HI-8 Tape
Agreed! You should never use ME tape when doing any type of editing
or pausing for that matter. But here's some tips from one who's been
using the ME stuff for two years now: I have found that the ME tape
has superior color saturation w/o clipping and produces a better
master edit tape on 3/4 Umatic if I first DUB (ie Y/C 688 transfer)
the ME footage to 3/4 and edit from that. A generation is lost but
the 3rd generation 3/4 edited master looks better than if I would
have shot the footage with MP tape and edited from that for a 2nd
generation Master. I also choose to TBC on the last step in the
distribution duplication rather than early on in the editing, taking
advantage of the DCNR in the 9800. However, when my shooting
assignment will require much pausing I switch gears and use MP tape.
I try to work with the best features of both and always am aware of
the limitations and hazards of both. NEVER WOULD I RECOMMEND USING
THE ME TAPE FOR FRAME ACCURATE EDITING. I have, in the past,
recommended this tape for recording non stop continuous stuff for
least dropouts.
PS I have not tried the Maxell Hi8 MP tape that is supposed to be
certified dropout free. I just found out about it and will try some
on my next purchase.