You know,
I went over and over this age old debate when I got my DVX so I could stick to one brand for good. I shoot mostly docs for tv and indie stuff, and not a week went by when I had to run out and grab tapes or have a PA bring me tapes from some place random nearby and it always ended up being a sony. I know, I freaked because everything I ever read says get Panasonic since it's the same brand and dry lube, but it's not the lube. It's the CHANGING back and forth between lubes that'll screw your heads. My advice is to pick a brand and stick with it, Sony OR Panasonic. I Choose Sony after the first few days because I knew I'd be able to find them easier when I need one in a pinch and I didn't want to end up on a shoot with no tapes and a director saying "I don't care about your damn heads, we need to shoot and all we can find right now are sony". So I've shot hundreds of hours on my camera with ONLY Sony and never had a problem (knock on wood). That's my advice. Take it or leave it.
