Comments

IanG wrote on 8/26/2005, 1:53 AM
I reuse tapes all the time - the camera manages all the erasing and I've never noticed a drop in quality. I suppose the tapes must wear out eventualy, but it takes a while!

Ian G.
cgarn wrote on 8/26/2005, 7:31 AM
Do you erase the tapes and then use them or do you rewind them and just record over the old material?

Thanks.
Chienworks wrote on 8/26/2005, 9:24 AM
With digital tapes, i really can't think of any advantage to erasing them first. It's just more wear & tear on the tapes.

You could try a bulk eraser, but reports are that they don't work well on digital tapes at all. I seem to remember someone posting in here that it took 8 passes through the bulk eraser before his camcorder wouldn't show the original recording anymore.
Storyman wrote on 8/26/2005, 1:28 PM
My vote is with Chienworks suggestion for a bulk earser. Running it through a dozen times doesn't affect the tape itself other than the recorded material. The reason to bulk erase is to remove the time codes along with the images.
IanG wrote on 8/27/2005, 3:45 PM
>Do you erase the tapes and then use them or do you rewind them and just record over the old material?

Rewind and just record over the old material - I've never had any problems with that!

Ian G.