Question on Cleaning DVC30 and tapes.
 

Just received my new DVC30. I've read you should clean it before you record anything. Do you just stick the cleaing tape in and press "Play" or do you press "Record"? How long do you run it?

Also, do you always re-tension a tape before you record? (Fast-forward and then rewind.)

An lastly, how many times can you use (re-record) a tape before the quality degrades?

Thanks,
Sam

This link should be of some use for your first two questions.

Then for the tape tension, I personally do not FF and then RW my tapes before recording. I have done this on occassion with 10+ year old VHS tapes to improve playback but I'm just too impatient when ripping open a new MiniDV tape. I definitely don't see any harm in this other than a little extra wear and tear on your tape assembly motors.

I also do not reuse my MiniDV tapes (unless I see Elvis and/or Aliens). They're just too cheap to bother and besides its a bad business practice (see also Tape Heads - Tim Robbins and John Cusack -1988).

Tommy,

Thanks for the link - I'll take a look.

Why is it bad to reuse tapes?

Thanks again,

Sam

MiniDV tapes don't hold up nearly as well as the old tried and true VHS tapes or even 8mm for that matter. I wouldn't want to risk losing family footage or a paying job on a $3 tape but thats just me. I've heard of folks recording over the same tape as many as four or more times and I guess its just personal preference.