Amatuer Question, erasing tapes?
 

I cannot find anywhere in the manual on how to erase DV tapes?

I can rewind them and record over them, but what if I wanted to share a tape with a friend, but I didnt want him to see the media I had on it previously?

Can you erase tapes?

Hi -

There is no special "erase" function on the camera. So, to remove old footage, just put the lens cap on, set the audio levels to 0, and record over the tape.

Jim

Thanks Jim. Quick question.

If you have a tape with say "10 min of footage on it", and you record some more later after the initial 10 minutes, is there a way in Vegas or Premiere to capture just the new video you made, or do you have to capture the whole thing again?

When I capture it, it rewinds the tape back to the beginning, and recaptures everything, which is a pain.

Thanks

Steve,

I do it all the time. Just go to the capture window, fast forward to the part you want to capture, hit play then hit the record button when you want to start capture, hit it again when you wish to stop. Just hit the in/out tab first not capture tape.

Mike

Thanks Mike, is that in Premiere, Vegas, or both?

For some reason I remember the FF and RW buttons being greyed out. I will check it out today.

That is in Premiere. As long as you have a device hooked up and a tape in it, the buttons should be there I think.

If you have a problem, let me know and I'll fire mine up, and check it out.

Mike

In Premiere, you can perform "batch captures" between specific time code points. Look up the procedure details in the Help menu.

Jim

How many times should you black out one tape? I'm sure it depends on the Brand and the conditions its stored in.

If you did a survey, you'd probably find that most videographers only record on a tape once. Erasing and re-recording can lead to tape damage and head clogs.

Micah,

Use this as a general guideline: (some may dispute it, and they are entitled to their opinions too!)

Do not buy the real expensive tapes just because you think they will be better! What is recorded is 1's and 0's, nothing more! The only problems you can have are drop-outs, or just plain bad tapes. I have used Sony Premium tapes, $3.00 each from ebay for nearly two years and have never had a single drop-out or other problem. Part of the problem some people have is paying $15.00 for a single tape, and feeling they have to reuse it because it is so expensive! Especially, if your reason is because you can't afford more tapes! Just buy the lesser expensive tapes and try them. If you have a problem, 99.9999% of the time, it will be because the heads are dirty, not because the tape is bad, or cheap.

Don't bother black-striping, (putting time code on) the new tapes. It isn't worth the time or wear and tear on your camera or deck. As the striped tape is used, the time code will vary slightly or be slightly different, maybe not in seconds but in frames anyway. (I did an experiment and found this to be true!) Just start where you left off, and or back up if you reviewed what you shot and stopped at a different place. Keep your camera clean and learn to trust that what you think you have captured is actually on the tape, as 99.9999% of the time it will be, barring a bad camera etc.

If you must reuse a tape, just do it! Don't black it over, as that just adds more wear and tear to the tape and the camera or deck. I reuse tapes all the time, especially when just experimenting around on things. Just rewind and shoot away! After all, if you believe in the black-striping the tape stuff, the time code will match anyway, right! Just think how many times those VCR tapes from Blockbuster have been used!

Prior to recording to a tape, I do believe it is a good idea to fast-forward the tape and rewind. Just kinda unpacks the tape and put a normal tension on the new tape. Maybe it is not necessary, but it is easy and it may find a bad tape even.

Most every problem encountered by users of DV tapes, are because of dirty camera heads. Get a simple cleaning tape, they are all dry to my knowledge, as a wet tape would require that you add the liquid. I have an old one for VCR's but I have never even seen a wet DV cleaning tape. Just buy a JVC or other brand and use it at the first sign of a problem, or about 20 hours or so of use, or as recommended by your cameras manufacturer, see the manual. If you are about to record something you just can't miss, run that cleaning tape through for 10 seconds, can't hurt!

The consensus is that tape brands should not be mixed. I have no basis to contest that, and with different companies possibly using different lubricants, it could actually be a problem. If you run out of your particular brand of tape, just run that cleaning tape through for 10 seconds or so, and pop that different tape in----go shoot.

Lastly, cleaning tapes are to be run through only once. Do not rewind and reuse. If it cleaned something off the first time, it may put it back on the second time. They are cheap enough and last a long time anyway.

I hope that this helps you and others out.

Good shooting---Mike

Yes that does help me out a lot. Thank you very much for the pointers.

Even I, who have been known to argue about tape usage policies, agree with Mike's very reasonable advice (although as a GL2 owner I personally don't pre-wind the tapes because of the GL2's notorious transport frailties). I'd just caution that cleaning tapes are not harmless, they are abrasive on the heads. So don't overuse them.