ok, so either sony premium at ~1,96€ + VAT or the Panasonic Professional Grade for 2,99€ plus VAT. Thanks Guys :)

For folks who obsess about that sort of thing, it is of interest to note that the XL1 service manual (published in 1998) specified use of Panasonic MiniDV tape for part of the alignment process.

Dirk, you can also buy Panasonic tapes in Belgium fairly cheap:

http://www.fotokonijnenberg.be/produ..._product=24870

I have used the Canon HDV tape that came with the camera, and Panasonic PQ (5) and AMQ (5) tapes in my XH-A1. I had one or two drop-outs on the Canon tape and one of the PQ tapes - the picture and audio freezes for about a second. I have not had any problems with AMQ tapes.

A friend uses Sony Premium (i.e. the cheap ones) in his FX1, and gets through many more tapes than me. He typically sees one or two drop-outs on about 10% of his tapes. However, he has a couple of tapes where there is a drop-out every few minutes. This appears to be due to duff tapes, since the next one recorded plays back fine. I think this supports the theory that quality control is less good with the cheaper tapes.

I get my tapes from APR Media in Wellington, Somerset; very competitive prices and fast, efficient service.

Problem importing HDV shot to Mini Dv stock in FCP6
 

I just tried importing some footage my cameraman shot on one of our Canon XHA1's and ran into an error message.

He shot HDv 24f to regular mini dv stock instead of HDv stock. When I tried to log and capture the footage into FCP6, an error box popped up saying that there was no communication w/ the deck. "Note: This could be possible if HDv footage were shot to mini dv tape."


I tried changing the capture settings (trying a standard dv 23.98 setting)and was eventually able to do a capture now, but the footage had raster lines everywhere and looked horrible.

Does anyone have any idea how I might import this footage since decks don't recognize Canon's 24f codec?

Tristan,

Have you checked the video output on the A1 in VCR mode and tried using the A1 to ingest your footage?

Page 109 in the manual gives a few brief details about ensuring you are outputting correctly.

This may help.

Jay

Are YOU saying this... or your NLE software is showing this in the error? Either way is ridiculous because miniDV IS the form factor that the A1 uses.

Bill

Help
 

Where can I get miniDV's for fairly cheap? I'm getting the XH-A1 and I want to get good quality tapes but not pay an arm and a leg. The canon HDV tapes are too expensive but the Sony's look pretty good...Any advice?

Check the sponsors for starters. If they do not meet your needs, Google the specific tape brand and model of interest and try your luck.

If cheap MiniDV is what you want, try a Costco, Sams, or BJs.

If you have a business license so you can get an account, dbldistributing.com has reasonable prices on some types of tape, batteries, etc.