SONY'S DIGITALMASTER PROFESSIONAL VIDEOTAPE GOES TO EXTREMES FOR DP LANCE MILBRAND
The Advanced Tape's Durability and Reduced Drop-Out and Error Rates Overcome Varying Temperature Extremes in Professional HDV Applications
PARK RIDGE, N.J., Sept. 28, 2005 - The workload for an independent cameraman often goes from one extreme to another, and that's often literally the case for Lance Milbrand. From extreme underwater cold to heat and humidity, Milbrand has found himself shooting in nearly every condition imaginable.
For his most recent documentary projects, Milbrand has increased his resistance against drop-outs and errors when capturing his critical DVCAM and HDV footage by choosing Sony's DigitalMaster ™ professional videotape.
Milbrand has been around the block (or under the water) enough times to know the importance of using quality, professional-grade tape stock. He was nominated for an Emmy for his underwater beauty shots on the latest season of "Survivor," where his footage was mainly used as transitional or opening shots. He was also the star of his own type of reality show, a one-hour special that ran on the National Geographic Explorer channel and documented his 41-day stay in isolation on an uninhabited island, where temperatures sometimes reached 110 degrees in the shade.
"It was just me and 150 pieces of tape," he said.
Milbrand's recent work has taken him into the HDV realm, using Sony's new HVR-Z1U HDV camcorder and also the DigitalMaster tape, which is the recommended professional media for HDV recording applications.
Milbrand is documenting a massive environmental restoration project currently being undertaken by a large corporation. The company is rebuilding the access pathway to an estuary as part of a multi-year wetlands initiative, and Milbrand's goal is to capture this struggle of "man versus nature," as he describes it.
"This is a marshy, wet area," he said. "It's not a typically ideal environment for keeping tapes safe, warm and dry, but the DigitalMaster cassettes have held up extremely well. We have yet to experience one problem."
The above-water part of the job is just one of the challenging aspects for the tapes. Milbrand also works deep underwater to capture marine life within artificial kelp forests.
"The temperatures down on the ocean floor, about 60 feet deep in Southern California are around 52 degrees, which is pretty cold for underwater," he said. "Then we'd surface and hit temperatures around 80 degrees. That kind of rapid temperature change can often spell disaster for a tape, but not for DigitalMaster."
Magnetic tape is susceptible to expansion and contraction due to temperature and humidity variations, and excessive "shrinkage" can alter the position of recorded tracks. As a result, playback heads may not be able to accurately read information, and tracking errors can occur. In addition, it can impair machine-to-machine compatibility.
Compared to consumer DV tape, DigitalMaster delivers 50 percent less tape shrinkage for increased physical stability under nearly any conditions.
Milbrand is also producing documentary footage of a submarine that's specially designed for underwater exploration. The craft is outfitted with a Sony HVR-Z1U camcorder on its hull and also uses the Sony DigitalMaster tapes.
"This submarine can descend to depths of 1500 feet, supporting crews for up to six hours at a time," Milbrand said. "Going from that depth to the surface, the sub can experience severe temperature changes, but the DigitalMaster tape showed no signs of drop-outs or errors when we hit the editing room."
DigitalMaster is Sony's highest-quality 6mm videotape. These 63-minute cassettes (model PHDVM63DM) use Sony's AME (Advanced Metal Evaporated) II Technology and its unique dual-active magnetic layers. By improving on an already successful product, the new AME II manufacturing process employs Hyper Evaticle IV magnetic grains, improved lubricants, and a refined Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) layer. DigitalMaster tape exhibits greater packing density of magnetic grains, higher retentivity, higher output and lower noise. The result is a more robust tape with 65% fewer dropouts and 95% fewer errors, compared to consumer DV tape.
