I first came across this issue back in ’02 when I was working with a large production facility. They had panasonic VTR’s for their high-end stuff and portable sony VTR’s for their low-end projects. There was a constant clamor about sony tapes in panasonic gear, ‘sony leaves particles on heads and are abrasive.’ Well any magnetic tape leaves particles and the friction moving across a tape head is abrasive (that’s why they made head cleaners.) I’ve talked to broadcast engineers who deal with this stuff and they’re split on this. I haven’t noticed any problems though I primarily use panasonic pro grade tape and on occasion use sony. All I can add is just to do regular head cleanings according to the manufacturer’s recommendations and you should be just fine.
