Is There A Difference in HDV Tapes ?

Does anyone have any concrete evidence that the Sony PHDVM-63DM mini tape for the Sony HDV cameras is any better than, say, the Panasonic master quality miniDV tapes or even the other miniDV tapes you can get at a Best Buy-kind of store?

One difference is the price. I buy from a wholesaler and the Sony?s are costing me just over $17 per. The miniDV master quality Panasonics are like $6.

I feel like Sony is asking me to swallow the hook.

Thanks for any info or opinions.

HDV tapes are a different formulation. Best to use the recommended tape.

Also, with the new Sony HDV tapes, we're back to a formulation that could "crash" with other tape's formulation and cause clogs, just like the bad old days.

If HDV gets a dropout in the wrong place, you could loose half a second of footage, which is bad.

I've got a feeling that normal high quality DV tapes will be more than fine for HDV, and that Sony's expensive tapes are more about money to Sony than quality for end users. But whatever you decide, I'd stick to you decision.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

When you find a good tape brand...stay with it. I have a nifty looking 3-chip doorstop from switching too often.