I am not Tim but I have used the Panasonic tapes a lot in the first 6 months of the camera ownership. I found that I couldn't export back to tape without dropouts. Then I started to look more closely at the footage and found more and more dropouts. A switch to Sony premium HDV tapes did the trick, no more problems at all. Of course, it is a good idea to clean the heads between tape brands - which answers the cleaning question. Yes, it is okay to clean the heads, in fact, it is sometimes necessary. Always follow the cleaning instructions.