Hey guys--I have been using Panasonic Master Quality tapes in my DVX100 and am considering switching to Professional Quality tapes for some dubs I need to run. I am aware that the whole "mixing tapes" issue has been written about ad nauseum on DVinfo, but I couldn't find anything specifically about mixing these two tapes. I am aware that I should not mix brands, but will mixing grades have any negative effect on the camera? I honestly don't care if there are dropouts on the dub, it is basically a "work print" and the MQ master copies will be used on the final hi-res project. Mainly I just want to make sure I am not putting extra wear on the heads or inviting "gumming up" by mixing different tape qualities. Thanks!

Peter

As long as they use the same lubricant, it's usually no problem. If there is big difference, just try to group/batch the tapes and run a head cleaner inbetween.

My JVC has survived mixing tape since I have edited for others - just ran cleaner before and after and I've had no problems.

Thanks Stephen!

I am 99% sure that I seen that the MQ tapes use a wet lube, while the PQ use a dry, from a website (which I cant find, i'll look for it).

Ah yes, I found it:

http://www.hosannaproductions.com/tips/minidv_lubricants.html

I had it backwards, the MQ use dry, and the PQ use wet.

Thanks Alex - I remember that now when I was researching tapes.

Peter - I think the MQ are plenty good enough unless you are going to subject them to lots of abuse including multiple recordings. So unless you can just one time switch over to PQ, I would stick with MQ, at least for this project.

Thanks for the suggestion, Stephen. The Master Quality is actually the highest grade tape (higher than the professional quality) and are therefore more expensive, which is why I wanted to use the PQ for dubs. But as Alex noted, the PQ's are wetlube, so I think I may just stick with the MQ's after all. I will investigate cost difference and make a decision, I guess. Thanks again guys!

Peter