Difference between consumer minidv tape or professional?

[macgvyer]

I just bought a new Canon GL2. Now that I have a 3ccd camera is there gonna be a difference between a consumer level minidv tape or should I start buying the professional minidv tapes that cost $4.00 to $7.00 a piece.

[Tommyknocker]

Why not buy one of the pro level tapes and compare for yourself?

[choirislife923]

i dont think there is a difference....either way, your gonna be storing a bunch of binary bits (0010101101010111101010) on the tape. the difference is problably in the archival time span (remember that gigantic pile of tapes CNN had of the 80s before they went MPEG2 digital?). Bottom line, i THINK the pro dv tapes are used so that your memories last longer on magnetic media since both kinds of casettes store DV codec binary data. If your going to transfer it to PC or DVD right after you film or within a few days, its not worth it.

[Beavis]

There's a big difference. Higher end tapes are longer-lasting and more durable that's true, also different tape chemistry gives a smoother surface (less wear on your heads and less need for cleaning as often), better signal to noise ratio, less likely to have bad spots on the tapes, more likely to be reliable over repeated re-records. It can definitely be worth it to spend a little more and use better tapes. I personally like Panasonic "Professional" grade tapes (which is still lower than "Master"- their highest grade). Never had one problem and they're reasonably priced online if you buy a few boxes of 5 or 10.

[Redd]

less likely to have bad spots on the tapes

I can say this is true first hand. I've had bad spots on brand new tapes using the lesser quality tapes...bring cheap can be more expensive.

[choirislife923]

ok...hypothesis proven wrong.

[energy80s]

There is really no difference between any of the major brands of DV tapes. We have used Panasonic (my favourite), Maxell, TDK and Sony for TV programmes and all have performed perfectly. Likewise, you don't need DV-CAM tapes to shoot in DV-CAM mode. Any miniDV tape will do, although it will run 33% faster and therefore be 33% shorter (40 mins out of a 60 min tape).

[mikesbytes]

I hear that there are only 2 manufactures of miniDV tapes, all of the brands are a relabeling of them. Personally, I have never spotted a difference between the brands.

Apart from the speed of the tape, is there a specification difference between DVCam and miniDV ?