Rec Mode
 

Does anyone of you use the LP mode? I am making DV tapes of my old Hi8 tapes, and the Hi8’s tend to be a little longer than the 60 min DV-tapes. Is there a significant quality loss by using the LP mode? Will LP mode DV tape suffice as back-up for my old analog tapes? Or is LP mode more vulnerable? (I use the TRV 950)

DV LP writes the same 1's and 0's to the tape, so the quality is the same. It runs the tape at a slower speed however, so the data physically occupies a smaller area. This might make it less robust, at least in theory. I'm also told that tapes recorded in LP mode might not play back correctly in a different camera or deck from which they were recorded. But this is all just hearsay, I haven't ever tried LP mode on my VX-2000 (and my PDX-10 does not have an LP mode).

So I guess it's up to you as to whether you want to entrust your archival copies to this. I find that I get a bit more than 60 minutes on the 60 minutes DV tapes in SP mode, maybe about 63 or so. At least one company (Panasonic?) makes 80 minute DV SP tapes also. Keep in mind the general wisdom about not mixing brands of tapes however.

Several companies are making the 80 min tapes now. Unfortunatly they are priced considerably higher than the 60 min tapes making them prohibitive for backing up a library of material. I think they go for around 8 dollars rather than the 4 for the 60min pro quality in sony brand.
KennJ