A freelance friend of mine is getting stick from one of his employers who insists he tensions tapes in his camera before use - 124's and 184's, the freelance says this is not practical and risks wearing out his camera tape transport etc.
I remember tensioning BetaSP 30 & 90 tapes before mastering but have not heard of this being done for a long while, other freelancers I use have never tensioned tapes - Anyone any thoughts?
I don't know about tensioning tape but I do know that every job has a price - if your friends boss can actually tell the difference between a tensioned and a non tensioned tape (and isn't just talking out of the wrong orifice) then I would give him a price for doing the job including an allowance for wear and tear.
robo
Hi Dave,
I normally use new tapes for each client, but it is still conceivable the first few seconds are not under tension. I normally record a few seconds of something before scripted shooting as a quick check all is at it should be - this may include putting up colour bars.
We've all heard the old audio cassettes - and i think any stretch is more evident on playback on audio rather than image seen.
Never had problems in this regard, but in realm of VHS I have occasionally been given 'snapped' tapes to copy to DVD and the snap is typically where it it joins the spool or very close.
Being pedantic - if he's a freelancer - it's his client - not his employer.
In a freelancer / client relationship I would put up the colour bars for 10 seconds and if the client questioned it later in review, you could say 'I did it - there are the colour bars to prove it'.
P.S. Don't know what 124's and 184's are - so forgive me if above comments are out of context.
Don't know what 124's and 184's are - so forgive me if above comments are out of context.
Dave, they are the duration (in minutes) of full-size Sony DVCAM tapes. :)
Dave (foxvideo), my reply is on the APV forum. :)
It isn't a problem, there's no need for it.
I always put at least 10 seconds of bars on every tape, often 30 seconds. This is so that if I'm showing material away from my own system, I can check that the connections to the display, and the display settings, are ok before I show. It's a good discipline to get into (far more important than tape tensioning) because it actually does something useful.
And I always use SMPTE bars, because I can set the display brightness and saturation using just that signal, and be confident that the rest of the show will be right, rather than relying on someone else's kit and their version of what's right.
Don't worry about tensioning, this session of bars at the beginning will do it for you, and will give you something you actually need.
Thanks Alan, was hoping you'd have an answer!
I seem to remember being told that in days of old, audio cassette tapes were tensioned before recording in non-synced set-ups because the tapes could stretch and lose sync. This was before my time (ie over 25 ago) and I've never experienced anyone tensioning tapes. It sounds to me like someone who wants to appear knowledgeable without actually knowing much.
I've never "tensioned" a tape in my life... beta, dvcam or u-matic. Sounds rubbish to me.