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Supplies available for members
Blank Media: You will need blank tapes, CDs, recordable DVDs, etc. as you produce programs for the Westover Multimedia Ministry. We stock most of these, most of the time. Click here to see what is available. If you need something right away, and can't wait until you can get it from Lee, go ahead and buy it yourself. Keep the receipt for reimbursement. We buy supplies tax-exempt: you may need to fill out a form at the store. There is no "tax number", but you might need Westover's address and phone number. Don't worry about it if the purchase is small.
VHS tapes - you will use these when you need to give a finished program to someone. If someone will watch it at home, or you will show it anywhere except in the worship center at Westover, it will need to go onto VHS tape.
VHS tapes are available in many different lengths. We usually stock them in 5-, 10-, 15-, 20-, and 120-minute (2 hour) lengths. Don't use a 2-hour tape if a shorter one will do. The shorter tapes cost less and weigh less.
Mini-DV tapes - you will use these for shooting your raw footage and archiving your finished programs if you have a Mini-DV camera. We usually stock the 60-minute length, and occasionally the 30-minute length.
Hi-8 tapes - you will use these for shooting your raw footage and archiving your finished programs if you have a Hi-8 camera. We usually stock the 2-hour length. If you have a Hi-8 camera, use Hi-8 tapes instead of regular 8mm tapes. Regular 8mm tapes will record at regular 8mm quality, not Hi-8 quality.
S-VHS tapes - you won't need these unless you have an S-VHS VCR or camera. If you do have an S-VHS VCR or camera, use S-VHS tapes instead of regular VHS tapes. Regular VHS tapes will record at regular VHS quality, not S-VHS quality. S-VHS tapes won't play in a regular VHS deck.
We have S-VHS tapes in 2-hour and 20-minute lengths. The 20-minute tapes are actually the smaller VHS-C format (for compact cameras), and you'll need an adapter to use them in a full-size deck.
DAT tapes - if you need these, you know what they are. We usually have 120m and 180m.
Recordable CDs - these can be used to produce audio CDs or to back up computer files. We stock the 80-minute, 700MB size. They aren't much use for backing up video files because they only hold about 3 1/2 minutes of digital video.
Recordable DVDs - If you have a DVD-R drive, use these to make distribution copies of your programs. Don't use them for archiving if you have a Mini-DV camera because there is some loss of quality in going to DVD.
Labels: We have blank laser-printable labels for VHS tapes and recordable CDs. We also have blank labels for DAT tapes, but they aren't sized for laser printing. We don't recommend using stick-on labels on DVDs.
Gaffer Tape: This stuff looks like duct tape (except for the different colors), but the glue is much more well-behaved. Gaffer tape is much less likely to leave sticky residue on anything. It's expensive, but helps prevent damage to carpet, walls, etc. when you need to tape cables down. We try to keep black, white, and fluorescent orange in stock. May also have gray.