RMAN backups

I am doing research on taking backups with RMAN vs. Sync/split then backup to tape. We currently use sync/split, copy to tape for all of our production database backups and direct to tape backups for non prod backups. Some databases are backed up four times a week while otheres are backed up everyday.

My question to the list is who uses RMAN and how large are the databases and the backup times associated with using RMAN.

Thanks,
Rich

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