Posted by Gary Eickmeier on 01/11/67 11:46

Mr. Tapeguy wrote:

> I agree if it ain't broke don't fix it; however, Sony premium tape is
> the cheap tape you feel is "foolhardy in the extreme" - their lowest
> grade consumer product.

What is super confusing is trying to figure out the names for the tapes.
Sony calls theirs "Premium" and "Excellence." Now, what do those names
communicate to anyone? Which one is better? I had some dropouts which I
eventually traced to the tape I was sold. I bought a batch of Sony
Premium in the blue package from B&H. After months of anguish, sending
my camera in twice for repair, and great expense, it finally dawned on
me that it was the tape! So I asked B&H if they could take the remainder
of this batch back, and they said no, talk to Sony. They also mentioned
that Sony would probably not take them back if they were still in their
wrappers, so I should unwrap every one of them before sending them in.

Haven't done that yet, but did buy more tapes. This time, the Premium
tapes come in an orange wrapper, and perform much better. I also bought
some "Excellence" tapes, which cost a little more, and come in a brown
wrapper. Haven't tried those yet, but we have had good luck with the
orange Premiums. B&H is listing them at $2.85 now, and the Excellence at
$6.99. The prices are even more amazing at the Sony web site

http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory.do?catPath=/category/recordable-media/consumer-media/camcorder-analog&startCount=0&endCount=6&currentCount=4&startFlag=true&endFlag=false&onlyProducts=false&looseFlag=false&navigation=forward

if you can find it. Searching for "mini dv tape" will get you nowhere.
They call it DVC.

All I know for sure is most tapes are fine, but you can get a bad batch.

Gary Eickmeier

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