MiniDV SP vs LP

[Amyd]

No, there is no quality difference between the SP and LP mode on miniDV camcorders (unlike the older analog VHS/8mm model).

However, recording in LP mode on a miniDV camera increases the chances of a digital drop-out (and as I am sure you have discovered, those are rather ugly and intrusive) plus it is highly incompatible between cameras (not only different manufacturers, but often different models from the same brand) - so if you record a tape in LP mode, chances are you will play it only on your camera. Ah, and in LP mode you won't be able to use audio dubbing, but I guess that's really not an issue.

Cheers,
Andrei

[stephen2002]

I only have one camera so if I record the tape in LP I'll only be playing it back from one source. Audio dubbing is not an issue, espeically since I can just import it into the computer if I need to mess with the sound.

I'm not sure what digital drop-out is. I have not done all too much video recording with this camera. Is this when the image degrades into big blocks for a short period of time? How increased are the chances?

[Amyd]

OK, but remember than you won't be able to share your miniDV tapes with your friends or (at a later point) use a DV deck to load them into the computer (so as to not stress the camera too much). But if this (and audio dubbing) are not important issues, then you're set.

Yes, digital dropouts are basically those ugly big compression block errors that freeze the image for a frame or two (similar somewhat to the errors in MPEG-2 broadcasts on TV). As with everything digital, when there is an error, the data is either recovered completely or totally lost. Analog degrades more gracefully in this respect.

It's hard to put a figure on the increase, but I'd say it's pretty dramatic. The track width is reduced to 6.7 microns, compared to 10 microns for normal SP recording. Chances are that if your camera+tape combination doesn't make any dropouts in SP mode, it will do so in LP mode (and this increases if your usage patterns make it work in extreme conditions - cold outside weather, heat, humidity, etc.). As you can probably imagine, because of the bigger density recorded on the tape, any defect will be harder to correct by the error correction codes and therefore more likely to show up in the picture.

Cheers,
Andrei

[imashination]

Originally posted by stephen2002
I'm not sure what digital drop-out is. I have not done all too much video recording with this camera. Is this when the image degrades into big blocks for a short period of time? How increased are the chances?

If you thump an analogue camcorder while recording, the picture goes wonky, but it will still be there. With a digital one, although the picture is always perfect, when it gets thumped, the picture and audio will drop out of existence entirely.

Just like TV, a bad analogue signal adds noise to the picture, but you can still watch it. Noise in a digital signal will cause the entire image to freeze, corrupt. ie. drop out.

[stephen2002]

I see, thanks for the heads-up. I think I'll just leave it in SP as opposed to increasing the chances of corruption.

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