What is the best brand of MiniDV Tapes?

Pro's and Cons of using MiniDV tapes?

• Hey all, I am considering getting a prosumer camcorder as I want to become a camera man in the near future. The cameras that I have seen all use MiniDV tapes - is this a good feat or a bad feat? I heard that MiniDV tapes are on the way out, due to memory cards taking over for convience, but simply, is there any point to MiniDV if you've got to real time upload to your computer, rather than plug in and copy over? Cheers!

• Answer:

  Best video quality comes from least video compression. DV and HDV formats are least compressed in the consumer and prosumer area. The storage media does not matter if the file type is identical, so if flash memory and miniDV tape are the same, then no worries. But the file formats are not the same and for consumer and prosumer cams, high definition means highly compressed AVCHD, not low compression HDV. Lets examine the steps: MiniDV tape: Connect camcorder DV port (not USB) to computer firewire port (not USB) with a firewire cable. Lock the tape- it is also the archive for long term storage. Camcorder in "play" mode. Launch video editor. Capture or import video. When done importing, start editing. Flash memory or hard disc drive: Connect camcorder USB port to computer USB port with USB cable. Either log&capture the video with the video editor or copy the video files to the computer and transcode the files to a format the video editor can use. For archiving the video, best to have a RAID1 multi-drive array to make another copy of the video files. With proper RAID1, if one of the drives in the array dies, replace it and the working drive can make a copy to the new drive. This archive step is an extra step digital tape does not need. Basically, any perceived "ease of use" is irrelevant and generally there is little or very limited time saving when the entire process flow is examined. And with the trade off being compression-impacting video quality, many choose the video quality. Generally, if someone is getting poor video quality from miniDV tape it is because they are using USB streaming to import less than standard definition video to the computer. This is not a DV transfer issue, but the incorrect transfer process being used to get best quality video imported to a computer for editing. If the computer has no firewire port, that can typically be resolved by adding an inexpensive firewire expansion card. Some computers cannot add a firewire card which makes USB the only connection method. Because of the connection and streaming differences, if USB is the only possible connection method, then flash memory is preferred over hard disc drive, but for best potential video quality, least $ per gig archive storage and many other reasons, miniDV tape continues to be the storage media of choice for the more serious videographer.