Is the new Sony HD Mini DV Tape, HDM-63VG, better than DVM63HD, and is it really HD as in 1080I?

Question

I noticed the HDM-63VG is half the price in the online tape stores, and if its the next gen better quality tape, then I'd rather buy that, but want some insight first.

Answer 1

The HDM-63VG tape is certainly being sold as a low-cost, pro-quality HDV tape.

Thing is, any DV tape IS an HDV tape. The bitrate is precisely the same (25Mb/s), so any tape that supports DV will support HDV.

You might spend a bit more for a pro-class or "HDV-certified" tape, but the reason for this is simply that on HDV, any dropout error can affect the following P and B frames... up to 15 frames damaged. A DV error can only affect one frame.

I'm not sure how you would tell if it's better or worse than the DMV63HD. But I would wager that using ANY pro-class tape is sufficient to ensure you rarely, if ever, see a failure due to dropouts. I've been using Panasonic DVM63 and DVM83 tapes for nearly three years now with HDV, and have yet to see a dropout.