On Sat, 29 Dec 2001 02:52:12 -0330, "Chris" wrote:
>"Neuman - Ruether" wrote in message
>news:3c2d4399.32340251@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu...
>> On Fri, 28 Dec 2001 23:07:35 -0330, "Chris"
>> wrote:

>> >"Don't change brands of tape"? I must have missed this. Somone care to
>> >reiterate as to why not? As I can't see it being an issue myself, unless
>the
>> >switch is from good tapes to piece of shit tapes... of course, I doubt
>there
>> >are many MiniDV tapes that are that are as low grade as low grade VHS?

>> ??????????????
>> This appears on average about once a week on these NGs...
>> Apparently different types of incompatible lubricants used
>> may "gum up th' works". If the original poster in this
>> thread would indicate whether or not he *now* has a problem,
>> having mixed tapes, that would be interesting data to
>> add to the pile (the manufacturers are mum on the subject,
>> but there have been reports of serious problems from
>> users...).

>Really? This is the first I've heard of it. Is this just a MiniDV issue? Has
>there been a definition of "incompatible lubricants" (Chemical)?

Check www.dejanews.com - Mini-DV tape brand mixing has
been a *very* common topic here and in the other video
NGs. Info on it is not definitive, and not official,
but enough people have encountered problems (sometimes
serious, requiring head replacement) that questions
remain... (other people report no problems, though).
Not long ago, Sony changed its tapes to type-II, and
rumor had it that this was to improve compatibility
with other brands (leaving the question of whether or
not mixing old and new Sony tape is a problem [it
seems to me that I did have more dropouts for a while
when using both new and old tapes...]).