Searching finds a lot more than expected

Question

I'm trying to find specific files which belong to a certain "Tape Name." I have entered multiple tape names in the "Tape Name" field in the metadata. When I search for the term:
2012-07-29
which is used in about half of my "Tape Name" fields, and almost certainly a unique term, the search result finds nearly everything, including items labeled:
2012-08-01 Wed plus earlier- Sony
I've dug around to be sure that there aren't some rogue comments that have the exact search string above, but there aren't.
Simply put, it should only find about 300 files, but instead finds about 700.  What am I missing?

Answer 1

Even if I add a special character to the search (and to one of the clips), it still finds nearly all videos
2012-07-29$
will find:
2012-07-29$ Mon and Tues- Sony
and
2012-08-01 Wed plus earlier- Sony  (total 800 files, of what should be 1)
On the other hand, if I add "this is a te$$t" to one of the metadata fields in one video clip, a search for
this is a te$$t
will return exactly one video, as expected.
In other words, for the first search, I'm certain that all of the other 799 files do NOT have a "$" in the metadata anywhere, and certainly not in the above order.