I know not to switch brands but is it also an issue to switch between various qualities of the Sony tapes?

I imagine that the HDV/DVCAM tapes are produced by a different company than the mini DV tapes so it might be just as bad as using a different brand.

Any advice?

I will use HDV/DVCAM tapes for actual projects because I shot about 12 hours of footage with the FX1 last month and I had one dropout.

It's not as big aproblem as you'd think. However, due to the new pitch, you probably want to consider shooting all your HDV on the Digital Master tapes. I've yet to experience a dropout with either tape format, but Sony has a pretty compelling story as to why these are a better tape. Granted, it's all marketing, but the substantially increased error correction and gain...it's likely worth it.

And remember, tape is the least expensive component of the production chain, so why not go with the best?

Yeah, in a way, it's kinda funny that the HDV or DVCam, or even DV shooter gripes about spending even as much as 18.00 on a tape, when HDCam tape is selling for4 times that on Ebay (new)
Spending 17.00 on a tape and getting some assurance/insurance is super cheap compared to spending 80.00 on what the rest of the industry is buying, and that's just for the 40 minute stuff.

$18.00 bucks???

Not anymore guys..... *CHEESE*

Down to 12 bucks or so, and dropping fast.

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/edgewisemedia/somidvhd63mi.html

Express Video Supply (where i go) is .50 cents more: http://www.evsonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=DVM63HD&Category_Code=1A1&Product_Count=15

Will likely end up around 7-9 bucks by the summer.

NOW...there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to use anything else in the HDV cameras.

- ShannonRawls.com

B&H at $13.95 for 1-9 pieces and $12.95 for 10 or more

$13.52 for DVM63HD

http://www.tapestockonline.com/somidvhd63mi.html