Is is really necessary to use one brand of tape?

[scamateur]

I have read in various places, mostly forums, that one should use only one brand of tape -- never changing, because differences in manufacturers' particles/lubricants/substrate/or something will cause damage or at least "gumming up" of video heads.

Is this an actual fact? Does anybody know of a credible technical reference that describes this phenomenon? Has anybody ever had this happen? Is this why the Fuji tapes didn't work well for me, or was that something else?

Or is this the tech equivalent of urban legend -- a fact "everybody" knows but nobody knows where it comes from?

Thanks, everyone!

PS: I DID search for this answer!

PPS: Sorry, I misspelled "is" in the title!

 

[bigbossbmb]

Yes, it is real.

Sony uses wet lube. Panasonic uses dry lube.

wet lube + dry lube = mud

mud is not good.

Is it really that hard to stick to one brand? Buy in bulk and don't worry about it.

 

[scamateur]

Not that I don't believe you -- I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think MacRumors forum members wouldn't give their usual solid advice -- but is there such a thing as a technical reference regarding this?

And, where do the other brands of tape fall? My Maxell Master tapes look like they could have been made on the same line as my Panasonic MQ's. And what about Fuji -- the only brand of tape I've ever had "issues" with?

I have a Sony camera; I probably should just buy the cheapest Sony tape in bulk, and be happy with it. Still, I like the idea of "dry," and I'm always thinking I should try to find the next, better, tape.

Thanks again!

 

[bigbossbmb]

Fuji tape is cheap... just don't use it.


There really isn't anything wrong with wet lube. I believe Maxell tapes are actually manufactured by Panasonic. There are only a couple of companies that manufacture tapes, Panasonic and Sony are the largest. If you've been using dry lube, by all means stick with that. There are cheap Panasonic tapes out there too. Realistically, all DV tapes are relatively inexpensive when you look at what they do. Where else can you get 13GB of good archival storage for a couple bucks. Disks get scratched, hard drives fail, tape last longer than both of them.

 

[killr_b]

Yes, it is real.

Sony uses wet lube. Panasonic uses dry lube.

wet lube + dry lube = mud

mud is not good.

Is it really that hard to stick to one brand? Buy in bulk and don't worry about it.

+1

Dry lube tapes also store for longer.
If you're going to use the tapes in pro gear, rented gear, or give it to an in-house place, use dry (professionals use dry).

I use only Panasonic AY-DVM63AMQ, since they discontinued AY-DVM63MQ a while ago. You can save a few bucks using the AY-DVM63PQ tapes.

 

[bigbossbmb]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/1A543a Safari/419.3)

I'm still pissed they stopped making the MQ tapes... They were right on the money for price/reliability.

 

[AviationFan]

(professionals use dry)

I must not be a professional then, since I use Sony tapes.

- Martin

 

[scamateur]

I've lately been using the PQ's. I'm sure they're fine, and I hope they'll last forever, but of course I'm always thinking there's something "more optimal" out there.

I really haven't researched the subject of who makes whose brand of tape. Like I said, the Maxell Master tapes I used looked externally like they were made side-by-side with the MQ's I had at the same time. For whatever that tells me.