBeta quality.


www.derekmok.com