Reusing DV Tapes (Don't laugh)

I know that you are not supposed to reuse tapes, you folks already laughed at me once... But, we are a middle school with limited funds and I just can't afford to stick a new tape in a camera for every thing we film. I had some trouble capturing with a recent recording.

1.Is there anything I can do to a tape the second time around? Black the tape, does that help?
2. Also, what do you recommend to clean the heads on a camera?
3. Does the quality of the tape make that much difference, if so, which tape do you recommend. I have been using the pano AY-DVM83MQ
4. What is the best way to copy from DV tape to DV tape?

Thanks so much.

Posted on Nov 4, 2005 9:57 PM

Nov 7, 2005 9:16 AM in response to Jeff Peach

I think it comes down to this...

miniDV tapes of any kind are less expensive for a reason... they'll stretch over time, and DVCAM or DVCPRO tapes won't. They are metal and miniDV tapes are not. My poor students certainly buy miniDV tapes, and sure enough after a while they cause problems after being recorded on several times. I've seen it over and over. Typically they lose timecode information first, then digital dropouts occur. Can't say how they are stored and handled, but there it is...

So it's up to you whether or not you want to take a chance. There's another factor too. The pro tapes have a shelf life which is double the time miniDV tapes have.

Jerry