I do not reuse video tape. I can buy with Sony or Maxell brand miniDVs for about $3. If it is not worth a new $3 tape for a hour's worth of work, it is not worth taping. MANY times, I have gone back to a past tape and gotten some nice "B roll" for another project.

It is hard to tell how many times to reuse a tape and still get good quality. It can be risky. You can get the PA DVM60 or SO DVM60PR for pretty cheap at www.americanrecordablemedia.com. Pricing is under $2.50 per tape for either option. There is also evaluated tape that you can buy for even less.

I just ordered my second MiniDV tape-based camcorder (HV20). I plan on reusing the same tape over and over again on unimportant camera practice, and each time I want to evaluate the quality of the video that is produced.

I'm sure others have done this, but is there anywhere I can find a structured experiment with results of what people found? If people are re-using the same tape 10 times and are bickering over small details that many say "aren't caused by tape reuse," then clearly using them a handful of times is fine.

As for the storage argument, well, backing up data has always been a pain, because there are always advantages and disadvantages to each medium. Cost, reliability, speed, storage. I say, backup anything that is direly important to you in two very unique ways. For example, back up to MiniDV tape and to an external hard drive, and keep them in different locations (go for the high ground to avoid flood damage). If one is lost for any reason, immediately use the other storage medium to make another unique copy.

Drop outs on MiniDV Standard Definition recording may go unnoticed whereas the same drop out on an HDV recording will be more noticeable, typically 1/2 second because of the Group Of Pictures (GOP) in the HDV MPEG2 encoding.



Rich

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That's what I hear, and I believe it. I haven't worked with HD yet, so I'm looking forward to the exciting ride. If everything went without a hitch, I don't think it'd be as fun a hobby! Part of the fun for each hobby is working out the kinks, whether it's little issues with a car engine, problems with an operating system, or issues with your camera and tapes. There's just something about working those little issues 'til it functions properly that makes ya feel like a real man!

Unless, of course, you're not a man, then it makes you feel like a ... I don't know really. Any ladies have a comment?

I thought I should mention that I read one site on the internet by someone who appeared pretty knowledgeable, and he apparently gives his personal experiences recording over the same MiniDV tapes 20 times, and playing them over and over again, with no problems AT ALL.

I find it a little difficult to believe that not a single drop-out has been encountered, but who am I to question someone else's practical experience.

Regardless, I'm confident enough of to reuse MiniDV tapes for all but the most important shots.

Just, uh, don't use a three-year old tape that you recorded over 40 times when the president comes to speak at your organization.

My early Videos were video 8 then shot in Hi 8 followed by Digital 8 and recently Mini DV so to ensure commonality of format and assist in archiving I am transfering all the early Masters to Mini DV Tapes having retained my Digital 8 camera (still in excellent working order) which allows me to directly transfer 8mm,Hi-8 and D8 via Firewire to my DV camera thus maintaining the original quality.
Recently Gold DVD+Rs became readily available for archival use and decent price too,a box of 10 for $20 warranted for 100 years so the Mini DVs will find their contents soon on that media.
Alas with the new HDV and Blu Ray formats it continues, so now HDD to what?