What tape are Sony Z1 owners using?
SD tape or HDV tape.
Have you had any problems with either?

Cheers
Simon

Using the regular Sony Premium tapes. No problems whatsoever in two and a half year's use on my Z1.

Thanks Boyd.
Is it this one your using.
Sony 60 MIN PREMIUM GRADE MINI DV TAPE
The one with the red cover?

Or Is It Sony HDV tape?

Cheers
Simon

The packaging is different colors in different countries. In the US they come in a blue wrapper, the ones I got in Argentina had a red wrapper. They also come in either black plastic or multi-colored shells. Mine say "premium digial videocassette DVM60". They are just Sony's standard consumer miniDV tapes for general use.

Ok I know that tape is cheap but If your planning on recording 50 hours plus of HDV then the cost starts getting expensive,how can I pass this onto the client since I'm down converting to SD anyway and producing DVD. I would be recording in HD in the Sony Z1.
If I use the standard Sony tapes my cost would a quarter of the HD cost.
But What about the drop out rate ofstanderd tapes or is this a myth.

Any thoughts on this?
Cheers
Simon

Hi Simon,

I've been using the same tapes as Boyd in my Z1 for the last couple of years and in my FX1 prior to this.... I've put literally dozens of tapes through the cameras and can honestly say drop outs are minimal and have never caused me a real headache.
If I do notice one or two I'll just use a cleaning tape.

I usually just downconvert in camera and this gives me very nice results...

For greenscreen work I'll import HDV, key the footage and downconvert in After Effects. I have noticed that when acquiring HDV sequences in Premiere 2.0 a drop causes audio sync to get knocked out slightly. Reacquiring the footage from just after the drop seems to fix this, or jigging the audio sync on the time line...

Finally the other main reason I use Premium tapes is I can pick them up in any supermarket in France... HDV tapes are pretty hard to get hold of, cost apart there are only a handful of shops in the whole country that stock them... It would mean ordering over the net, which when you are out on the road is not possible...so I guess until I go tapeless I'll stick with these cheap tapes.

cheers
Gareth

Thanks Gareth.
I'm trying to locate which Sony tapes you use, here in Australia and I'm finding It a bit confusing which premium tapes that you use.
Seems to be a couple of them.
Could you provide a link so I could compare which ones they are.

Cheers
Simon

This is what I use: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/132812-REG/Sony_DVM60PRL_DVM_60PR_Mini_DV_Video.html

Wow, they've gotten really cheap at B&H, guess I should start ordering them there instead of buying at Circuit City for ~$4.00.

I have had nearly zero dropouts since buying my camera in June 2005. The couple times I noticed them, when I recaptured the same clip it was OK. BUT, just yesterday was editing the archive video from an opera I filmed a year ago and it had a genuine dropout in the middle of a 20 minute clip. I counted the frames in FCP, and about 25 of them seemed to be bad (video was frozen and no audio). I was in a hurry, so I finessed it using a clip from another night, but it might have been OK if I tried to recapture the bad section.

I have shot hundreds of hours of HDV, which I always downconvert in-camera. Our operas tend to be.... uh... long :-) So I've probably run 60 tapes just shooting them.

OTOH, you could make a pretty good case that the extra cost of the digital master tapes is justified if you're worried about dropouts. But I don't think there's any hard data comparing dropout frequency with tape type.

Thanks Boyd,
This is the closest to what you use here in Sydney
http://www.videoguys.com.au/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1548
Or this
http://www.videoguys.com.au/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=750

The price here is outa control.

Cheers
Simon

Even though the packaging is different, I'd say the VideoGuys link is probably the same tape. Look in my post above where I reported the tapes were labeled "premium digial videocassette DVM60". The VideoGuys tapes are "DVM60R3".

Look on Sony's site here. All the DVM60xxx products seem to be the same tape: http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory/recordable-media/consumer-media/camcorder-analog

Hi Simon

These are what I use... in Europe we get a funky orange wrapper ...

http://astore.amazon.co.uk/webelements01/detail/B00000JFMC

they call them the DVM60PR1

Cheers
Gareth

Thanks guys,
I think the DVM60PRO looks like the ones you guys are using.
I will try a couple out and see how it all goes.

Cheers
Simon

Sony Premiums for daily stuff, for clients I use Sony Digital Master part number PHDVM-63DM

Hi Steve,
I have been looking at those as well but I need to log 50hrs plus and in Australia the price on these are gettinh up there. I will have to speak to the client and see what they would prefer.

Cheers
Simon

I also use the same tapes as the majority on this thread uses. They are GREAT, and cheap...even cheaper now that I see the price at BH

Hi Steve,
I have been looking at those as well but I need to log 50hrs plus and in Australia the price on these are gettinh up there. I will have to speak to the client and see what they would prefer.

Cheers
Simon

Then try the Excellence series. I've shot litterally hundreds of them with almost zero problems. They are a little less than half the cost of Digital Masters ($7.50 vs about $16.00 USD)