Many have fought this issue until they were blue in the face. And still, no one has a definitive answer because of secret industry links, trade secrets and other fun stuff.

It's the never-ending argument of "to mix tape brands, or not to mix tape brands." There have been horror stories of people mixing tape brands in their camcorders, only to have the tape be mangled, eaten, no signal on the tape, or "head clog" messages coming up if you're lucky enough to encounter one during a once-in-a-lifetime taping.

Does this issue apply to you?

The issue pertains only to Metal Evaporated tape, which miniDV and DVCAM use. Metal Particle tape (DVCPRO/Betacam/etc.) do not suffer from this "lubricant" issue.

How do I know if I have a head clog?

Head clogs are caused by blockage of the read/write head by dust, debris or residue buildup from lubricants on tapes. The latter is the issue of question.

Profesional cameras, and even some consumer cameras have head clog warnings that will be displayed in the viewfinder or somewhere else on the camera. If you don't know whether your camera has head clog warnings (ahhem Sony DSR-250), just remember that when you stop recording, look at the timecode counter. If it resets back to zero, you have a problem.

Head clog warnings happen when you stop recording and the tape backtracks a little bit to provide that clean cut when you press record again. The deck tries to read timecode so it can continue its frame-accurate counting, and if the data-read error rate is very high during this read time, then the head clog error is displayed. So unless you have record-confidence heads (and I know of no camera in the DV format that has them,) then the only time a head clog message will show is when you stop the tape. That means yes, you may very well have a head-clog in the middle of a taping.

DV head clogs are displayed as a set of 5 horizontal bands across the screen. Without being too technical, DV drums have two heads that swipe the tape at 9000RPM. If one of them becomes clogged, then you will have 5 frozen horizontal bands across the screen.

Note head clogs are different from dropouts, which appear as simple blips in the picture and disappear. A clogged head is a very distinct and noticable error.

Sometimes head clogs are permanent (until you run a cleaning cycle) and some are temporary as the debris gets polished away by the spinning heads and running tape.

DVCAM

Sony DVCAM users do not typically suffer from the lubrication problem as Sony is the main supplier of DVCAM tapes.

As of Fall 2002, Fuji has also started to manufacture DVCAM tapes, but that's all - Sony and Fuji. I haven't had (DSR-300 / DSR-570) or heard of any horrors mixing Sony and Fuji DVCAM tape stock.

DVCPRO

Panasonic DVCPRO tapes although using the same 6mm wide tape, uses Metal Particle tape, not Metal Evaporated tape like DV or DVCAM. Therefore, it does not suffer from the lubricant issue.

"Extended" tapes - 83min

I advise against use of "extended" tapes such as 83minute tapes. Normal DV tape is 7 microns in thickness. These "extended" tapes are physically thinner than normal tapes and thus are more susceptible to tape jams, stretching or other undesired consequences.

Standard miniDV tapes have a 63 minute load
Standard DV tapes have a 276 minute load

 

My Experience

So far, I've run hundreds of hours with exclusively Fuji tapes in my JVC DV500 without any problems. I clean the heads for 5 seconds with a miniDV cleaning tape every 50 hours of use. Why did I go Fuji? Out of experience, I've used them for their S-VHS stock and just stuck with them. Don't fix what ain't broke. Otherwise, I have no evidence that says any manufacturer is necessarily better or worse.

My non-scientific conclusion

You can essentially mix any tape except for Sony. If you use Sony, stick with Sony and don't use anything else and vice versa.

Run a tape cleaner before switching tape brands. When you run a tape cleaner, do not run it for more than 5 seconds at a time, and certainly do not run it more than twice consecutively. Tape cleaners are abrasive and any use longer than 10-15 seconds will surely lead to premature head wear. Besides, if it takes longer than that to clean the heads, you probably have bigger problems than a clogged tape head.

This is a tech bulletin from Maxell in PDF format, reprinted with permission.

Major miniDV tapes and their lubricant type.