Posted by mmaker@my-deja.com on 01/12/32 11:52

Binba wrote:
> 2. On the same note, I keep hearing that in a firewire dub there's
> "VIRTUALLY" no generation loss. Why always this "virtually"?

Because bits get lost between the tapes: either because they're
corrupted in the Firewire transfer, or they're unreadable from the
original tape.

> One post
> mentioned that after some 18 generations it will start degrading.

Doubt it. I do remember one test involving multiple generations of
recompression of DV footage which claimed degradation after about 18
generations, but you shouldn't see serious issues when making digital
copies. You're likely to have the odd dropout on the tape, but
otherwise the general quality should be fine.

> When I copy a file in my computer even a hundred times, it should
> be exactly the same.

But hard disks are far less prone to bit errors than tape: for one
thing they can detect faulty disk blocks and move the data elsewhere...
you can't do that with tape. On the other hand, the lifespan of a hard
disk is typically far less than that of a tape.

Mark

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