Sony Digital Master Tape for HDV---Anyone Using It?
 

Sony indicates that their dual-layer Digital Master tape is ideal for HDV as well as for DVCAM and for DV. The mini-sized PHDVM63DM sells for $19.95 at B & H, compared to $10.29 for the DVM-63HD, which is the standard HDV tape. Has anyone been using the Digital Master for any level of HDV recording and have any recommendations about its performance/cost? I need to order a large bunch of tapes for HDV and want to make the best decision about what to get. There seem to be mixed opinions about the necessity of using anything above Sony's DV Excellence tapes for HDV.

On another forum, a professional videomaker from Germany has just told me that he's used several hundred of the Sony DVM-63HD tapes since 2004 and has never experienced a dropout with them on HDV. He says they are completely adequate for HDV shooting. He uses the more expensive PHDV-M63DM Digital Master tapes only for editing and mastering and when he stores productions on HDV and also DVCAM.

He has tried using Sony Excellence DV tapes for HDV shooting in the past, but averaged one dropout per tape. I assume this means he had major gaps of at least 15 frames. He explains the worse dropout problem with HDV and the cheaper DV tapes, to the more effective way the intraframe DV CoDec can do error-correction and hide the glitches. The interframe CoDec of HDV can't cover them, as the small dropouts become big ones and the more refined metal coatings of the HDV tapes are needed to prevent them.

I received 2 PHDVM-63DM tapes from BH photo when I purchased My Z1. After using them, I switched to DVM-63HD tapes and didn't notice any difference in the quality of the recorded picture.

You won't no matter what tape you use. Digital video is ones and zeros, binary data. The video is either there or it isn't. There's no middle degradation in quality like analog.

I guess it comes down to how long it will last. Will the Sony master tapes stack up any better against the standard DV tape 5 or 10 years from now? But by then, I'm sure we'll all be using something else. That's what keeps the Super8 > DVD and VHS > DVD businessess going!

Richard