I'm with Bob. I've been reusing Mini DV tapes for years, and now record HDV onto them without problems. Of course it helps to understand what's going on, to keep your tape path clean and to load and unload in clean conditions. Best not to shuttle search a tape either - they're best if they're left to simply run.

The second and third run through should give you a tape that has shed all the minute bits of crud that could cause dropout, so a new Premium isn't as good in my view as a third time through one. Not only that, but I wouldn't shoot anything important with any untested kit, and that (of course) goes for the tape too).

tom.

What we've seen in the 1/2" computer tape business is that consistently using new tape is more stressful on the drives than using old tape. The tape slitting process exposes some hard particles along the edges of the tape that are quite abrasive and can accelerate wear on the tape guides. After a few passes the tape edges become burnished and no longer present a probem.

Big differences between makers re this initial abrasivity

For mini DV tape, I think the tape speed itself is so low that this wouldn't be an issue. Also I think the particle formulation is quite different. Tape guiding is also very different.

I would think from a drive point of view, running a new cartridge back and forth at high speed (ie fast forward and rewind before recording) would be the most stressful - as would linear editing with new stock. Fortunately, not much linear editing of DV these days!

I use the Maxell red tapes that I get for a good price at my local warehouse store. I've had very few problems with them over the years. As someone already said, get a quality tape and stick with it. I don't however reuse my tapes because I'm paranoid. I liken it to re-eating an apple..........ok that's not a good example.........

We have just completed capturing a 40 hours seminar on HDV (Canon xhA1).
We used Sony Premium ($3) tape..I am happy to report not one single drop out.