hello everybody,

In my camcorder there are two mode SP (60 minutes) and LP (90 minutes). What is the different in picture quality?
The camcorder is Sony DCR-HC96

Thanks
Fiona & dhany

in the lp mode the tape is pulled through the camera at a different speed so that more information can be fit onto it. most preofessionals wont use lp as this can cause the tape to stretch and leaves you open to loss of quality especially if you re use your tapes. have you ever seen a vhs tape that has been recorded over and over a lot of times, notice how the first minute or so of the tape becomes unusuable? well this is due to stretching. with digital it is a little different as the way the video is saved to the tape is different but the end result can be much the same. this doesn't mean that it won't happen in sp mode but it is less likely to happen. I am paraniod about my tapes so i only ever use them once and i tend to record about a minute of pre roll as the first and last minute of the tape is where stretching is most likely to occur.

Thank you for your information Mr. Skyman,

So in picture quality there is no different between SP and LP mode for my camcorder. It is not like VHS tape that the SP mode has better picture quality than EP mode.

I use my camcorder to record my baby and this is my first time to use camcorder. I plan to keep all Mini DV cassettes. I do not plan to reuse the Mini DV cassette. In this case is it correct if I’d better set my camcorder in LP mode? So I can record in longer time with the same picture quality.

Thanks
Dhany & Fiona


in the lp mode the tape is pulled through the camera at a different speed so that more information can be fit onto it. most preofessionals wont use lp as this ...
...minute of the tape is where stretching is most likely to occur.

As Skyman mentioned, SP is the better quality speed to work with if you want the best looking video.

Hi, whatever you do DONT use LP mode. for 30 minutes of extra recording its not worth it. What LP mode does is it squeezes the frames into less tape area. This squeezing can result in loss of data, skips frames and many other problems.
Trust me, for 30 minutes more dont do it. Just use SP and keep your exellent image quality