Pro Shoots Question-DV Tapes - how long before drop out?

Never did try it with DV tape, with S-VHS and BETA it varied tape to tape. A lot depends on the player. The better the player used to get the information off the tape, the better the transfer. Go for pro editing equipment and not just your camera is my advise.

I agree Paul.... good equipment will always help.


And I definitely remember Drop out on old school VHS....

As for drop out on DV... I see a tiny bit of it... but it seems like the camera/player corrects it fairly quick and gets back on track with perfect video.

I was just wondering if anyone out there is seeing drop out that is un-recoverable from?

Latest after 10 years i would make a fresh copy if you want to keep your data.

i have copies of all DV tapes on DVD

One problem is heads not matching.

I have tapes that play fine on an old dv camera but not on a new one.

I lost around 30 hardcore scenes from Colombia and 15 from Thailand due to this.

Used a Canon GL2 and the tapes ONLY play in the GL2. No problem you think, but then the GL2 died and it won't play a single tape.

I tried an XL1 and another GL2 but they won't play. Something went screwball with that camera and they are lost. It only plays garbled footage.

I have tapes from 10-11 years ago, and they still play on my Sony DV tape deck, and generally seem okay. The only thing is that tapes shot on my Canon GL1 don't look as good and seem to suffer more drop outs, etc., than tapes shot with my Sony VX2000 or VX2100.

I still have 8mm video footage from the late 80s that don't seem to have drop-outs (shot with a first gen Sony V5 camera).

I transferred them long ago to DVD as a precaution, just in case.

Drop out also depends on the number of times a tape is played. It's tape, it wears out.

Always make back ups.

Thats wild. Maybe they were shot in PAL?

my problem is that on the older machine the dv out thing seems not to work. so not possible to transer to pc.

Personaly I try to only play them once.

I have also tried to store all the films on to hardrives. i just buy a hardrive, fill it, then buy another.

having films on hardrive means i can easily re-edit stuff. otherwise your having to mess about uploading stuff and so on.

I tend to go for 500 gig hardrives (i think - i forget now). while i could get bigger, my though is if the hardrive fails, you loose everything. i did llose one hardrive due to a power problem.

for ease i use an external box and just plug the harddrive in.

if anyone has dv tapes not backed up, may i sugest you do it. the grief it will save you. lets face it, if your dv camera dies its going to be a right pain having to buyy a new one just to transer your tapes - and in a few years dv tape cameras will probably not be around.

harddrives are not that expensive, and if you shop around you should find them at a good price.

i store my tapes in metel cases. they are from a diy shop. i think they are meant for power tools. but they are padded with foam and i find the tapes fit snug and safe. and make sure they are not near heat or cold, or damp, or anything magnetic, just in case.