Procedure to begin recording on tape

Amateurs/students normally begin recording without the colour bars & get frustrated on the edit suite when they can't get a pre-roll! How does one get around it?

It is always useful to record 20 seconds of colour bars after you insert the tape into the camera. Access the colour bars from the Menu on the camera; some cameras have an exclusive button for colour bars) After 20 seconds of colour bars, record another 10 seconds of black (undo the colour bars & keep the lens cap closed). Some prefer to record an additional 10 seconds of black. This is important to avoid pre-roll problems while editing.

What is pre-roll? Simply put, it is the time taken by the VTR to stabilize itself before it can recognise the exact in-point frame to begin editing. Some machines need only 2 seconds pre-roll but some others take as many as 7 seconds to stabilize.

Always record colour bars & black on a new tape. Also, remember to label the tape once it's exhausted.