Jiri, I am experienced enough to see where a drop out is. Most of my footage is for brodcasting and I analyze thoroughly my tapes to see what I did wrong and if there are any technical problems before giving them for editing. I use my camera about 7 days a month, most of my work is with RTP's (a Portuguese broadcaster) cameras. I used it enough to know how reliable it is, I would never use it if I was afraid of drop outs or SSE damaging my footage. All I wanted to say is that cheap JVC tapes work fine and from what I read there is no problem on using them. When what I'm shooting is important for archiving I use more expensive JVC or Panasonic Master tapes.

Never used a Sony tape on my HD100, but I've been using them for years on my cameras. I still use them on my DSR390 and no problems so far. I rent the DSR390 a lot and its heads have tasted all kinds of lubricants. Never thought it could be a problem before starting reading about it in here.

Diogo, don't take my comments personally - they were not meant that way.

Because there are all kinds of people contributing here, I believe that the comments range from overly positive (missing some problems with the footage) to very concerned focusing on the smallest details and as a result, it's sometimes difficult to get an overal picture. The tape brand is one such topic. I'd still like to hear from people using SONY tapes in their HD100 camera.

Sem problema! :)

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this forum, I travel and shoot for a living, don't have much time to compare products.
BTW: just to be clear, I'm using Sony DVCAM tape not HDV, I believe that the formulation of the dvcam tape is far superior to mini dv. Have not used HDV tape yet. However; my company just ordered 5 Sony XDcamHD cameras, so tapestock will soon be an issue. As for me and my personal JVC, I'm going to continue using Sony dvcam tape until it fails me.

This just occurred to me, I use only brand new tape in my camera for 1 pass only. Are you guys getting dropout on brand new stock or is it when tapes are used 3-4 times?

Brand new stock Sony HDV 63 but in my case I think its the camera or my HD-100 thats the problem. I know several people who have had great results with this tape. I dont know anyone who has ever used DVCAM except you I didnt know you could use the DVCAM in this camera.

Robert,

I'm interested in your use of dvcam tapes, never thought about using the smaller shells. How many have you use through your camera? I have to assume you are using them for both dv and hdv. What length of tape do you use? We all know that a pd150, with a 60 minidv will yield 40 minutes in dvcam mode, any difference in run time in the jvc? Thanks!
-- Gil

HDV mode runs the same speed as miniDV - so a 64 minute miniDV tape will run 64 minutes in HDV mode, while approx. 40-45 minutes in DVCAM mode.

Thanks Jiri,

You might have misunderstood my question. (or I didn't state it clearly) A small shell dvcam tape is 40 minutes in listed length. -- would that be 60 minutes when recorded in hdv? Since it's recording at the slower dv/hdv tape speed.

Yes Gil, those dvcam tapes on the HD100 or any DV camera will run for 60 minutes. That's the only difference between DVCAM and DV, according to Sony DVCAM runs faster to avoid drop outs.

TapeStock
 

Hi
They told me to use tapes from JVC. I used to use Sony DVCAM tapes as well, with Sony cameras of course, never had any drop out. So do you use Sony DVCAM tapes with your JVC GY-HD100? And you are sucessfully using it, without drop outs? I'm confused - what to use after head cleaning: Sony? JVC/Panasonic? What about playing back older Sony/DVCAM tapes and recording with new JVC tapes?

Edwin, the key is not to mix SONY tapes with the others. So, playing back older Sony tapes in the camera while using JVC or Panasonic for recording wouldn't be a good idea. Try to pick one brand and stick to it.

exactly! Stay with the same brand

Thank you. So i should buy another (Sony-)device to play back my "old" DVCAM tapes, when needed to refresh my archive... - Hope that my HD-101 will ship back from JVC-Switzerland soon, updated (firmware) and repaired, with no drop-out-errors anymore...

Sony tapes
 

I wish that I would have read this post sooner. When we first got our camera, we were using cheap little Maxell tapes because they were so readily available. They worked great and never had a bit of drop out. Since then, we decided to used a better quality tape and found a local dealer that sells the Sony tapes. Now we have tons of drop out. Even after severals tries with the cleaning tape, the drop out is still there.

My camera is at JVC for the upgrade right now. If it's still dropping out when it comes back, I guess that I'm going to have to open it up for a proper cleaning.

Wow I am really amased that you still have drop out after cleaning the heads, I would recomend sending it in to get cleaned by JVC Then what ever tape you use after that stay with it.