PerroneFord:
Thanks for the professional opinion. Out of curiousity, are the tapes you are talking about BQ tapes or the standard stuff we get at Best Buy and Wal-Mart?
Not that I doubt what you are saying, but I'd seriously doubt the chief engineer at ABC TV is using miniDV for anything that would hit the air. At least I hope not.
No, mini-DV is not routinely used by broadcasters because as you correctly pointed out a few posts ago, it is compressed video. However, some video from outside sources does frequently come in on mini-DV, as well as many other formats from around the world, and must be assimilated into programs, such as Nightline and World News Tonight.
But in any case, the issue regarding tape brands doesn't change for different formats.
The brand name tape you buy at the local retailer meets the same standards as the stuff we buy from our suppliers...it's just more expensive. If you check my first post on this thread you'll see I suggest staying away from the cheap store brand tapes. That's because they may not require the same level of quality control as the major brands.
You don't have to buy large quantities to get good tape at decent prices, either. One of the places I like to buy from is Tape Resources (
www.taperesources.com ). You can buy lots as small as 5 tapes.
By the way, regarding the earlier discussion about compressed hi-def video: All HDV is compressed. HDTV (the professional, and very expensive level of hi-def) is not. That's why broadcasting is resisting the use of HDV. The biggest problem with compressed video is the RE-compression that occurs as it is transferred from aquisition format to editing to distribution format. Each compression does it's own damage to the original image and it's the compounding of this damage that causes problems.
Ultimately, every television signal sent to your house is now compressed at several points in the delivery process...it's the way of life in this digital age. That's why broadcasting tries very hard NOT to use compression any earlier in the process than possible. However, HDTV cameras cost pretty close to 100K right now, and the tape machines and editing gear to create uncompressed hi-def will cost another 250K. It's a tough reach, even for those of us who make our living with the stuff.
My best advise for now is, be happy with the compression your HDV camera uses. It's not the end of the world, and it is manageable. Just be aware that every time you move that material from one platform to another (tape to hard drive to dvd, for example) you are introducing additional compression. Keep your final video as generationally close to the source tapes as possible.
The video you are shooting with these little HDV cameras is in many ways, better than what we shot professionally just ten years ago.
Mountain Dog