seriously though, why do the manufacturers, as well as our beloved camcorders, lie to us?

I'm recording some stuff on tape yesterday, using up the end of the tape (so I think), and though it's on a 63 minute tape (so it says), I actually rolls right into 01:04:00:00, and then right onto into 01:05:00:00. There could even be another minute after THAT! Has the world gone topsy turvy? I've noticed this at work too. . .where we use the AWESOME Digital S format. The tapes are usually called "64 minutes", "84 minutes," etc, yet they'll roll a full two and a half or so minutes longer than that.

So, gentlemen (and women), what's the reasoning behind this deception and trickery?

I have three theories:

1) Protecting human beings from themselves. I.e, we're stupid monkeys, and if we see that we've got 66 minutes of tape, we'll go right to the end, hope there's more, so instead, they put 63 minutes, and lo and behold, there IS more!

2) Making human beings feel like they're getting away with something "What, I got me 66 minutes when it only said 63? Looks I stole me three minutes of tape from Sony/Panasonic/Fuji. Down with the man! I got away with stealing extra minutes!"

3) Making us believe in a higher power. You're getting something really life changing, and amazing, but you've got 4 seconds of tape left (says your camera). But then, it JUST KEEPS RIGHT ON ROLLING! For a minute. . .then another minute. . .and bang! You've got your prize-winning footage. It must have been God! Where did those extra minutes come from? Why, they were Heaven-sent! Someone should see if Sony/Panasonic/Fuji etc. is affiliated with the Church or any other religious organization.

I always thought it meant there would be a minimum of 63 usuable minutes of tape on the reel, meaning that the beginning and end might not be quite up to spec. In reality I'll bet it has more to do with the fact that their equipment can't measure the length too precisely at whatever high speed they load the reels...

I think Boyd has it. The cost of machinery that would dispense 63 minutes and only 63 minutes every time would far exceed the cost of the waste tape. But, you can be certain of this: as soon as you count on that extra minute or so, you'll get a tape that's exactly 63 minutes. If you look closely, you'll see it was made by someone named Murphy.

Dennis Vogel

I don't like Murphy. He screws up my life.

I think there should be a little asterisk on the tape case/box after the 63, that indicates there's footnote. When you look at the footnote, it says "Could be 64, 65, 65:20. . .only you can find out!"

Sort of make an adventure out of it, you know?

It's always been like this. Audio tapes had the same thing. At one point I had a really nice audio casette deck that would display the amount of time remaining on the tape.

I don't know exactly how it worked. There was a dial for the 15, 30, 45, 90, 120 tape setting. So I would set it to 90, which should give 45 mins/side. I would put the tape into the deck. Didn't matter if it was rewound or in the middle of the tape. It would then tell me how much time was left on the tape, down to the second. I don't think it was ever more than maybe 5 seconds off!

I would put in one tape at the beginning, and after a few seconds it would display something like 48:35 remaining. I would then stop the tape, and put in another one, and it would say something like 46:22 remaining.

I was never able to fool the tape deck, and it was ALWAYS right within about 5 seconds or so! Pretty cool. Haven't seen that on any other tape deck. The deck was from the early/mid 80's I can't even remember the brand, but it was a major name brand (like JVC or AIWA or something).

Alex F

Hey Josh, have I screwed up your life since then???

Try living with Murphy 24/7 brother!

You're not that Murphy, I don't think.

...somebody please move this thread to area 51. It really deserves to be there...

...yes I have a sense of humour ...

I just thought I'd pre-answer your question.