Hello, I'm backing up some mini dv tapes so I can have a copy in another location. If I copy an original mini dv tape to another tape then make a copy of the copy in the future is the quality going to be distorted? I know this was true for vhs tapes, but I think I remember reading that a copy of a copy (mini dv tape) can be made an unlimited number of times and the quality will not suffer at all.

Thank you

A clone of a tape is theoretically identical to the original. However, any dropouts on the original tape and subsequent tapes will probably be recorded (and more can be added with each clone). Therefore, you're not going to get 'identical' copies.

As Oren states, except for tape read errors (e.g., drop outs) the copy will be the same as the original. There is no generation loss if you do a digital (e.g., via firewire) copy.