Walgreens has 2 TDK MiniDV tapes for
$4.99. (good price, for those in the U.S.)

Anyone have any experience with this
Brand's MiniDV tapes? (good or bad)


I've read some bad press about either
TDK, Maxell, or Memorex tapes, but I
can't remember which one it was.

I did have some problems with Maxell
DVD+R's.

<allr1@webtv.net> wrote ...
I would use TDK as a last resort, but I prefer to stick with
a known quantity (Sony).

Google Groups would likely reveal many previous discussions
of TDK mini-DV tapes. But their search service appears to be
broken at the moment. Certainly recommend trying it when it
comes back to life. Doubtless an hour or two of interesting
reading.

The "Maxell" branded product is frequently OEMed from
someone else and only the name is "Maxell". See....
http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

I stick with Taiyo-Yuden DVDR (and CDR, also) so I don't
have to gamble with who is the OEM-du-jour with those
brands that don't make their own product.

Hi There,
I have a Panasonic GS400 and untill 6 months ago only used JVC mini DV
tapes.
Towards the end I was getting picture dropouts at random paces on the tapes,
about 1 or 2 seconds worth per tape.

I have changed to TDK tapes and have had no more dropouts.

Regards

Martin


<allr1@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:3230-471FB155-8@storefull-3151.bay.webtv.net...

On Oct 24, 12:55 pm, al...@webtv.net wrote:
We use TDK MiniDV tapes in our studio. We buy the big packs from
Costco at a great price. Out of dozens of tapes used over the last
couple of years I can think of only one instance of a dropout. We have
had pretty good luck with them.

Dave
www.HowToDVDPro.com

It doesnt matter. Do you actually think that TDK or Sony or Panasonnic make tapes? They dont. Nor do
they make batteries. They just slap their name on them. Find a brand you like and stick with it. T
They all go on sale at one time or another. $5 each is a lot if you ask me. I think BJs sells a 10
pack of Sony for $25, making them $2.50 each.

Tony



On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:29:21 -0700, "Dave @ Firestorm Digital Media, LLC" <firestormdigital@mac.com>
wrote:

"Tony" wrote ...
But many of us have first-hand experience in direct
contradiction of that statement.

Some do and some don't. TDK, for example has been
making magnetic media long before DV came along.
And they make their own DVDRs, etc. also. I would be
very surprised to learn that any TDK branded media was
OEMed from someone else.

Dunno about mag tape, but for optical discs, TDK not
only makes their own product, but they apper to NOT
OEM to anyone else. At least according to the info at...
http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

OTOH, it is true that there are only a few manufacturers
of mini-DV tape, far fewer than the number of brand names
out in the marketplace.

The Google Groups search function appears to be still
broken (at least it is returning zero results for me). But
the topic of who makes various brands of mini-DV tape
has been discussed several times in these newsgroups
in recent history. Mostly in conjunction with discussions
about changing brands, head clogging, head cleaning,
and wet vs. dry lubrication.

Partially true. But there are SOME manufacturers who
actually make their own tapes, their own batteries, their
own DVDRs, etc. and put their own name on them.

Agreed.

But the regional service organization who works on my
video equipment accurately described what brand of
tape I was using in my DSR-300 when I took it in for a
loose part and re-alignment. (No, I had not left a tape
in the machine. :-)

He said he could tell by looking at the tape guides, etc.
what brand of tape and whether I was switching brands,
and whether I was re-using tapes.

Since he has no vested interest in selling tapes of any
brand, I have no reason to doubt what he told me.

trusso11783@yahoo.com (Tony) wrote:

" $5 each is a lot if you ask me. I think BJs sells a 10 pack of Sony
for $25, making them $2.50 each. "

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ah, that was $4.99 for TWO tapes, not each.

martinvdp@arach.net.au (Martin*van*derPoel)
wrote:

" Hi There, I have a Panasonic GS400 and until 6 months ago only used
JVC mini DV tapes.
Towards the end I was getting picture dropouts at random paces on the
tapes, about 1 or 2 seconds worth per tape.

I have changed to TDK tapes and have had no more dropouts. "

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

firestormdigital@mac.com (Dave*@*Firestorm*Digital*Media,*LLC)
wrote:

" We use TDK MiniDV tapes in our studio. We buy the big packs from
Costco at a great price. Out of dozens of tapes used over the last
couple of years I can think of only one instance of a dropout. We have
had pretty good luck with them. Dave www.HowToDVDPro.com "

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Well that's two recommendations for TDK.

rcrowley@xp7rt.net (Richard*Crowley) wrote:

" I would use TDK as a last resort, but I prefer to stick with a known
quantity (Sony).

Google Groups would likely reveal many previous discussions of TDK
mini-DV tapes. But their search service appears to be broken at the
moment. Certainly recommend trying it when it comes back to life.
Doubtless an hour or two of interesting reading. "

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

IF the Google Groups search service comes back up, please post a link to
it so I can read
it. (WebTV doesn't work well with Google)

<allr1@webtv.net> wrote ...
http://groups.google.com/advanced_search

"Richard Crowley" <rcrowley@xp7rt.net> wrote in message
news:5oc26tFmbhkqU1@mid.individual.net...
How true - I still have some TDK audio cassettes from the 1970's. I'll have
to dig out my ancient Sony TC100 cassette recorder and see if they still
play!!

My 2¢ contributed ... and I reserve the right to be wrong because this
stuff changes frequently. I might be out of step with absolutely current
data:



Tapes and disc blanks are seldom manufactured by the corporation whose
name is on the product. Several factories make them but multiple
corporate names are slapped on them.

For CD's and DVD's, I look to http://www.cdfreaks.com for disc info.
There's several software utilities that can help identify who made the
disc. Unfortunately, some like Sony have now coaxed factories into
coding the disc as though Sony made them so the software utilities will
be misleading telling you that it was made by Sony when it wasn't.
CDFreaks can usually help you decipher who actually made the thing.

Some of the main disc factories are:

MAM-A (known as Mitsui because they still use the Mitsui dye. Some say
it's good stuff. Some don't. I like them a lot but they are the most
expensive on the market. They are, as far as I know, the only company
who will actually provide you with a disc that has a real gold reflector
though it comes at a premium price. These gold discs are less likely to
tarnish and corrode so they are what I use for archiving precious non-
replaceable video. They also seem to have a precisely stamped spiral
groove and that provides reliable playback on older DVD players and audio
players. MAM-A audio discs are phthalocyanine dye and that provides
really good heat resistance--like when you leave your discs in the hot
sun while in the car and sugh.)

Taiyo-Yuden (a Japanese company who churns out some really good stuff
with consistent precision grooves stamped in standard dye to provide good
compatibility even with older playback machines. They use a standard
cyanine dye on their audio discs however. This gives good compatibility
with older audio players but doesn't hold up as well in sunlight/heat as
phthalocyanine dye (thall-o-si-a-neen). As far as I know, TaiyoYuden
audio discs are the only ones that use plain cyanine dye. I think every
other company uses phthalocyanine for audio discs. (Cyanine is bluish
.... phthalocyanine looks purely silver)


CMC Magnetics (a Taiwanese company who seems to churn out some
troublesome discs. It's hit and miss. Long as you are using only the
newest machines made for burned discs to read the data or play the files,
you might be okay except for the corrupt disc every now and then that
causes you to lose some seriously important files. If you use CMC a lot,
be sure to keep disc recovery software on hand and hope that it works
when you need it.)

Ritek (who also seems to churn out some troublesome discs but there's
lots of people who swear by them. You'll also want to have some disc
recovery software at your disposal if you use Ritek regularly.)

There's an Indian manufacturer -- I think it's Moser Baer or something
like that -- bad stuff, sometimes. Kind of like CMC. Okay for stuff you
don't mind losing to a corrupt write once in a while. Use the
"verification" function of Nero when you burn so you'll know if it's
corrupt before you rely upon the disc.)

And there are others.

Verbatim used to be made by Mitsubishi and that was good but nowadays,
the Verbatim brand can be actually made by CMC, Taiyo, or others. You
can't be sure of what you are getting anymore when you buy Verbatim.
Some people swear by Verbatim--but the Verbatim brand name just doesn't
tell you who made the disc anymore. There was a time when you could know
that Verbatim meant it was made by Mitsubishi Chemical of Japan. If you
buy Verbatim, look for "made in Japan" near the UPC symbol. If you find
them, tell everyone so we can get some, too. They're rare on shelves
near my home. There's lots of Verbatim's but few with "made in Japan"
near my home. I have heard, however, that Taiyo Yuden is making some
discs for Verbatim now. That would be a good thing. If that's true, it
should say "made in Japan" on it somewhere.)

So, the names Sony, TDK, Maxell, IBM, Panasonic--on an optical disc ...
they're all meaningless. Those corporations contract with different
factories for different batches. You never know what you are getting ...

.... except ... if you look near the UPC symbol on a pack of discs and if
it says "made in Japan," you probably got some good stuff.

If it says made in Taiwan, Indonesia, India, or anywhere besides Japan,
it's probably going to disappoint you at some time or another but the low
price paid might compensate you for your troubles. I don't know how the
Mexican factories are doing. I would expect they make good stuff if
provided with good machinery and dye formulations. I have had no
experience with recent Mexican discs nor have I read anything about them.
I just noticed recently some "made in Mexico" discs at Staples Office
Supply store and it made me go, "hmmmm."


Same is true for tapes. The corporate name on the tape tells you nothing
for sure. I've never been able to reliably discover who makes tapes. I
haven't found a site that devotes itself to tape freaks like I have found
many sites devoted to optical disc freaks.

Plus, there's no digital identifier coded into the tape that we can read.
Sometimes there are alphanumerical strings printed on the cassette but I
don't know how to decipher them to discover a manufacturer for the tape
cassette.

One thing I do look for on tapes: Japan. I find "made in Japan" only on
Panasonic brand tapes I buy from store shelves (8mm, Hi8, and DV) in the
areas around my home. I will always buy them over any others. Not
because they are Panasonic but because they say Made In Japan.

Just type in these words to google: who manufactures mini dv tapes

One of the hits will take you to:
http://www.zenera.com/dvtape.html#mix_brands

There it says:

"Generally speaking, Panasonic Digital Media manufactures about 70% of DV
media, Sony manufactures 25% and TDK manufactures 5%."

If that's true, then maybe Sony really does make some tape. But, maybe
what the author means is that those brand names are found on the tape
packages. It might have nothing to do with the company who made the tape
and the cassette.

In the digital world of computers, however, Sony doesn't make DVD
burners. They only slap their name on drives made by LiteON, NEC, and
others. In the optical disc world, Sony doesn't make discs. They only
slap their name on discs made by someone else.

But, maybe, if that one web site is correct, maybe Sony does actually
make tape. That doesn't mean that Sony is good though it might be good.
It's just that if Sony actually makes the stuff, you can then know that
if you buy a Sony branded tape, and if you like it, then you might be
able to buy another Sony branded tape and get a tape made by the same
factory process and maybe the same factory as the one you liked that had
the Sony name on it.

Not the same with optical discs. Today, if you buy a Sony branded DVD-R,
and if you like it, you can go to the store next week and buy Sony
branded DVD-R but they might be made by an entirely different company in
a factory 3000 miles away from the discs that you liked.

Consistency. That's what we look for, I guess. If I find something that
I think is good, I want to be able to buy more of it.

For discs, I buy TaiyoYuden and MAM-A from sources on the web. That way,
I can be reasonably sure that the discs I get will probably provide the
performance I've come to expect because it was made by the same company.

Tapes? I only use about 10 to 15 per year so I don't search as hard.
Like I say, I just look for "made in Japan" on the tape package. In my
area of the country, that usually is found only on Panasonic tapes.

One thing I know for sure about tapes. BASF never made tapes. They lent
their name to some factories as a marketing ploy. BASF made some of the
chemicals used in the process by several different factories but finding
a tape with BASF on it will never provide you with assurance that it was
made by the same factory as the last BASF tape you bought.


//rus\\