Thanks, Frank, I 'll clean my heads and give Fuji a try!

I've been mixing Fuji and Panasonic tapes and I haven't had any problems yet. I think it's because they both use dry lubricants or something like that. I bought some Sony tapes because they were on sale at Fry's for 3.99 each, but after reading this thread, I think I'll sell them.

Recently had a tape alignment problem with our Xl1. When I called Canon, the FIRST thing they asked was "Are you shooting with Sony tapes?" The answer is no, fuji only. Camera had the drum assembly replaced... the second time in two years.

Richard

Tape Stock Mixing Issues
 

I have 4 XL-1 systems for location mixing and a Panasonic AG-DV2000 for mixing to and NLE loading. In the beginning for the first year or so I only used Panasonic. I now use Sony most of the time for single camera work or multi-camera with sets under an hour and full size Panasonic SP 120s for 2 hours or less and full size Sony SP 180s for up to 3 hours for mixing to. Now Sony offers SP 80s so I can use Sony exclusively until I use up my Panasonic stock. Until then, I will use Panasonic SP 80s for recording events exceeding an hour in one set. At times when loading each camera's tape for post, I have experienced pixelation on EACH tape but it is very isolated, maybe once or twice. Although minimal it is still aggravating because it seems to happen in the middle of a great POV shot. I think these issues should be persued by the FTC or whoever covers these situations. We are the victims of this functionality war and are paying the price. We spend thousands for this gear and irreplaceable footage is contaminated with dropouts, pixelation not to mention the fact that our gear's hardware is affected by these tape stock components costing US for the repairs just for using a different brand. Mini-DV is a standard for the format so shouldn't the tape stock components be the same as well? The worst part of this is that the manufacturers know about this, what causes it and we just keep buying it. They aren't going to meet in the middle with a standard unless it affects sales and it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon.