Am an indie film maker with a dv feature in post production. Want to know if there is a "best" way to store my tapes for eternity?

angela hughey

-- angela hughey (ahughey@msn.com), October 26, 1999

Answers

Hi Angela, Unfortunately, there isn't a way. DV tapes are like any other tape, they are subject to surface wear, magnetic interference, etc. A few tips to help prolong their life.

1. Store any tape vertically, on the short end of the box, and always store it in the case.

2. Keep them away from TVs, monitors, other VCR's, speakers, or anything magnetic.

3. If you don't plan on using them for a while at a time, fast forward them to the end. Tapes get brittle unless you keep them moving. Storing them at the ends forces you to rewind them before you can use them, so that last part of the tape gets some movement and won't crack up as fast.

4. Don't review or cue through your footage too much. DV tapes are good for about 300 playbacks. Reviewing quickly backwards or cuing quickly forwards is playing it back and wasting playback surface wear.

5. Only record onto the tapes once. Don't rerecord over a tape especially if the new footage is important.

6. Never keep your tapes stored in the deck or camera unless they're blank tapes. The heads that write the signal are magnetic and will erase footage held near it for too long.

Hope this helps.

-- Christopher Young (kaimei@earthlink.net), November 10, 1999.

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT RECORDING YOUR FOOTAGE ON VIDEO CD'S USEING PROGRAMS LIKE ADAPTEC'S EASY CD CREATOR 4 DELUXE? I'M NOT SURE OF HOW MUCH VIDEO EACH CD HOLDS BUT CD'S ARE SUPPOSE TO LAST A LONG TIME AND CAN BE REED ON CD ROM & DVD DRIVES.

-- VICTOR MARQUEZ (THEFXMAN@AOL.COM), December 07, 1999.