Is LP really as good as SP mode? Are there tradeoffs?
I absolutely cannot tell any difference in quality. Unlike analog formats, the SP/LP modes in DV actually save identical bits of video information. SP tracks are 10 microns wide on the tape, LP tracks are 6.7 microns wide. In LP mode you can’t overdub a second stereo pair later as you can in 12-bit mode using SP speed. The more narrow LP tracks may be more susceptible to dropouts, and will make it harder to play back a tape on anything but the same camera you recorded it with. Dropouts haven’t been much of an issue for me in SP or LP, although I do have them very occasionally WHEN USING THE SAME CAMERA for playback. However… In November I got a GV-D900 “Video Walkman” which is a small MiniDV VCR. So, now I have two devices which can read and write MiniDV format tapes. Both devices work fine in SP and LP as long as they read the same tape they recorded. Also, SP tapes recorded on one will play fine on the other, but LP tapes will not. “Foreign” LP tapes have a lot of dropouts, and the
