Well it has to be genuine JVC branded, and this is not said by person who is connected with JVC and have a certain obligation of loyalty, as I have no connection to JVC! but its a known fact in service circles that most of the drive related problems associated with JVC camcorders only manifest themselves when brands other than JVC are used, and if brands other than mentioned are avoided then the user generally experiences the minimum of trouble. That of course meaning not more than normally experienced with any other brand of camcorder, as by the very nature of the miniature tape drive mechanisms involved camcorders can at times be troublesome, however it has to be said that JVC mechanisms ARE very sensitive to less than perfectly matched tapes.