What's the difference in quality between SP & LP modes in MiniDV??

[navi310]

Hi all.

Just wondering, is there any difference in quality between shooting video in SP or LP modes using MiniDV camcorder??

I have SONY MiniDV camcorder and have been always using SP mode, but in the manual can't find any info that would say SP mode provides better quality. It only says with SP won't be any compatibility issues when trying to play the tape on different devices.

So does this mean that I can use LP mode and shoot 90min on 60min tape without any loss of quality??

Thanks a lot in advance.

[jagabo]

If I remember correctly, the video is the same but audio is lower quality in LP mode. There's more possbility of tape dropots in LP mode.

[guns1inger]

LP squeezes more video onto the tape at the expense of the error correction data, so there is a higher risk of playback issues and data corruption. LP often doesn't playback on any camera other than the one it was recorded on, and if it does, is likely to do so poorly.

Assuming nothing at all goes wrong, the quality should be about the same.

Personally, I'd rather carry more tapes. Tapes are cheap, but you often can't replace the content. I have seen way too many LP recordings turn to crap to ever shoot that way myself.

[navi310]

Thanks a lot for your replies.

Since I never play my tapes on any other camera (I always transfer them to PC & then to DVD) I think I might try LP mode and see how it goes.

Thanks a lot again.

[jagabo]

I never play my tapes on any other camera

What are you going to do when your camcorder dies? It's always good to have the original tapes as backups.

[thecoalman]

Be aware they may work now but may fail in the future. Tapes stretch , mechanics of the cam wear out etc. If it's important don't use LP.