The Era of MiniDV tapes?

[Jasper Pieterse van Wijck]

Soooo,

When will they stop producing those things you think? They stopped developing tape based camera's. However they still make them(professional).

Or will they become more expansive?

[Mark Watson]

I don't know when they'll stop production on them, but with three cameras that shoot miniDV, I'm not too concerned about it. I always see them on the shelf at my local camera store, Yodabashi Camera.

The biggest issue most people have with using that media is the time it takes to capture it into a computer. I don't shoot enough video or have any big deadlines hanging over me so that hasn't been a problem. I do plan to upgrade to a solid state media camera within the next 4 months. The biggest problem I have with tape is when I go out of an air-conditioned environment into a hot and humid one. I had to wait a full hour recently before the camera would record due to the condensation sensor detecting too much moisture in the tape mechanism. Gonna try the hand warmers and dessicant tricks I read about on here.

I like the Sony brand of tape, been using it since 2006 and have never had a dropped frame caused by bad tape.

You must be heavily invested in the stuff yourself to be asking. I think it'll be around another 10 years. Hi-8 is still on the shelf. Who uses that?

Mark

[Noa Put]

You can still buy vhs tapes as well though they are getting harder to find, mini-dv will be available for a longer time, only thing I would be worried about who is manufacturing those now, my guess is that major tape manufacturers that stopped producing have outsourced production to smaller companies and not sure what quality standards those might have.

[Allan Black]

Due to the enormous demand in third world countries, magnetic tape will be around for many years to come.

But once the sales of mini DV tape drop below a certain level, the tape manufacturers will sell off their tape plants to upstart outfits
who want to make a quick buck.

They'll gradually cut costs, like plain packaging etc, then less and less quality control on their production.
Some will drop out, but one or two will stay with it.

I saw all this happen with audio cassete tape, we owned a commercial cassette duplication company with loop bin duplicators.
We kept our quality and equipment in first class condition and enjoyed a reputation so that we helped out the majors with their huge pre Xmas orders.

If you want to stay with DVtape, always keep a DVtape camera in good condition to play your tape archives.
You'll see notices posted from those manufacturers saying .. 'After so and so date, we longer support xxxxx models of our cameras'

Eventually there'll be no spares available or even techs who know how to repair them, so keep your manuals, even buy a tech manual.

Cheers.