80 minute DV tapes
 

I have seen some Panasonic 80 minute DV tapes for sale. Do they work as advertised, or are they evil? I have heard that the DVX100 can not handle 80 minute tapes? True?

Aren't 80 minute miniDV tapes thinner?

I don't know if the DVX100 can handle them but I've been using them in both of my 150's AND older VX1000 for over 2 years and haven't experienced any problems. I only use them for the longer Catholic Full Mass Ceremonies so I can do preceremony, ceremony and post ceremony with out worrying about running out .
For shorter wedding ceremonies, I use 63 minute tapes.
But that's just me.
Don

Don't know if this helps, but the DVC80 user manual specifically says "Do not use 80-minute mini DV cassette tapes." Of course, they don't bother to tell you why...

John,
That's also noted in the DVX100 manual. I found its mystery, and the fact that Panasonic sells alot of 80 min consumer DV tapes, rather funny myself.

anyone heard anything more about this?
 

I was about to start a new thread until I found this one.

Anyone tested out the 80 min Panasonic tapes in their DVX100 (or DVC80) yet? I used the 80 min panny tapes extensively with my GL-2 and never had problems. Found that tape length very useful and was hoping to be able to still use those tapes in my new DVX100a, but like the rest of you, noticed the warning in the manuals.

Note that the newer DVX100A's manual also features this warning not to use 80 min. tape cassettes.

waiting to hear from Panasonic
 

E-mailed Panasonic tech support to ask them what the deal is w/ 80 min tapes in DVX. Will post back when I get a response from them.

reply from Panasonic tech support...
 

>>
Hello,

The 80 minute tape will not harm any camera but optimum performance
with them can not be guaranteed. It actually has nothing to do with the
camera model itself but with the tape.

The 80 minute tape is somewhat thinner than other tapes and so its
performance is subject to more possible variability. However, if you use
them and have no problem, then that is fine.

Regards,

Panasonic Technical Support
<<

That's what I've read over the years: 80 minute miniDV tape is thinner, thus not as reliable as 60 minute tapes. Haveing said this twice, I've never used 80 minute tapes, nor 3 hour VHS tape. :-)

Unless you have a specific application that requires the 80 minute tapes I would avoid them. The thinner tapes are more prone to stretching. Frequent fast forwarding and rewinding increase the likelihood of stretching the tapes. Even though the tapes may not show initial signs of stretching, it may effect their archival properties. I would not, under any circumstances, reuse (record over) 80 minute tapes.

Stretched tapes can cause contamination on the heads, poor audio and video performance, and are more likely to be damaged (eaten) by the camera.

I used the 80 minute tapes in my VX-2000 several times when taping long operas a couple years ago. However after that I decided to stick solely to Sony tapes due to concerns over mixing brands. I didn't have any problems with the 80's however.

Frank, is there really a 180 minute VHS tape? The longest that I've seen is T-140. Again, these come in handy for distributing copies of performances on a single tape.

BASF used to market a T-210 VHS tape. I'm not sure they still do, with the decline of VHS use.

3 hour (SP) VHS tape is common here in Vancouver, and has almost replaced the 2 hour ones on store shelves---including Fuji. :-) / :-(

i think 200 mins is BASF's longest VHS length offered now (at least through my tape supplier).

never tried the 200's but do use the 180's for clients of an Indian culture show I tape every year at UCSB that always runs just under 3 hours, even with the intermission and other gaps taken out. haven't had problems with the 3 hr tapes, other than maybe one out of every 30 will get eaten in the VCR during the rewind after recording.