I have to say.. where I lack in experience of camcorders I strive in the little things! :) mini dv tapes! lol I've bought all kinds of minidv tapes from JVC, Panasonic, TDK to Sony.. and I've gotta say.. that they all work fine.. as long as you take care of them! Even the Costco ones work fine but you know for the price your not getting what a Sony PREM. grade can give you! And don't forget to use that handy lock feature on all yoru tapes becuase its horrible going through 50 tapes trying to find something that you taped over! :)


I have to comment tho... I'm pretty sure I've been treating my Sony Premium class tapes right but.. uhhh... for some reason I've got messed up frames after not touching them and looking at them after 5 months! I* think its due to, the lighting in my room and me exposing my tapes in their cases to my room lighting? But that seems very slim to none!

So.. with my stupid theory I keep my tapes in dark area's!

Maxell has worked for me
 

I standardized on Maxell from the very start with my VX-2000. I had mixed TDK and Maxell with my Optura Pi and eventually had to send the camcorder back to Canon when the tape path got so sticky that the tapes would no longer load. Since then I have only used one brand (Maxell) in both camcorders without problem. Although there may be more durable tapes on the market, I have never had one problem with the Maxell tapes. Of course, I usually don't use the tapes more than a few times, as I typically keep the source footage around for 12 months after the project is complete. Hence the same tapes don't get used over and over again. BTW, I'd hate to try to switch tape brands now, as I probably have 100+ Maxell tapes in my inventory...

Hmmm, I never ever tried Maxell.

I used Maxell once when a client forgot the tapes he was supposed to supply for the shoot. The quality of the tape seemed fine but the cassette shell was much flimsier than the Panasonics I normally use.

I have used Fuji before and have had a few that have gotten a digital mix-up. One of them the whole tape would not play back right, when I watched the counter it would play in 6 sec sections.
I was using a friends XL1 so maybe it was from using two different brands. That shoot I had used about 5 tapes and the first one was the only one with the problem. Is there a way to test the tape before using it, maybe rec 60 sec, to see if there are any problems with it.

mini dv tapes
 

I will be getting a VX2000 and I think I will use sony brand tapes.
Is it a good idea to FF and RW a new tape, to tighten and for any loose particles to fall off? If so, is it best to use a rewinder or just the cam? would all those lost particles be left in the cam?
Does anyone black out your tapes? ( mini dv or vhs) or just black out the first 60 sec..