Tape Blacking (Panasonic DVX100)

[Mr.Orb]

Hey all,
Don't know if anyone here will know about this...
Should I 'black' the minidv tape before I go shooting? I understand I should record with the cap on and no sound to 'sort out' the timecode?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[alexakasloth]

You don't have to shoot with no sound to black out the tape. Just record with the cap on and this will 'black the tape' then shoot over it. It's basically just creating one long shoot throughout the tape which creates a timecode which you can then shoot over without dis-joining the timecode.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Messiah Khan]

I used to always black the tapes at work. After we started blacking them it removed loads of errors during capturing. I always just left the cap on, set the audio level to manual and turned it right down, then recorded away.

 

[Sirrel Squirrel]

If you watch back the footage shot and then carry on recording past the last frame you'll get a discontinuous timecode which is why people like to black tapes. If you're careful though you won't need to black the tape.

 

[alexakasloth]

Just adding to what sirrel said if you just rewind the tapes a few seconds before filming the timecode will be continuous.

 

[Messiah Khan]

I was blacking them for students. Rewinding to keep a continous time code is common sense. Students don't have common sense.

 

[alexakasloth]

I was blacking them for students. Rewinding to keep a continous time code is common sense. Students don't have common sense.

I am a student

 

[Messiah Khan]

I am a student

Pfth! Dirty student!