miniDV and DVCAM mixing
Silly little question. Mixing tape brands is bad, but what about tape types with the same brand?
I use the cheap Sony Premium miniDV cassettes for the majority of things on my camera, but I also use a JVC camera that can do miniDV and miniDVCAM and full DVCAM, but primarily uses full DVCAM's. My issue is that I want to share decks and share miniDV cassettes between the cameras, but could the difference in tape format cause a problem even though they're all Sony tapes? Anyone have any experience on this? Much appreciated. |
An interesting tidbit is actually a 63 minute sony mini-dv tape recorded at DVCAM is only holds 43 minutes. Weird huh?
As far as codec is concerned, you'd be hard pressed to see a difference between the formats. They both are 4.1.1 with a max bit rate of 25MBs. Although I believe DVCAM can support 4 channels of audio @ 12 bit 44.1khz... Not entirely sure though. Hope this helps, -C |
The issue is really the use of wet or dry tape lubrication by different tape makers.
If you stick to tapes made by the same maker you will be fine. My 570 is able to take the MiniDV tapes as well as the DVCAM tape, and I always have a few MiniDV tapes as spares in the bag. Mind you, the only tape stock to go through the camera is Sony. The reason a 60 minute MiniDV tape lasts 40 mins is simple. When in DVCAM mode, the tape speed is faster... 28mm per sec. Ben |
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Not only that, but 48Khz is the broadcast standard...
Ben |
I've never heard of 4 channels x 32khz@12bit on Mini-DV just DV-Cam. Good to know though. You'd need a DSR-1800 to even attempt something like that... or some variation of that deck.
-C |
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I think confusion arises because MiniDV is simply a description of the actual tape cassette, Mini being the adjective used to describe the DV (digital video) tape.
MiniDV tapes can record any flavour of LP, SP, DVCAM and so on, the tape simply runs at different speeds between feed and take-up spool. So Christopher - if you buy a MiniDV tape marked DVCAM it says 40 mins on it, but of course it will run for over 1½ hours in the LP mode. tom. |
Cool stuff. Thanks.
To recap, so in my A1 I can use miniDV and miniDVCAM (all sony) without issues, to record in HDV or DV a 63min DVCAM tape running in miniDV will last longer than 63min, since DVCAM tapes are rated at a faster speed and b/c DVCAM is a higher quality, the miniDVCAM can be more robust than miniDV |
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A 63 minute tape runs 63 mins, but in the Mini DV format it will only run 40 mins in the DVCAM mode. DVCAM mode makes the tape run faster, whether it be Premium, Excellence, DVCAM, JVC, Maxell tape, whatever. DVCAM isn't higher quality. The digital bit-stream is the same for SP, LP and DVCAM. DVCAM can indeed be more robust as the same digital info is spread out over more tape emulsion. tom. |
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Hi Shaun,
I think he means using a large DVCAM cassette in a camera that is able to have the recording mode switched from DVCAM to DV, thus slowing the tape speed.. Ben |
A point worth mentioning is that the writing speed (the speed of the spinning head against the slowly moving tape) is the same for LP, SP and DVCAM, which explains why there's no difference in the A or V quality.
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