Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

"Do I need to buy tapes labeled HDV for my HDV camcorder, or will the MiniDV tapes work in my HDV camcorder too?"

While people have differing opinions on the quality of various MiniDV and HDV tapes, in general, the tape cartridge format and the tape used in MiniDV and HDV tapes are exactly the same. Putting the HDV label on the packaging is a marketing gimmick. You could buy tapes labeled HDV and use them in a MiniDV camcorder. Or you could buy tapes labeled MiniDV and use them in an HDV camcorder. The one thing you want to be careful about is consistently using tapes with the same type of lubricant.

There are two types of tape lubricant: wet lubricant and dry lubricant. Sony uses a wet lubricant for Sony brand tapes. Virtually everyone else uses dry lubricant. The reason you don't want to mix and match these lubricants is you'll gunk up the heads on your camcorder when the two lubricants mix. It's like making little mud pies in the internal workings of your camcorder. The easiest way to avoid mixing the two lubricants is to pick a brand and stick with it. If you do happen to mix tapes with differing lubricant types, be sure to clean the heads on your camcorder to prevent any permanent damage.