Ranking DV tapes

[deepdown]

I've always used SONY Premium - found them to be good enough.
But have incountered errors, but that was the camcorders fault.

Wondering - which brand do you use and is there any difference ?

Some brands;

• Fuji DV-C 60
  JVC M-DV 60 ME
  Panasonic AY-DVM 60 FE
  TDK DVM 60 MEEA
  JVC M-DV 80 ME
  Panasonic AY-DVM 30 EK
  Sony DVM 60 Premium without Chip
  Maxell DVM 60 SE
  Panasonic AY-DVM 60 YE
  Panasonic AY-DVM 80 FE

[troyvcd1]

The sony premium dv tapes SUCK!!!!!!!. They have caused me to loose more footage and get big audio distortion problems. Stay away from these. I am not the only one to have problems with these by the way. Other people say they have had no problems with these but to be safe I would stay away. The fuji seem to be the best bet for dv tapes. Or you could go with the sony dv excellence tapes which seem ok but are expensive. Make sure when you go with a brand you stick with the same brand only.

[deepdown]

The fuji seem to be the best bet for dv tapes.

You really mean that ?
After reading on the price list, these are cheapest once.
Only 2.99 EUR pr cassette.

btw; thank you for posting. (i've now giving up on the sony premium )

[vhelp]

For my Sony TRV-22 cam, I use BJ's $27 6pk Fuji - DVM60

I've never really had any problems w/ this brand, but I do stick to one brand
because it's actually beneficial to stick to one brand only, (due to the oils
use on different brands) (which cause image loss or degrations etc if you
mix other brands in your cam unit ie, Sony and Fuji and Maxell etc)
.
.
Keep the above in mind when shoping around for miniDV tapes. Find a brand
that provides multi-qualities like the Fuji at BJ's for intance, and stick to it.

-vhelp 2124

[racer-x]

I use Sony Premium, I get them 10 for $30 from ecost.com. I've never had any problems with them and I reguarly record over them at least 10 times.

I have had issues with TDK, though.

[deepdown]

Not to do any commercials...
But please check this link, it has several different tapes. I'm not sure which to buy... (1 EUR = $1,26 US)
http://www.technikdirekt.de/main/page.xp?pageid={57053C7E-1CA8-4D76-8686-E292FE24C94B}&page=2&SESSIONID=H/D23NR7RXDHC61SUSM&DS=1&TS=0512562217&eurorate=1&hi story=add

[BSR]

Do the Sony DV Excellence tapes allow the data to last longer or something?
Have used Sony Premium with no problems.
I didn't know that about sticking with 1 brand of tapes. Would a DV head cleaner fix the issue of "image loss or degrations etc" that would occur by using different brands of tapes?

[deepdown]

I have heard that tape cleaning really doesn't do so much good.
What you should do, is buy some ISOPROPANYL or something.. (you can get them at drugstores) and use Q-tip to clean heads and rollers inside the camera.

Never done this myself, but... a proffesional told me.

[troyvcd1]

You can use the tape head cleaner and you should use it when switching brands. Use it very sparringly at only about 5 seconds in play mode though. The head cleaner is abrasive and can cause the player head to degrade if used excessively. Actually I have never seen any improvement with the head cleaner. Sony actually recommends only using it when you have problems. I agree with this and use only one brand of tapes and just use the head cleaner if I have a problem.