Is striping tape ok for HDV?

[Cliff Etzel]

Was wondering if striping a new tape is still a good practice these days.

I've read conflicting opinions about it and wanted to get the skinny since I"m now shooting HDV.

TIA,

[James Brill]

I still do it with my z1. I go all the way through the tape usually but what I also like to do with my z1 is have the timecode start at hour one, two, or three and then use the tapes in that order for the day. Also I started putting bars at the beginning of the tape instead of black.

[Edward Carlson]

I put bars at the beginning of my tapes, but don't stripe the whole thing. I would only suggest striping if 1) Your camera doesn't have blank search (end search) or 2) The people who are going to be using the tape don't know what a headache broken timecode is (or if they don't know what timecode is altogether!)

[Cliff Etzel]

I was striping my tapes with my former TRV950's but had heard mixed opinions about HDV.

Thanks for the replies

[Benjamin Hill]

Cliff, the only reason I wouldn't stripe HDV tapes is because I worry that recording/rewinding, then recording again, could possibly increase the chance of a nasty HDV dropout. My anti-dropout strategy consists of: Sony HDV tapes; keep the camera clean; color bars at the front; and don't mess with the tape (striping, re-using, excessive handling, etc.) OK thus far.

BTW, how is Eugene? We were there in 01-02.

[Cliff Etzel]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Hill

Cliff, the only reason I wouldn't stripe HDV tapes is because I worry that recording/rewinding, then recording again, could possibly increase the chance of a nasty HDV dropout. My anti-dropout strategy consists of: Sony HDV tapes; keep the camera clean; color bars at the front; and don't mess with the tape (striping, re-using, excessive handling, etc.) OK thus far.

BTW, how is Eugene? We were there in 01-02.

My routine has been : 10 Sec Color Bars at the beginning, then stripe the tape once. Mark it as striped and then once it is used, I use it only once. I did this with my TRV950's without issue. Was just curious if the same procedure could be used with HDV.

Eugene - we had snow a couple of weeks ago, but now it's sunny and upper 50's for the weekend. Was getting a nasty case of cabin fever but the sunshie will cure that quick.

[John Miller]

I use the same procedure with HDV as I have with DV, namely record 20 or 30 seconds of color bars at the start of the tape and that's all.

Striping really isn't necessary with DV/HDV as long as recording resumes at a point where there is already valid data on the tape. If you only start/stop recording this will always be true. If you wind/eject the tape, you need to ensure the tape is cued to a pre-recorded portion. Many camcorders can seek to the last valid frame.

The disadvantage of striping with DV/HDV is that in addition to the timecode, it also records the time and date. If you do resume recording a little after the last recording ended, you will end up with valid, contiguous timecode but a notable "blip" on the time/date side.

With DV, I have never had a break in the timecode whereas I have had them with analog camcorders. To me, the benefits of pre-striping are minimal and carry the costs of the time needed to do the striping time and the wear/tear on the equipment.

BTW, even without timecode, DV and HDV still record contiguous track information in the form of the Absolute Track Number (ATN) which has sub-frame accuracy.

[Lizi Hesling]

Forgive me for not knowing this: does "striping" mean recording black for the whole of a tape then rewinding back and recording your footage over the black?
What I do is fast forward and then rewind my tapes, because I've heard they get wound too tight in the factory. Then I record one minute of black at the beginning of the tape - this is because I've found that drop-outs are more common right at the beginning of tapes.
Does this sound like a sensible way of doing things?
Why do people record bars?

[J. Stephen McDonald]

I've never striped a tape and I've suffered only a couple of incidents of time-code gaps. Even then, no problem, other than a few minutes extra work. I wouldn't want to wear out my camcorder any earlier and put one more pass on these very thin tapes (and not waste an hour's time, either).

As asked, Eugene is the nicest sort of place. We had our once per five years snow a month ago and now Spring is fully upon us. The big flocks of wild geese that fly around my house are seriously discussing a long trip.