Cold, hard facts about MiniDV tapes (including the ones that have nice shiny HDV logos on them) is harder to come by than water on the moon.

I don't rely on anecdotal information, aside from as a large body of evidence. You can find individual honest to goodness testimonials about how some MiniDV tapes yield noticeably better color (some of em just crack me up). Obviously some folks are hallucinating (perhaps they enjoyed the 60s a whole lot or something) or really need to get an eye exam badly.

If you read the posts here pretty thoroughly, you'll find that most pros do just fine with just about any decent tape, from the established companies (like Sony, Panasonic, etc.). The Panasonic AMQs are a good example of moderately priced premium tapes that a whale of a lot of pros use (and depend on), the vast majority quite satisfactorily without issue. Of course, you can always find somebody, somewhere, who has a bad experience with anything.

Bottom line is, you don't have to look for a shocking sticker price, to get good, reliable tapes for your cam.