Anybody want to buy some SD tapes :)
 

I'm as green as they get with the A-1, only having the cam two weeks now.

I've been practicing with Sony SD tapes and today I started filming with Sony HD tape and letting the camera downconvert to my SD T.V.

Wow.

I can't believe the clarity and sharpness of the picture. I've never had anything come across my SD T.V. that looked that clear, sharp and nice colors too....at times I use Dempsey's vividRGB preset.

After using the GL2 fairly extensively, I thought the A-1 SD looked great but this HD downconvert is quite a step above either the GL2 or the A-1 in SD, at least to me anyway.

Fun.....

It's going to be hard to go back to SD tapes for anything.

Thanks for listening.

:)

You can shoot in HDV on the SD tapes.

I had a case of $3 Sony Premiums. I've shot a few dozen already with no dropout or issues.

I mainly use the Sony HDV, but I had a lot of Premium and Excellence that I wanted to get rid of.

Dear Roger,

By "SD" tapes, I assume that you mean standard MiniDV tapes.

By "HD" tapes, I assume that you mean any tape labeled HD, such as the Sony HD tapes.

You can use standard MiniDV tapes in an HDV camera and record in HDV (HD). Good quality standard MiniDV tapes work just fine.

What camera are you using, is it the Canon XH A1 or the Sony HVR-A1U or a different camera?

HD makes a big difference at SD doesn't it! I recently purchased a SkyHD sat box in preparation for getting our first HDTV around Christmas time.

We haven't actually got the HD TV yet but we still prefer watching the skyHD channels on our Sony SD Wega (CRT), the picture looks really clear and crisp. It feels as though you can see more resolution, even though technically of course we can't!

I guess it's due to the broadcasters not applying so much compression, but it's weird that you could actually get a whole lot better picture without actually going HD just by the broadcasters sending a better quality signal.

Paul.

Good comments all. Fun stuff isn't it? :)

The camera is the A-1.

The tapes are all Sony. The SD are Sony DV premium and the 1080i tapes are Sony DVM63HD.

I'll try shooting the high def on the premiums...may work.

Talk to you all later.

Thanks for the replies.

Rog Lee

It should work, no problems at all.

Data is data. I shoot HDV on regular Sony MiniDV tapes almost every day.

So how did you find it Rog?

I guess what people should have said is that it will work, for sure, no worries. YES!!

The vast majority of people here with HDV cameras will never put the HD tapes through their cameras, normal DV stock works really well at recording HDV material.

Duncan,

I haven't as of yet tried the SD tapes for HDV.

Will let you know when I find out.

Thanks for asking.

Rog Lee

Digital is Digital
 

The difference between SD and HD tapes is analogue.
The data rate for HD and SD is same.
So you either get the data or drop it.

It all depends on drop outs
Condition of heads, alignments tape sensitivity.
A clean head can record well to SD tape.

The data rate for SD and HDV is identical. Thus SD tapes work fine.

There are two reasons for the existence of "HDV" tapes:

1) The result of a dropout on HDV material is more dramatic than on SD, as the compression can refer back for 12 frames, a fleeting droput can affect half a second of perfectly good material. HDV tapes are supposed to be of higher quality; less chance for a dropout.

2) People who buy expencive HDV cameras are easily fooled into thinking that they HAVE to use HDV tapes in their cams and are ready to pay three times more for only marginally better stuff. Same thing for small DVCam tapes, three times the price, you get same miniDV tape in a bigger box...

I use only Panasonic SD tapes, only a few dropouts in about 50 tapes.

the only difference is the lubrication, other than that, all MiniDV tapes are exactly the same. Digital tape technology is based on 30 year development of the computer tape drive, it's an extremely mature and stable technology.

good stuff all.

Thanks

Hi Juni. Why do you say they are all the same? Tape drives that have different head sizes, run at different tape speeds and have different data rates will have different tape requirements. Surely there are differences in the magnetic coatings and binders used, not just in the lubrication.

Quality level is another factor since there are variations during the manufacturing process, and the manufacturer will usually select the best part of the yield for the higher end tapes.

Richard

Richard, I meant MiniDV, that is a well established format, all brands have to conform to this standard....