That's exactly what happened to me, my cam shipped MUCH quicker than I thought it would. I used the Canon tape and then switched to the Panas and I haven't had a problem yet. Your mileage may vary of course.

I doubt I will get out today as the batt seems to take forever to charge.

From the description of the coating on the Canon tape, my guess is that it is a Panasonic tape in disguise.

Since the tape case looks like a Sony and not a Panasonic, I would guess it's a Sony.

It does look like a Sony case, you're right. But I thought I read something about a graphite coating someplace.