Topic: Camcorder and MiniDV tapes - same brand, doesn't matter

[willndmb]

my question is does sticking to the same brand tape actually help recording and playback?
Not does the tape have to be the same brand as the camera

i read here a while back that using different brand tapes could actually cause the camera not to work as good and/or cause playback "glitches" (something about dry and wet) and am wondering if anyone knows of a place i can read up more on this

also is there a better cleaning tape brand compaired to others?
thanks

PS - for what its worth i got a canon camcorder and maxell tapes

i did find a little more info on the tapes, but all it says is that mixing the 2 can cause the heads to need and be cleaned
i assume using the cleaning tape is not the best thing to do for the heads so picking a "dry" tape and sticking to it is the best bet it seems

[stantheman1976]

Yes, it can affect playback and recording.  I was mixing between Panasonic and JVC brands and one camera kept dropping frames during a capture when the same tape had no frames dropped in another identical camcorder.  I ran a cleaning tape in the problem camera and it was fine after that.  Now I stick with JVC simply because I got a good deal on bulk tapes.  Stay with one brand and cleanings should be rarely needed.

[taper420]

I work in the industry. This is true. One brand isn't necessarily better than the other, but which ever brand you go with, you should stick with.

I actually called someone out last week when I saw some glitches in their footage.... sure enough he was using JVC tape, and we use panasonic normally.

[willndmb]

thanks guys
thats exactly what was happening with my old camera - dropping frames on capture to imovie/fcp

i have a cleaning tape but it doesn;t seem to do much good - i am thinking its to late for my camera to get "fixed"
but with the new camera i will stick to maxell (sams club has them cheap)