How many times can I tape over Digital8 tapes?

[drewson99]

I am using a Digital8 VCR (GV-D800) to capture from my cable box, and I want to know how many times I can tape over these tapes (Sony brand, MP) before getting a difference in quality.

Also want to know: Is it the same for the more expensive Metal Evaporated tapes (ME)?

Also want to know: Is there a noticeable difference in quality when you record at the slower record mode (LP)?


Thanks all,

ZZ

[drewson99]

anybody have some experience with these?

I don't even care if you have proven data or anything, anecdotal info is all I wanted.

ZZ

[cooel]

Good quality Digital tapes of the type you use ( and ME tapes ) should be able to to used many times over (100 say) without loss of quality, the most important factor is the number of times these tapes are played (passes), as each time you play a tape some of the oxide can be worn off the surface of the tape. This is why video decks must be clean, as worn oxide deposits on the machine guide posts and head drum can scratch the surface of the tape, which in turn leaves more deposits, the whole thing can go downhill quite quickly. The most important thing is to use good quality tapes, as they shed their oxide less than cheap tapes. Also, have your machine cleaned often by an expert, (not a cleaner tape), say every year. I repair and service video machines for a living and have quite a few camcorders and dubbing machines brought back each year for service, and find oxide on these decks. They are of course used a fair amount.

On the slower speed mode, yes the difference is noticeable, if you want best quality always use the faster speed.

[donpedro]

I am little bit confused. Isn't Digital8 jus zeros and ones (0/1) ? How can be one tape better then another ? Isn't it like sayng that my Word Document looks much better when stored on Maxtor HD then on Western Digital HD ? Myabe I just missed some important point here.

[drewson99]

I'm with you donpedro, I don't really understand. Furthermore, I don't understand how the zeros and ones could be written differently in LP rather than SP. Unless they use more zeros and ones to represent the same amount of footage.

Regardless, that info from cooel put my mind at ease, as I was only planning to use them 4 or 5 times, not 100.

ZZ

[ktnwin]

Welcome to the digital storage world.

One thing to know: digital tapes and HDD DO NOT store 1's and 0's on the magnetic media.

In order to write digital info (1 and 0) to the magnetic media, digital tape drive and HDD convert the 1 and 0 thru an encoder into analog waveform, then write the analog waveform on the magnetic media.

Reading is done in the reverse order: the analog waveform from the magnetic media is decoded (yes, via a decoder) into 1 and 0. Very often, the analog waveform is not perfect and will result in wrong 1's or 0's. However, since tape and HDD always use some kind of ECC (error check and correction circuitry) algorithm, the few bits / bytes that are wrong are corrected on the fly by hardware.

So, if you record digital tape in LP mode, or record on poor quality / worn out tapes, there will be many more "wrong" 1's and 0's and the ECC circuitry cannot correct resulting in bad video data. So the quality is loss.

To make this easy to understand, just press your oily, dirty fingers on a DVD disc, then play it in your DVD player. Eventually, you will see blocks in the DVD movies.

The tapes are no different.

Hope this clarifies.

[drewson99]

of course, that makes total sense. so what is your opinion on the longevity of these tapes?

[donpedro]

Let me see if I get it right.

LP vs SP : Same data only less space for storage = higher probabilty of loss some information.

Cheap vs Expensive tape : equal quality unless it is some noname tape. Or lets say..... more Expensive should not loos that many bits.

DV/D8 tape vs HD : Tapes don't have that sofisticated method of correcting data that will mean 0% loss as it is (with some exceptions) on HD.

Am I right ?

[donpedro]

Welcome to the digital storage world.

One thing to know: digital tapes and HDD DO NOT store 1's and 0's on the magnetic media.

Thanks... I kind of new that. I know that when you connect with modem it also does not sending 0/1

I am just responding because when I was reading this, in my mind I was saw guy with pencil (since he has to erase it one day) writing 0 and 1 on disk plate

[ktnwin]

Hi donpedro,
I am simply replying to the question you ask:
"Isn't Digital8 jus zeros and ones (0/1) ? "

Thanks again for your article on Studio 8 and DVD authoring.