Sony 10 Pack 60 min DVM Premium

This ten pack is superb value when on usual offer for under £15 from Amazon - so stock up for the hols and Xmas (as a single cassette in a high-street shop can cost up to 5 times more than the unit price offered here). Quality and reliability seem perfectly fine for my budget Sony HC22E HandyCam, never a dropout and the picture is noticably better than with my old Hi8 tapes - I always record in SP though.Note video tape such as used in these cassettes are proprietary 'lubricated' and sticking to the same brand of tape (e.g. these Sony ones) has been thought by many to reduce problems with the video head clogging up and miss-tracking. No-one seems to have reported problems mixing Sony MiniDV with Fuji, and manufacturers modified their dry lubricants back in 1997 just in case - but if you want to be really careful stick with one brand.Incidently, MiniDV Hi8 standard8 video cassette tapes like these, and their recorded video images, have a projected life of 10 years after which even the plastic components of the cassette mechanism start to fail (besides will there be any miniDV camcorders to play these tapes in 20 years time). Over this period some of the signal on the tape will be lost slowly to noise by 'print-through' as the tape sits in contact with itself (by magnetic induction). This is particularly bad for older analogue tape (e.g. Hi8), but MiniDV isn't immune. Fast forward/rewinding the tape every year or so will help reduce this (as will recording the original in SP not LP). So transfer video tape to digital DVD before this becomes a problem, using the AV 'analogue in' on a DVD recorder works as well as a PC - and recopy your video DVD [with 'verify write' on] to a new DVD every 5 years [using a PC]. Keep the Sony tape master as well. Also look after your MiniDV camcorder, as tapes recorded on one don't always replay perfectly on another manufacturer's model. So think about archiving sometime or your precious memories might simply fade away.

I began using these tapes when I bought my first Sony digital camcorder 10 years ago, and have taken many hundreds of hours of excellent footage with them. I have never had any reason to change. Indeed - one reason in particular for not changing is that Sony use a different (wet) tape lubricant than other brands of tape, and so you should always stick to Sony tapes if you start using them, or the dry lubricant used on other tapes will cause problems with clogging. The same applies if you start using dry lubricant tapes - in that case, avoid Sony tapes.When I moved to HD two years ago (Canon HV20), I started using the far more expensive Sony HD tapes exclusively, and they performed extremely well. However, there is a lot of misinformation put out that only specialist HD tapes can be used successfully with an HD camcorder. Let me make it clear here and now that *this is not the case*. I have used Sony Premium MiniDV tapes (at half the price of the HD variants) with my Canon HV20 with perfect results, and no drop-outs to date. For this reason I almost always use these, and only switch the the HD variety when I am taking mission critical footage. There is no difference in storage capacity between the HD and standard Premium tapes, and a lot of people don't realise this. The difference is in the quality of the coating, and the standard tapes are already so good, the HD varient are really overkill.So whether you're shooting standard definition or even HD footage (as long as it's not a very important occasion like a wedding) these tapes are truly exceptional in both performance and reliability. Thoroughly recommended.

Used this product for many years found them reliable have certainly come down in price, in the 80s we had VHS-C at £7 each, no doubt the format is being taken over by solid state cameras, they have no visible loss in using LP 1 1/2 HRS

Has described and good value

I have used numerous brands of miniDV tapes over the years and have been sticking to these Sony ones for at least the last 2 years, firstly because these are great value, secondly I have not had any problems so far.I actually upgraded from an ordinary Panasonic DV cam to the all new Canon HV20 Hi Def cam this year and still use these tapes in the new cam to record Hi-def footage! Yes, you can buy specialist HDV tapes, but they cost more. These normal Mini-DV tapes work just fine recording HDV footage. Obviously I can also record normal DV footage onto these tapes as well.I am no expert in HD recording, I have no idea what advantage of using proper HDV tape is, surely there must be some reason. But for my casual use, I am happy to just still with these ordinary mini DV tapes. I may try the proper HDV tapes when I have an important event though.All in all, I have no reason to switch to a different tape yet.

Ok

Very good

Does the job; good price; delivered on time