A MiniDV Camcorder

Digital Video (DV) is a digital video format launched in 1994, and, in its smaller tape form factor MiniDV, has since become a standard for home and semiprofessional video production; it is sometimes used for professional purposes as well, such as filmmaking and electronic news gathering. The DV specification (originally known as the Blue Book, current official name IEC 61834) defines both the codec and the tape format. Features include intraframe compression for uncomplicated editing, a standard interface for transfer to non-linear editing systems (FireWire, also known as IEEE 1394), and good video quality, especially compared to earlier consumer analog formats such as 8 mm, Hi8 and VHS-C. DV now enables filmmakers to produce movies inexpensively, and is strongly associated with independent film and citizen journalism. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2592 × 1944 pixel, file size: 2 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Sony DV Handycam A camcorder is a portable electronic device for recording video images and audio onto an internal storage device. ... DV may mean: DV - a Digital Video tape format DV, an Icelandic newspaper. ... Digital video is a type of video recording system that works by using a digital, rather than analog, representation of the video signal. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... A film being made in Warsaw, Bracka street Filmmaking is the process of making a film. ... In 1974, Joseph Flaherty, then vice-president at CBS Inc. ... The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international standards organization dealing with electrical, electronic and related technologies. ... A codec is a device or program capable of performing encoding and decoding on a digital data stream or signal. ... Note: Please see National Latin Examination for the standardized test that is also abbreviated NLE. A non-linear editing system (abbreviated NLE) is a video editing or audio editing system that can perform random access on the source material. ... The 6-pin and 4-pin FireWire Connectors FireWire is Apple Inc. ... A Video8 cassette The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats for the NTSC and PAL/SECAM television systems. ... A Video8 cassette The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats for the NTSC and PAL/SECAM television systems. ... VHS-C is the compact VHS format used for portable video recorders. ... An independent film, or indie film, is usually a low-budget film that is produced by a small movie studio. ... Citizen journalism, also known as participatory journalism, is the act of citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information, according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris...

There have been some variants on the DV standard, most notably Sony's DVCAM and Panasonic's DVCPRO formats targeted at professional use. Sony's consumer Digital8 format is another variant, which is similar to DV but recorded on Hi8 tape. Other formats such as DVCPRO50 utilize DV25 encoders running in parallel. Digital-8 (or D8) is a consumer digital videotape format developed by Sony in the late 1990s. ...

MiniDV tapes can also be used to record a high-definition format called HDV in cameras designed for this codec, which differs significantly from DV on a technical level as it uses MPEG-2 compression. MPEG-2 is more efficient than the compression used in DV, in large part due to inter-frame/temporal compression.[1] This allows for higher resolution at bitrates similar to DV. On the other hand, the use of inter-frame compression can cause motion artifacts and complications in editing.[2] Nonetheless, HDV is being widely adopted for both consumer and professional purposes and is supported by many editing applications using either the native HDV format or intermediary editing codecs.[3] High Definition Video (HDV) is a video format designed to record compressed HDTV video on standard DV media (DV or MiniDV cassette tape). ... MPEG-2 is a standard for the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information [1]. It is widely used around the world to specify the format of the digital television signals that are broadcast by terrestrial (over-the-air), cable, and direct broadcast satellite TV systems. ...

Technical standards

Before compression

To avoid aliasing, optical low pass filtering is necessary (although not necessarily implemented in all camera designs). Essentially, blurry glass is used to add a small blur to the image. This prevents high-frequency information from getting through and causing aliasing. Low-quality lenses can also be considered a form of optical low pass filtering. Properly sampled image of brick wall. ...

Before arriving at the codec compression stage, light energy hitting the sensor is transduced into analog electrical signals. These signals are then converted into digital signal by an analog to digital converter (ADC or A/D). This signal is then processed by a digital signal processor (DSP) or custom ASIC and undergoes the following processes: This article or section should include material from AD converters In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (abbreviated ADC, A/D, or A to D) is a device that converts continuous signals to discrete digital numbers. ... A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor designed specifically for digital signal processing, generally in real-time. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Processing of raw input into (linear) RGB signals: For Bayer pattern-based sensors (i.e. sensors utilizing a single CCD or CMOS and color filters), the raw input has to be demosaiced. For Foveon-based designs, the signal has to be processed to remove cross-talk between the color layers. In pixel-shifted 3CCD designs, a process somewhat similar to de-mosaicing is applied to extract full resolution from the sensor. A demosaicing algorithm is a digital image process used to interpolate a complete image from the partial raw data received from the color-filtered image sensor internal to many digital cameras in form of a matrix of colored pixels. ... The Foveon X3 sensor is an image sensor for digital cameras produced by Foveon, Inc. ... 3CCD is a term used to describe an imaging system used used by some video camcorders. ...

Matrix (for colorimetry purposes): The digital values are matrixed to tweak the camera's color response to improve color accuracy and to make the values appropriate for the target colorimetry (SMPTE C, Rec. 709, or EBU phosphor chromaticities). For performance reasons, this matrix may be applied after gamma correction and combined with the matrix that converts R'G'B' to Y'CbCr.

Electronic white balance may be applied in this matrix, or in the matrix operation applied after gamma correction.

Gamma correction: Gamma correction is applied to the linear digital signal, following the Rec. 601 transfer function (a power function of ^1/0.45). Note that this increases the quantization error from before.

Matrix (R'G'B' to Y'CbCr conversion): This matrix converts the gamma-corrected R'G'B' values to Y'CbCr color space. Y'CbCr color space facilitates chroma subsampling. This operation introduces yet more quantization error, in large part due to a difference in the scale factors between the Y' and Cb and Cr components. The RGB color model utilizes the additive model in which red, green, and blue light are combined in various ways to create other colors. ... A colour image and the Y, Cb and Cr elements of it. ... In digital image processing, chroma subsampling is the use of lower resolution for the colour (chroma) information in an image than for the brightness (intensity or luma) information. ...

Chroma Subsampling: Since human vision has greater acuity for luminance than color, performance can be optimized by devoting greater bandwidth to luminance than color. Chroma subsampling approximates this by converting R'G'B' values into Y'CbCr color space. The Cb and Cr color difference components are stored at a lower resolution than the Y' (luma) component.

Sharpening is often used to counteract the effect of optical low pass filtering. Sharpening can be implemented via finite impulse response filters. A finite impulse response (FIR) filter is a type of a digital filter. ...

The data is now compressed using one of several algorithms including Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Adaptive Quantization (AQ), and Variable Length Coding (VLC). 2-D DCT compared to the DFT The discrete cosine transform (DCT) is a Fourier-related transform similar to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), but using only real numbers. ... In electronics, Adaptive Quantization is a quantization process that varies the step size based on the changes of the input signal, as a means of efficient compression. ...

Video compression

DV uses DCT intraframe compression at a fixed bitrate of 25 megabits per second (25.146 Mbit/s), which, when added to the sound data (1.536 Mbit/s), the subcode data, error detection, and error correction (approx 8.7 Mbit/s) amounts in all to roughly 36 megabits per second (approx 35.382 Mbit/s) or one Gigabyte every four minutes. At equal bitrates, DV performs somewhat better than the older MJPEG codec, and is comparable to intraframe MPEG-2. (Note that many MPEG-2 encoders for real-time acquisition applications only use intraframe compression [I-frames only], but not interframe compression [P and B frames].) DCT compression is lossy, and sometimes suffers from artifacting around small or complex objects such as text. 2-D DCT compared to the DFT The discrete cosine transform (DCT) is a Fourier-related transform similar to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), but using only real numbers. ... In telecommunications and computing, bitrate (sometimes written bit rate, data rate or as a variable Rbit) is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. ... The Megabit is a unit of information storage, abbreviated Mbit or sometimes Mb. ... The Megabit is a unit of information storage, abbreviated Mbit or sometimes Mb. ... A gigabyte (derived from the SI prefix giga-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one billion (short scale) bytes or 230 bytes (1024 mebibytes)[1]. It is commonly abbreviated GB (not to be confused with Gb, which is used for gigabits). ... Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) is an informal name for multimedia formats where each video frame or interlaced field of a digital video sequence is separately compressed as a JPEG image. ... MPEG-2 is a standard for the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information [1]. It is widely used around the world to specify the format of the digital television signals that are broadcast by terrestrial (over-the-air), cable, and direct broadcast satellite TV systems. ... A lossy data compression method is one where compressing a file and then decompressing it retrieves a file that may well be different to the original, but is close enough to be useful in some way. ...

Chroma subsampling

The chroma subsampling is 4:1:1 for NTSC, 4:1:1 for DVCPRO PAL, and 4:2:0 for other PAL. Not all analog formats are outperformed by DV. The Betacam SP format, for example, can still be desirable because it has slightly greater chroma fidelity and no digital artifacts. In digital image processing, chroma subsampling is the use of lower resolution for the colour (chroma) information in an image than for the brightness (intensity or luma) information. ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... Television encoding systems by nation. ... Sony Betacam-SP VTP BVW-65 Betacam and VHS size comparison Betacam SP L (top), Betacam SP S (left), VHS (right) The early form of Betacam tapes are interchangeable with Betamax, though the recordings are not. ...

Low chroma resolution is a reason why DV is sometimes avoided in applications where chroma-key will be used. Nevertheless, advances in keying software (i.e. the combination of chroma keying with difference keying techniques[4], chroma interpolation[5]) allows for reasonable quality keys from DV material. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: it is patent nonsense. ...

Audio

DV allows either 2 digital audio channels (usually stereo) at 16 bit resolution and 48 kHz sampling rate, or 4 digital audio channels at 12 bit resolution and 32 kHz sampling rate. For professional or broadcast applications, 48 kHz is used almost exclusively. In addition, the DV spec includes the ability to record audio at 44.1 kHz (the same sampling rate used for CD audio), although in practice this option is rarely used. DVCAM and DVCPRO both use locked audio while standard DV does not. This means that at any one point on a DV tape the audio may be +/- ⅓ frame out of sync with the video. However, this is the maximum drift of the audio/video sync; it is not compounded throughout the recording. In DVCAM and DVCPRO recordings the audio sync is permanently linked to the video sync. Label for 2. ... The sampling frequency or sampling rate defines the number of samples per second taken from a continuous signal to make a discrete signal. ...

Connectivity

The FireWire (aka IEEE 1394) serial data transfer bus is not a part of the DV specification, but co-evolved with it. Nearly all DV cameras have an IEEE 1394 interface and analog composite video and Y/C outputs. High end DV VTRs may have additional professional outputs such as SDI, SDTI or analog component video. All DV variants have a timecode, but some older or consumer computer applications fail to take advantage of it. Some camcorders also feature a USB2 port for computer connection, but these are sometimes not capable of capturing the DV stream in full detail, and are instead used primarily for transferring certain digital data from the camcorder such as still pictures and computer-format video files (such as MPEG4-encoded video). This carries Audio Video and Control Signals. The 6-pin and 4-pin FireWire Connectors FireWire is Apple Inc. ... Composite video is the format of an analog television (picture only) signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. ... S-Video (also known as Y/C) is a baseband analog video format offering a higher quality signal than composite video, but a lower quality than RGB and component video. ... A video tape recorder (VTR), is a tape recorder that can record video material. ... The Serial Digital Interface (SDI), standardized in ITU-R BT.656 and SMPTE 259M, is a digital video interface used for broadcast-grade video. ... Serial Data Transport Interface (SMPTE 305M) is a way of transmitting data packets over a SDI datastream. ... Three cables, each with RCA plugs at both ends, are often used to carry analog component video Component video is a video signal that has been split into two or more components. ... Timecode is also the title of a 2000 film directed by Mike Figgis which was shot in one continuous take. ... Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ... MPEG-4, introduced in 1998, is the designation for a group of audio and video coding standards agreed upon by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). ...

On computers, DV streams are usually stored in container formats such as MXF, AVI or QuickTime. Material eXchange Format (MXF) is a container format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. ... AVI, an acronym for Audio Video Interleave, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992, as part of the Video for Windows technology. ... QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc. ...

Physical format

DV cassettes
Left to right: DVCAM-L, DVCPRO-M, MiniDV

The DV format uses "L-size" cassettes, while MiniDV cassettes are called "S-size". Both MiniDV and DV tapes can come with a low capacity embedded memory chip (MIC) (most commonly, a scant 4 Kbit for MiniDV cassettes, but the system supports up to 16 Kbit). This embedded memory can be used to quickly sample stills from edit points (for example, each time the record button on the camcorder is pressed when filming, a new "scene" timecode is entered into memory). DVCPRO has no "S-size", but an additional "M-size" as well as an "XL-size" for use with DVCPRO HD VTRs. All DV variants use a tape that is ¼ inch (6.35 mm) wide. Download high resolution version (1606x1164, 301 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1606x1164, 301 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ...

MiniDV

A size comparison between video formats
Top to bottom: VHS, VHS-C, MiniDV

The "L" cassette is about 120 × 90 × 12 mm and can record up to 4.6 hours of video (6.9 hours in EP/LP). The better known MiniDV "S" cassettes are 65 × 48 × 12 mm and hold either 60 or 90 minutes of video (11 GB) depending on whether the video is recorded at Standard Play (SP) or Extended Play (sometimes called Long Play) (EP/LP). 80 minute tapes that use thinner tape are also available and can record 120 minutes of video in EP/LP mode. The tapes sell for as little as US$3.00 each in quantity as of 2006. DV on SP has a helical scan track width of 10 micrometres, while EP uses a track width of only 6.7 micrometres. Since the tolerances are much tighter, the recorded tape may not play back properly or at all on other devices. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1020x610, 16 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): DV VHS-C ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1020x610, 16 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): DV VHS-C ... Bottom view of VHS cassette with magnetic tape exposed Top view of VHS cassette with front casing removed The Video Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS is a recording and playing standard for analog video cassette recorders (VCRs), developed by Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC) and launched... VHS-C is the compact VHS format used for portable video recorders. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... The head drum of a Hi-Fi NTSC VHS VCR; three of the six heads face the reader. ... A micrometre (American spelling: micrometer, symbol µm) is an SI unit of length equal to one millionth of a metre, or about a tenth of the diameter of a droplet of mist or fog. ...

A miniDV tape that has been taken apart

Software is currently available for ordinary home computers which allows users to record any sort of computer data on MiniDV cassettes using common DV decks or camcorders. A 60-minute MiniDV tape will hold approximately 13 Gigabytes of data in this form of usage as the DV video format has a constant data rate of 3.6 Megabytes per second (3.6 MB/s × 60 seconds × 60 minutes = 12,960 MB per hour, divided by 1024 = 12.66 GB per hour).[6] Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... A gigabyte (derived from the SI prefix giga-) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one billion (short scale) bytes or 230 bytes (1024 mebibytes)[1]. It is commonly abbreviated GB (not to be confused with Gb, which is used for gigabits). ...

Though originally intended for the consumer market as a high-quality replacement for VHS, L-size DV cassettes are largely nonexistent in the consumer market, and are generally used only in professional settings. Even in professional markets, most DV camcorders support only MiniDV, though many professional DV VTRs support both sizes of tape.

DVCAM

Sony's DVCAM is a professional variant of the DV standard that uses the same cassettes as DV and MiniDV, but transports the tape 50% faster. This leads to a higher track width of 15 micrometres. This variant uses the same codec as regular DV. However, the greater track width lowers the chances of dropout errors. The LP mode of consumer DV is not supported. All DVCAM recorders and cameras can play back DV material, but DVCPRO support was only recently added to some models like DSR-1800, DSR-2000, DSR-1600. DVCAM tapes (or DV tapes recorded in DVCAM mode) have their recording time reduced by one third.

DVCPRO

Panasonic specifically created the DVCPRO family for electronic news gathering (ENG) use, with better linear editing capabilities and robustness. It has an even greater track width of 18 micrometres and uses another tape type (Metal Particle instead of Metal Evaporated). Additionally, the tape has a longitudinal analog audio cue track. Audio is only available in the 16 bit/48 kHz variant, there is no EP mode, and DVCPRO always uses 4:1:1 color subsampling (even in PAL mode). Apart from that, standard DVCPRO (also known as DVCPRO25) is otherwise identical to DV at a bitstream level. However, unlike Sony, Panasonic chose to promote its DV variant for professional high-end applications. In 1974, Joseph Flaherty, then vice-president at CBS Inc. ... Linear video editing is the process of selecting, arranging and modifying the images and sound recorded on video tape whether captured by a video camera or recorded in a studio. ...

DVCPRO50 is often described as two DV-codecs in parallel. The DVCPRO50 standard doubles the coded video bitrate from 25 Mbit/s to 50 Mbit/s, and uses 4:2:2 chroma subsampling instead of 4:1:1. DVCPRO50 was created for high-value ENG compatibility. The higher datarate cuts recording time in half (compared to DVCPRO25), but the resulting picture quality is reputed to rival Digital Betacam. Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videotape formats developed by Sony from 1982 onwards. ...

DVCPRO HD, also known as DVCPRO100, uses four parallel codecs and a coded video bitrate of approximately 100 Mbit/s, depending on the format flavour. DVCPRO HD encodes using 4:2:2 color sampling. DVCPRO HD prefilters the 720p image from the DSP to a recorded size of 960x720, and 1080i is prefiltered to 1280x1080 for 59.94i and 1440x1080 for 50i. This is a common technique, utilized in most tape-based HD formats such as HDCam and HDV. The final DCT compression ratio is approximately 6.7:1. To maintain compatibility with HDSDI, DVCPRO100 equipment upsamples video during playback. A camcorder using a special variable-framerate (from 4 to 60 frame/s) variant of DVCPRO HD called VariCam is also available. All these variants are backward compatible but not forward compatible. There is also a DVCPRO HD EX format, which runs the tape at slower speed, resulting in twice as long recording times. DVCPRO-HD is codified as SMPTE 370M; the DVCPRO-HD tape format is SMPTE 371M, and the MXF Op-Atom format used for DVCPRO-HD on P2 cards is SMPTE 390M. Serial Digital Interface (SDI), standardized in ITU-R 656, is a digitized video format used for broadcast grade video. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Forward compatibility (sometimes confused with extensibility) is the ability of a system to accept input intended for later versions of itself. ...

DVCPRO cassettes are always labeled with a pair of run times, the smaller of the two being the capacity for DVCPRO50. A "M" tape can hold up to 66/33 minutes of video. The color of the lid indicates the format: DVCPRO tapes have a yellow lid, longer "L" tapes made specially for DVCPRO50 have a blue lid and DVCPRO HD tapes have a red lid. The formulation of the tape is the same, and the tapes are interchangeable between formats. The running time of each tape is 1x for DVCPRO, 2x for DVCPRO 50, 2x for DVCPRO HD EX, and 4x for DVCPRO HD, since the tape speed changes between formats. Thus a tape made 126 minutes for DVCPRO will last approximately 32 minutes in DVCPRO HD.

Memory in cassette

Some MiniDV cassettes have a small memory chip referred to as memory in cassette (MIC). Cameras and recording decks can record any data desired onto this chip including a contents list, times and dates of recordings, and camera settings used. It is EEPROM memory using the I²C protocol. The members of the MIC range are available in two forms: I²C is a multi-master serial computer bus invented by Philips that is used to attach low-speed peripherals to a motherboard, embedded system, or cellphone. ...

• The MIC-R family

The MIC-R family works with serial EEPROM capacities between 1 Kbit and 8 Kbit (the I²C-compatible EEPROM devices: M24C01, M24C02, M24C04 and M24C08).

• The MIC-S family

The MIC-S family works with serial EEPROM capacities greater or equal to 16 Kbit (the XI2C-compatible EEPROM devices: M24C16, M24C32 and M24C64).

Both families are compliant with the DV standard. For detailed information see datasheet: Serial I²C bus EEPROM (STMicroelectronics).

MIC functionality is not widely used on the consumer level; most tapes available to consumers do not even include the chip, which adds substantially to the price of each cassette.

Other digital formats

Digital video dates back to 1986, with the creation of the uncompressed D-1 format for professional use (although several professional video manufacturers such as Sony, Ampex, RCA, and Bosch had experimentally developed prototype digital video recorders dating back to the late 1970s). Sonys D1 format was the first major professional digital video format, introduced in 1987. ... Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $68. ... Ampex is based in Redwood City, California. ... RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by RCA Trademark Management S.A. [1], owned by Thomson SA. The trademark is used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson SA, which manufactures consumer electronics like RCA-branded televisions... Logo of Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH [1] is a German corporation which was started in 1886 by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart, Germany. ...

Sony has several digital specifications for professional use, the most common for standard definition use being Digital Betacam, a distant descendant of the Betamax products of the 1970s thru 1990s from which it received only some mechanical aspects, notably the form of the cassette. (Betamax itself descended from Sony's U-Matic ¾ inch videocassette system.) Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videotape formats developed by Sony from 1982 onwards. ... Sonys Betamax is the 12. ...

JVC's D-9 format (also known as Digital-S) is very similar to DVCPRO50, but records on videocassettes in the S-VHS form factor. (NOTE: D-9 is not to be confused with D-VHS, which uses MPEG-2 compression at a significantly lower bitrate.) Victor Company of Japan, Limited ) (TYO: 6792 ), usually referred to as JVC, is an international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927. ... Digital-S or D-9 is a 4:2:2 digital video format from JVC. It is very similar to DVCPRO50, but records on videocassettes in the S-VHS form factor. ... Digital-S or D-9 is a 4:2:2 digital video format from JVC. It is very similar to DVCPRO50, but records on videocassettes in the S-VHS form factor. ... Introduced in Japan in 1987, S-VHS (Super VHS) was an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer video cassette recorders. ... D-VHS logo “DVHS” redirects here. ... MPEG-2 is a standard for the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information [1]. It is widely used around the world to specify the format of the digital television signals that are broadcast by terrestrial (over-the-air), cable, and direct broadcast satellite TV systems. ...

The Digital8 standard uses the DV codec, but replaces the recording medium with the older Hi8 videocassette. Digital8 theoretically offers DV's digital quality, without sacrificing playback of existing analog Video8/Hi8 recordings. However, in practice the maximum quality of the format is unlikely to be achieved, since Digital8 is largely confined to low-end consumer camcorders. It is also a semi-proprietary format, being manufactured exclusively by Sony (although Hitachi also made Digital8 camcorders briefly). Digital-8 (or D8) is a consumer digital videotape format developed by Sony in the late 1990s. ... A codec is a device or program capable of performing encoding and decoding on a digital data stream or signal. ... A 8mm Camcorder The 8mm Video Format (official name: Video8) is a type of video cassette recorder and video tape. ...

DVD was originally created as a distribution format, but recordable DVDs quickly became available. Camcorders using miniDVD media are fairly common on the consumer level, but due to difficulties with editing the MPEG-2 data stream, they are not widely used in professional settings. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... DVD recordable and DVD rewritable refer to DVD optical disc formats that can be recorded (written, burned), either write once or rewritable (write multiple times) format written by laser, as compared to DVD-ROM, which is mass-produced by pressing. ... There are two types of MiniDVD cDVD, which are 80-mm versions of the 120-mm DVD mini-DVD, which are standard CDs filled with the DVD-video format // cDVD A Mini-DVD-RAM with DVD Round Holder. ...

Sony also made a format called MicroMV, which stored MPEG-2 video on a matchbox-sized tape. Due to lack of platform support and the difficulties of editing MPEG-2 video, MicroMV never became popular and was discontinued by 2005. MICROMV camcorder and tape (top) compared to miniDV and Hi8 tapes MicroMV was a videotape format introduced in 2001 by Sony. ...

Ikegami's Editcam System can record in DVCPRO or DVCPRO50 format on a removable hard disk. Ikegami Tsushinki Co. ... Editcam is a professional digital camera system manufactered by Ikegami and first introduced in 1995, available both as professional camcorders and modular dock recorders. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ...

Panasonic's P2 system uses recording of DV/ DVCPRO/ DVCPRO50/ DVCPROHD streams in an MXF wrapper on PC card-compatible flash memory cards. DVCPRO P2 (P2 is short form for Professional Plug-In) is a professional digital video format introduced by Panasonic in 2004, and especially tailored to ENG applications. ... The PCMCIA is the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association, an industry trade association that creates standards for notebook computer peripheral devices. ... A USB flash drive. ...

Sony's XDCAM format allows recording of MPEG IMX, DVCAM and low resolution streams in an MXF wrapper on a Sony ProDATA disc, an optical medium similar to a Blu-ray Disc. Sony has also, in cooperation with Panasonic, created AVCHD, a medium-independent codec for consumer high definition video; it is currently used on camcorders containing hard disks and DVD-R drives for storage. XDCAM Disc XDCAM is an optical disk based professional video system introduced by Sony in 2003. ... Material eXchange Format (MXF) is a container format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. ... Professional Disc for DATA (PDD or ProDATA) is a recordable optical disc format which was introduced by Sony in 2003. ... A Blu-ray Disc (also called BD) is a defunct high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital media, and is no longer used, the media that is intended for use of Blu-ray includes high-definition video and Whiney Sony fanboys. ... AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) is a new high definition recording format introduced by Sony and Panasonic. ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... A DVD+R disc The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

Application software support

Most DV players, editors and encoders only support the basic DV format, but not its professional versions. DV Audio/Video data can be stored as raw DV data stream file (data is written to a file as the data is received over FireWire, file extensions are .dv and .dif) with all DV meta-information preserved or the DV data can be packed into AVI container files (this only preserves audio and video, not meta data). AVI, an acronym for Audio Video Interleave, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992, as part of the Video for Windows technology. ...

Most Windows video software only supports DV packed into AVI containers, as they use Microsoft's avifile.dll, which only supports reading avi files. A few notable exceptions exist: Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of proprietary software operating systems by Microsoft. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ...

• The Apple Inc.'s QuickTime Player: QuickTime by default only decodes DV to half of the resolution to preserve processing power for editing capabilities. However, in the "Pro" version the setting "High Quality" under "Show Movie Properties" enables full resolution playback.

• The VLC media player (Free software): full decoding quality
• MPlayer (also with GUI under Windows): full decoding quality
• muvee Technologies autoProducer 4.0: Allows editing using FireWire IEEE 1394

Type 1 and Type 2 DV AVI files Apple Inc. ... QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc. ... VLC media player is a free software (GPL) media player by the VideoLAN project. ... Clockwise from top: The logo of the GNU Project (the GNU head), the Linux kernel mascot Tux the Penguin, and the FreeBSD daemon Free software is a term coined by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation[1] to refer to software that can be used, studied, and modified without... This article is about the open source media player. ... muvee Technologies is a Singapore-based software company specializing in automated video editing software for the consumer PC market. ... The 6-pin and 4-pin FireWire Connectors FireWire is Apple Inc. ... A 6-Pin Firewire 400 connector FireWire (also known as i. ...

There are two types of DV-AVI files:

• Type 1: The multiplexed Audio-Video is kept in its original multiplexing and saved together into the Video section of the AVI file
  • Does not waste much space (audio is saved uncompressed, but even uncompressed audio is tiny compared to the video part of DV), but Windows applications based on the VfW API do not support it.
• Type 2: Like type 1, but audio is also saved as an additional audio stream into the file.
  • Supported by VfW applications, at the price of little increased file size.

Type 1 is actually the newer of the two types. Microsoft made the "type" designations, and decided to name their older VfW-compatible version "Type 2", which only furthered confusion about the two types. In the late 1990s through early 2000s, most professional-level DV software, including non-linear editing programs, only supported Type 1. One notable exception was Adobe Premiere, which only supported Type 2. High-end FireWire controllers usually captured to Type 1 only, while "consumer" level controllers usually captured to Type 2 only. Software is and was available for converting Type 1 AVIs to Type 2, and vice-versa, but this is a time-consuming process. Video for Windows was a multimedia technology developed by Microsoft that allowed Microsoft Windows to play digital video. ... An application programming interface (API) is a source code interface that a computer system or program library provides to support requests for services to be made of it by a Length. ... Adobe Premiere is the old name of the video editing software Adobe Premiere Pro. ...

Many current FireWire controllers still only capture to one or the other type. However, almost all current DV software supports both Type 1 and Type 2 editing and rendering, including Adobe Premiere. Thus, many of today's users are unaware of the fact that there are two types of DV AVI files. In any event, the debate continues as to which – Type 1 or Type 2 – if either, is better.

Mixing tapes from different manufacturers

There is controversy over whether or not using tapes from different manufacturers can lead to dropouts.[7][8][9] The problem theoretically occurs when incompatible lubricants on tapes of different types combine to become tacky and deposit on tape heads. This problem was supposedly fixed in 1997 when manufacturers reformulated their lubricants, but users still report problems several years later. Much of the evidence relating to this issue is anecdotal or hearsay. In one case, a representative of a manufacturer (unintentionally) provided incorrect information about their tape products, stating that one of their tape lines used "wet" lubricant instead of "dry" lubricant.[10] The issue is complicated by OEM arrangements: a single manufacturer may make tape for several different brands, and a brand may switch manufacturers.

It is unclear whether or not this issue is still relevant, but as a general rule many DV experts recommend sticking with one brand of tape.

See also

• Digital8
• Camcorder
• MPEG
• Video quality
• Formats:
  • HDV and its variant, ProHD
  • MicroMV
  • DVD

Digital-8 (or D8) is a consumer digital videotape format developed by Sony in the late 1990s. ... Sony DV Handycam A camcorder is a portable electronic device for recording video images and audio onto an internal storage device. ... The Moving Picture Experts Group or MPEG is a working group of ISO/IEC charged with the development of video and audio encoding standards. ... Video quality is a characteristic of video passed through a video processing system. ... High Definition Video (HDV) is a video format designed to record compressed HDTV video on standard DV media (DV or MiniDV cassette tape). ... ProHD is JVCs extension of the HDV video format, and adds provision for 24p (24 frames per second, progressive scan. ... MICROMV camcorder and tape (top) compared to miniDV and Hi8 tapes MicroMV was a videotape format introduced in 2001 by Sony. ... DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

External links

• Adam Wilt's DV page with in-depth technical information
• Digital Video Information Network messageboards
• Technical Documentation on the storage of DV data in AVI files: short and in detail