George T. Griswold Jr.

I would dry out the camera and tapes. Otherwise you may have trashed your gear.

Most knots are here, with pictures: http://www.iland.net/~jbritton/index.html

The mixing tape issue has been around for a long time-- my advice is never do it. Order a box of 50 tapes and stick with it. I have never had a problem with Sony tapes. The Digital Master tape is what I use for HDV shoots, DVCAM (small shell) for DVCAM and Sony Excellence for DV shoots. You have so much riding on that day why fool around over a few bucks for tape stock? There are lots of folks who use all kinds and have never had a problem. It is your call. As far as mixing manufacturers it seems pretty sure that it is a bad idea. George

The biggest obstacle now is the flood of competing formats. I won't list them all, but it creates a problem for freelancers like me. I stopped stressing out when a potential client calls for as format that I don't own. The Betacam days seem idyllic because everyone had it and everyone used it. There is little chance that things will be simple. Wait and see. Then there is the battle of HD DVD formats-- sheesh! George Griswold www.videonow.info New Orleans, LA