Dat Commandments Home Page DAT Tape, Blank Cassettes, CDR Media, Minidiscs, Video Tape and Recording Supplies. We'll try to beat anyone's price. When using a DAT for the first time, fast forward it to the end and rewind it, to repack the tape on the reels and ensure smooth transport. Start every tape with one or two minutes of recorded silence, and don't go to the end of a tape either.
Error rates are much higher at the ends.
Avoid SCMS if at all possible, by recording to pro decks and dubbing from consumer decks to pro decks rather than vice versa. The 0 VU mark is more critical on DAT than on analog tape, but if your only overloads are very brief percussive transients, let your ears judge. It's much better for the tape. It's bad for the tape, and jams transports. Make backups or suffer the consequences.