Re: I keep reading this camera will record onto miniDV?

[Paul] "I keep readin that this will record onto minDV and have ONE P2 slot.....why would you record to minDV??? Is that even possible??? "


Well, I suppose we won't know for certain until a week from now, but my 2 cents says it won't have a tape drive.

A miniDV tape drive wouldn't do much good.
You would not be able to record DVCProHD onto tape, as the tape can't be spun fast enough. I suppose Panasonic could release a new 'small shell' HD tape to be used with the camera, but I seriously doubt that will happen.

Jan has mentioned before that the DVCProHD tape transport requires 16 record heads working in pairs. At $800 a pair, that's $6400 just for an HD tape transport.

So, if it does include tape...is would be only for SD work, and more than likely only for DV (or DVCPro).

So I suppose it is possible.
But is it useful? Not to me.

Is it likely? I don't think so.

But we'll see in a week.

Luis Caffesse
Studio 3 Productions, Inc.
Austin, Texas