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pianoman pianoman
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Help with choosing MiniDV Tapes?

I just bought a CANON HV30 Camcorder and was wondering about buying the tapes. I have found that you don't need to buy the HDV Tape to record HD, is this true and is it better to buy CANON HDV Tapes. Would cheaper brands reduce quality? As would recording without HDV Tapes?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks
  • 7 months ago

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lare by lare
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HDV and miniDV tape are identical, most packages carry both logos. The data rate for HDV and miniDV are the same, so there is no quality affect on HDV recording. That being said, HDV is more sensitive to the effect of dropouts that you might find on an inferior brand of tape.

Tapes also have a light dusting of dry silicon lubricant so you might have better luck staying with just one brand to avoid possible interaction with lubricant formula. 10 years ago this was an issue, but i have not heard it mentioned recently.

Canon does not manufacture tapes, they repackage. Sony is Canon's market partner for video products so i suspect that is the actual source of tapes too. I have used Sony and Panasonic tapes extensively and find both to be good performers.
  • 7 months ago
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thanks for the helpful advice!

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Other Answers (1)

  • RottNKorpse by RottNKor...
    Member since:
    March 02, 2008
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    144 (Level 1)
    without HDV or miniDV you would be recording to a digital media such as an SD card or an SDHC.

    Depending on what you will be using you may be able to use a digital media such as if you are releasing your content for the internet but in the case of maybe providing video for a tv network (freelance or local access) they will most likely request miniDV or HDV.
    • 7 months ago

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