View Full Version : Which tape for the GL2?


Rick Forge
March 2nd, 2003, 01:26 PM
I know it probably has been discussed before but I missed it.
Which tape should I use in a GL2 and why? Which should I avoid? Thanks

Don Palomaki
March 2nd, 2003, 03:27 PM
And quality brand name tape should be OK. Conventional wisdom is find a brand you like and stick with it. A long steady diet of one brand of tape followed by a change to another brand may bring about a head clog- If the machine is not cleaned between brands. Frequent changing of brands (i.e., every couple tapes) may not have this problem.

I use Panasonic myself. Believe that Canon bundles repackaged Panasonic tape, and per the service manual, they use Panasonic tape when they align machines.

Jesse Weaver
March 2nd, 2003, 05:43 PM
Sony has a premium 80min tape that I think is pretty good. It is a bit more expensive, but having 80 min in SP is pretty nice, escpecially for wedding or event videography. Sorry I don't know if you can link yet, but the url is http://www.meritline.com/son80minprem.html
you may be able to find it cheaper, but this was just from a quick search in google. Otherwise, I just use whatever Costco is selling in packs. Nice and cheap.

Jesse

Edit: I also see that Panasonic has an 83min tape, but I have never used this one.

Steve Nunez
March 2nd, 2003, 06:32 PM
Panasonic DVM60EJ

Michael Westphal
March 2nd, 2003, 09:25 PM
Panasonice AY-DVM63PQ and 83PQ.

I had tried Maxell tapes from Sam's (~20$US for 6 tapes) but was having way too many dropouts. The above tapes are excellent and available at a good price from www.pro-tape.com -- A DVInfo sponsor.

Rob Wilson
March 2nd, 2003, 09:41 PM
I'm using Pansonic DVM63's. No problems so far but not a huge sample size so.... Not sure that using what Panasonic labels as a "Master" tape makes any difference, but figured a buck a tape is cheap insurance. Since all it's recording is ones and zeros I'm not sure how much difference tape makes in a digital format.

Jesse Weaver
March 3rd, 2003, 12:19 PM
I am not completely possitive on this, but I am under the impression that the tapes sold for masters have undergone a more thourough (sp?) inspection.

Due to the nature of video, a small irregularity on the tape won't cause much of a problem. So tapes that you wouldn't want to use to back up computer data with a tape drive are still ok to use for video. You can loose quite a few 1's and 0's with video before it becomes problematic.

So basically I think the masters just have fewer (if any) irregularities in the magnetic structurring of the tape.

Jess

Ken Tanaka
March 3rd, 2003, 01:53 PM
The primary difference between the Panasonic "PQ" (professional) series and "MQ" (master) series tapes is the density of the magnetic substrate. Panasonic claims that by using much smaller particles they are able to lay a denser recording layer onto the tape, producing a better signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and less abrasion on the heads.

I believe that this is basically the same claim that Sony and others make with regard to their premium tape lines.