Minidv tapes for hv20?

Question

hi,

i just got the HV20 from Canon and I realized that no tapes were included.

What do I need to buy exactly to make the camera ready to use?

Also, what good is the SD Card?

THanks

Answer 1

You should buy high def tapes.  You can use normal MiniDV tapes if you have to, but you're taking a risk.  If you have a drop out with MiniDV you'll probably only lose a single frame but, because high def is using a group of pictures (gop) structure, any drop out will affect the entire gop and you'll lose maybe half a second of video.  The high def tapes are a higher quality to reduce this risk.  

I may be jumping at shadows, but I'd avoid Sony tapes.  At one time Sony used a lubricant on their tapes which caused problems if you then used a different brand.  Sony stopped using the lubricant but I'm told they've started again with their high def tapes - caveat emptor!

The SD card is just for stills.