Quote Originally Posted by hdkbill View Post
Messing up the heads on a DSR-11 due to an old deteriorated Mini-DV tape is exactly the reason we output everything in a DV-CAM format. The DV-CAM tape is much thicker and less succeptible to deterioration. We are almost completed place the films onto 1 Terrabyte external hardrives so we'll have less use on the DSR-11's but still, being an old fart, I'm not comfortable unless I have 2 or 3 back up's of all raw footage and edited films on DV-CAM and stored in multiple location.
We master to DV-CAM as well. And keep multiple backups. I can't imagine anything worse than losing the master edited copies of 10 years worth of videos. Also, I never had good luck using the LP speed on MiniDV, and I love the over 3 hours time you can get on DV-CAM.

Actually, the first year or two in the business I was shooting on rented broadcast Betacam SP camcorders. First thing I did when I bought a DSR-11 was rent a broadcast Betacam SP deck and transfer all my old raw footage to DV-CAM.