I use the SONY HD MiniDV

I use the SONY HD MiniDV tapes model DVM63. These are very high quality tapes and are not cheap, but then I have never had a problem with them.

For just shooting family videos I often use the Panasonic MiniDV and they work well too and are less expensive than the SONY HD tapes.  But when shooting for a customer I always use the higher quality SONY HD MiniDV tapes.

You can get the SONY tapes at many places inculding Best Buy.