Is one Digital 8 tape better than another?

[travelman007]

Hi folks,

I could always tell a very noticible difference in my 8 mil tapes and always bought the highest grade tapes for that reason.

All else being equal, can anyone tell me if they have noticed any appreciable difference in Digital 8 tapes. I am starting to wonder if sometimes my tape is not half of my problem or if potentially my camera is wearing out. I am currently using Maxell XR-Metal Hi-8 tapes. I filmed two back to back football games under similar lighting using two tapes of the same brand and quality and found that the quality of one playback was noticibly different than the other. I thought it was something I was doing in VS 10+ at first, but then went back and watched the videos straight from the camera to the TV and saw the same issue. Since you have to start with a good source, I thought I would ask.

Thanks!

Ross

[THoff]

It's a digital format, meaning it's just a bunch of 0's and 1's, and those will always be the same regardless of what brand of tape an image is saved on.

The quality difference between the two tapes you saw must be the result of some camera setting or your workflow.

[travelman007]

Thanks THoff! Thats one less thing to worry about. I understand your point.

I went back and watched both games and can now see where the end of the first game looks a little fuzzier than the start of the first game. I suspect that the angle of the sun was flattening out the image, as well as putting a halo around the bright objects. Normally on sunny days I have a polarizing filter on, but had taken it off and left it at home. I also would normally work with the exposure to knock that glare off, but again didn't.
So, it probably did have more to do with lighting than anything else and it just got progressively worse as the day went on. Started taping at 9:00am and finished at 12:00pm on a sunny day.

Thanks for the Tip.

Regards,
Ross