[lug] 8mm video vs. data tapes

[J. Wayde Allen]

On Wed, 25 Apr 2001, Viggy wrote:

> data drive is the tape quality.  My understanding is that tapes that fail 
> the "data" test are then tested for "camcorder" quality...  I could be 
> wrong, however...

I think you've got it backward.  For analog recording the magnetic
variation in the tape needs to be at a minimum in order to keep the noise
level down.  The tape also has to be able to record relatively small
magnetic fluctuations.  

Data on the other hand is a fairly large level signal, is relatively well
correlated making less susceptible to random noise, and has built-in error
correction.

You should be able to use audio quality tapes for recording data.  You can
also use data quality tapes for recording audio/video, but the result will
probably be noisier.

- Wayde
  (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)