SYDNEY
Unit 5, 18 Hotham Parade
Artarmon NSW 2064 Australia
(entry via Sawyer Lane)
TEL: 02-9436-3050
FAX: 02-9436-2959

MELBOURNE
511 Warrigal Road
Ashwood VIC 3147 Australia
TEL: 03-9888-8511
FAX: 03-9885-0090

PRODUCT SEARCH:

Equipment Rentals

Which to choose – DVCAM or DV Tape

DV and DVCAM tapes are broadly compatible. For example, it’s possible to record professional DVCAM signals onto consumer DV tape. In other words, you can use consumer tape in professional DVCAM hardware. However, it is not recommended to make a habit of it and here’s why;

Cassette memory – IC-equipped pro models offer four times the memory of the consumer models.
Durability – Professional media has an optimized DLC layer an surface treatment. This improves performance for editing and long term archiving.
Dropout – Controlled surface finishing helps cut DVCAM dropouts in half, compared to consumer DV.
Interchange – Tighter slitting tolerances mean DVCAM tape works almost flawlessly when recorded on one VTR and playback on another.
Shrinkage – DVCAM tape cuts dimensional shrinkage in half, an important benefit for archiving stability
Running time difference – DVCAM machines use a transport speed faster than DV machines. So you’ll experience differences between the marked and actual recording times. For example, a 60 minute DV tape holds only 40 minutes of DVCAM footage.

Cassette Memory and its uses
The proliferation of DV and DVCAM models means a growing range of applications for cassette memory. Consumer-grade machines can store date and photo data, which do not make intensive use of cassette memory. That’s consistent with the 4 kbit memory Sony builds into IC-equipped consumer tape. Entry level professional machines also make moderate demands on the memory chip. However, a key feature of Sony’s top DVCAM models is ClipLinkTM operation, which makes full use of the 16 kbit memory of Sony’s IC equipped DVCAM tapes.

Which to choose – DVCAM or DV Tape
From the above analysis, we can develop a clear direction on choosing tapes

Consumer hardware – For general shooting, use Sony consumer DV tape. For critical shoots, archival recording, news stringers or wedding videography, choose DVCAM with or without cassette memory.