<p>To answer the headline question, specifically about the medium: No. Tape is not film. It may substitute for or be notionally equivalent to film in a more general sense.</p>

<p>But the body of your question makes it unclear exactly what you're asking. Could you edit it to make it more coherent?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-24T11:02:10.420Z
2014-06-24T11:02:10.420Z
Jim Mack
<p>Film is specifically a medium in which each frame is photographically exposed to capture the image.  It comes in a variety of formats, but the key property is that it must photographically capture the image through photosensitive film.</p>

<p>Magnetic media, regardless of being analog or digital, such as that used in MiniDV, Digital8, Hi-8 and even VHS tapes is not film.  It is tape.</p>

<p>Similarly, modern cameras now often go direct to disk, using either memory cards, hard drives or in rare cases, optical media to record to, thus avoiding the need for tapes which require running it from beginning to end.</p>

<p>The term filming is still often used when capturing video with these latter formats, however it does not make them film.  It just means that we reuse the common term even though the underlying technology has been replaced.  Technically it is video.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-24T13:45:03.960Z
2014-06-24T13:45:03.960Z
AJ Henderson
<p>MiniDV is using magnectic tape as storage and use the discrete cosine transformation compression technology. Does the use of magnectic digital tapes no more film?</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/PnkmR.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-24T10:56:11.597Z
As soon as its has >= 1 FPS it is :P
ntakouris
<video><storage>
Are Mini DV and Digital 8 considered film?
Julian
# Are Mini DV and Digital 8 considered film?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-06-24)

MiniDV is using magnectic tape as storage and use the discrete cosine transformation compression technology. Does the use of magnectic digital tapes no more film?

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/PnkmR.jpg)

**Tags:** video, storage

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: As soon as its has >= 1 FPS it is :P  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-06-24. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Film is specifically a medium in which each frame is photographically exposed to capture the image. It comes in a variety of formats, but the key property is that it must photographically capture the image through photosensitive film.

Magnetic media, regardless of being analog or digital, such as that used in MiniDV, Digital8, Hi-8 and even VHS tapes is not film. It is tape.

Similarly, modern cameras now often go direct to disk, using either memory cards, hard drives or in rare cases, optical media to record to, thus avoiding the need for tapes which require running it from beginning to end.

The term filming is still often used when capturing video with these latter formats, however it does not make them film. It just means that we reuse the common term even though the underlying technology has been replaced. Technically it is video.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2014-06-24. Score: 2

To answer the headline question, specifically about the medium: No. Tape is not film. It may substitute for or be notionally equivalent to film in a more general sense.

But the body of your question makes it unclear exactly what you're asking. Could you edit it to make it more coherent?


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