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General discussion

DV Cassettes vs Memory Stick

Feb 24, 2005 6:41AM PST

I recently bought my first digital camcorder, a Sony PC-350. Obviously one can record videos on the tape or the memory stick (albeit not much on the memory stick included with the camcorder). Nothing in the manuals indicate a preference, except to note that recording on the stick will be in mono, as oppposed to stereo on the tape (and I could care less if my kids' screams are stereo or mono). Clearly downloading to PC would be much easier from stick than 1:1 tape playback into the PC. My question is this: Other than having to pay $150 for a 1G stick to have enough capacity, is there another reason that tape would be a preferable recording medium.

Discussion is locked

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DV Cassettes vs Memory Stick
Feb 24, 2005 6:54AM PST

Does the manual say what the quality from the memory stick is?? How many tapes can you buy for $150 and how much recording time will all the tapes give you? John

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DV Cassettes vs Memory Stick
Feb 25, 2005 1:56AM PST

Well, I went to The Sony site and what I found out was that currently this camera is only ceritfied for a 512mb stick. It does say what the qualiy is the memory stick is E-mail mode with a resultion of 160x112 pixels. The TAPE
mode is DV quality or 740X480 pixels. Try recording both
ways and see what looks better when you play it back on you TV or PC then decide. John

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Problem solved
Feb 25, 2005 6:01AM PST

Thanks. I think you've helped me figure this out. It is a quality issue. Again thanks

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8mm hi8mm digital8 DVtape
Mar 17, 2005 10:24PM PST

i want to get a tape but i'm not sure witch one to get can someone help me decide? P.S.i'm also on a low budget.

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Since a tape can store 13gigs it seems like a no brainer.
Feb 24, 2005 10:05AM PST

If your memory stick records the same quality as the tape, it could record for about 5 minutes of video. The tape can also be retained as a backup of the recorded video.

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Stick Capacity
Feb 25, 2005 12:39AM PST

According to the manual a 1G stick would record for approx 2.5 hours, significantly longer than a tape. So according to that it's not such a no brainer

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TAPES AREN'T MEASURED IN GIGABYTES
Mar 17, 2005 10:29PM PST

and 13 gigs would be like 13 hours isn't it like 2 hours what do u mean?