"I heard of someone who reused a tape at an event then went home and found his wife in bed with another man."

ROFLMAO

with regard to tapes, its an iffy issue and it really depends on your equipment.
I rarely reuse tapes.. however recently my supplier had run out and i had no choice BUT to reuse tapes...

I spoke with panasonic about this and they stated that 3 runs on the MQ series would be ok, but any more and youre prone to drop out.
Now since reusing tapes, i havnt noticed any difference or any dropouts... then again i was playing it safe and using the reused tapes for material such as bride and groom preps and reception table shots.. so it if i did lose somehting, it wasnt detrimental to the whole piece

Glen, no insinuation of one's personal practices or specific personalities were singled out by the words I chose. My position is based upon years of field work with miniDV equipment which is fragile at the best of times such that where the odds can be reduced, I have learned to employ the best techniques and best practices to avoid any malaise that can affect my work.

Always defend your position here as always will I.

Perhaps it might be best phrased that where one can eliminate the risk, then the investment in such practices will always benefit the client and protect you as a business person. If the audit group were handing out ISO certification I would venture a guess that upon further review, they would recommend virgin stock every time.

There. Now you have the P.C. cleansed response. I would never want to offend the insightful members of this incredible community.

Always respectful,

Jimmy.

I considered the $65 I spend on batteries, tapes and MiniDisc's in the price I charge for each event. I keep all the originals, even archive the final cut on fresh tape. I have heard the rumor of running a tape multiple times can lead to deterioration and ultimately leave particles on the head causing more dropouts or more frequent cleaning, but don't know what truth it holds. I do knot that I have never had to run a head cleaner through my VX2100, and have only seen 1 dropout. All I use are Fuji's, and I get them for $5 CAD.

sounds like the family guy quote from peter griffin: "there was a guy who bought a used car, then ten years later....he got herpes"

What??? They're stealing my stuff again?

On the subject of striping tapes... to me, that is overkill. I did it in 96-97 back when the tech was new and the tapes were less reliable, even then, I found maybe 1 tape out of 50 with an issue. Looking under my desk right now I see the tapes I have shot this year, probably 500+ and have had no major problems other than a couple dropouts that were most likely caused by conditions other than the tape...


ash =o)