DV

DVCPRO compatibility mark

Tracks on DVCPRO tape (in Russian)

DVCPRO VTR or VCR

DVCPRO, also known as DVCPRO25, is a variation of DV developed by Panasonic and introduced in 1995 for use in electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment.

Unlike baseline DV, DVCPRO uses locked audio, meaning the audio sample clock runs in sync with the video sample clock, and 4:1:1 chroma subsampling for both 50 Hz and 60 Hz variants to decrease generation losses.[12] Audio is available in 16-bit/48 kHz precision.

When recorded to tape, DVCPRO uses wider track pitch - 18 μm vs. 10 μm of baseline DV, which reduces the chance of dropout errors during recording. Two extra longitudinal tracks provide support for audio cue and for timecode control. Tape is transported 80% faster compared to baseline DV, resulting in shorter recording time. Long Play mode is not available.

DVCPRO50 compatibility mark

Panasonic AJ-D950 DVCPRO50 VCR

Panasonic AJ-D95DC VCR

DVCPRO50 was introduced by Panasonic in 1997 for high-value electronic news gathering and digital cinema, and is often described as two DV codecs working in parallel.

The DVCPRO50 doubles the coded video data rate to 50 Mbit/s. This has the effect of cutting total record time of any given storage medium in half. Chroma resolution is improved by using 4:2:2 chroma subsampling.

DVCPRO50 was used in many productions where high definition video was not required. For example, BBC used DVCPRO50 to record high-budget TV series, such as Space Race (2005) and Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006).

A similar format, D-9 (or Digital-S), offered by JVC, uses videocassettes with the same form-factor as VHS.

Comparable high quality standard definition digital tape formats include Sony's Digital Betacam, launched in 1993, and MPEG IMX, launched in 2001.

DVCPRO Progressive mark

DVCPRO Progressive was introduced by Panasonic for news gathering, sports journalism and digital cinema. It offered 480 or 576 lines of progressive scan recording with 4:2:0 chroma subsampling and four 16-bit 48 kHz PCM audio channels. Like HDV-SD, it was meant as an intermediate format during the transition time from standard definition to high definition video.[13][14]

The format offered six modes for recording and playback: 16:9 progressive (50 Mbit/s), 4:3 progressive (50 Mbit/s), 16:9 interlaced (50 Mbit/s), 4:3 interlaced (50 Mbit/s), 16:9 interlaced (25 Mbit/s), 4:3 interlaced (25 Mbit/s).[15]

The format has been superseded by DVCPRO HD.

DVCPRO HD compatibility mark

DVCPRO HD camcorder

DVCPRO HD, also known as DVCPRO100, is a high-definition video format that can be thought of as four DV codecs that work in parallel. Video data rate depends on frame rate and can be as low as 40 Mbit/s for 24 frame/s mode and as high as 100 Mbit/s for 50/60 frame/s modes. Like DVCPRO50, DVCPRO HD employs 4:2:2 color sampling.

DVCPRO HD uses smaller raster size than broadcast high definition television: 960x720 pixels for 720p, 1280x1080 for 1080/59.94i and 1440x1080 for 1080/50i. Similar horizontal downsampling (using rectangular pixels) is used in many other magnetic tape-based HD formats such as HDCAM. To maintain compatibility with HD-SDI, DVCPRO100 equipment upsamples video during playback.

Variable framerates (from 4 to 60 frame/s) are available on VariCam camcorders. DVCPRO HD equipment offers backward compatibility with older DV/DVCPRO formats.

When recorded to tape in standard-play mode, DVCPRO HD uses the same 18 μm track pitch as other DVCPRO flavors. A long play variant, DVCPRO HD-LP, doubles the recording density by using 9 μm track pitch.

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.

While technically DVCPRO HD is a direct descendant of DV, it is used almost exclusively by professionals. Tape-based DVCPRO HD cameras exist only in shoulder mount variant.

A similar format, Digital-S (D-9 HD), was offered by JVC and used videocassettes with the same form-factor as VHS.

The main competitor to DVCPRO HD was HDCAM, offered by Sony. It uses a similar compression scheme but at higher bitrate.

DVCAM compatibility mark

In 1996 Sony responded with its own professional version of DV called DVCAM.[16]

Like DVCPRO, DVCAM uses locked audio, which prevents audio synchronization drift that may happen on DV if several generations of copies are made.[17]

When recorded to tape, DVCAM uses 15 μm track pitch, which is 50% wider compared to baseline. Accordingly, tape is transported 50% faster, which reduces recording time by one third compared to regular DV. Because of the wider track and track pitch, DVCAM has the ability to do a frame-accurate insert edit, while regular DV may vary by a few frames on each edit compared to the preview.

Digital8 is a combination of the tape transport originally designed for analog Video8 and Hi8 formats with the DV codec. Digital8 equipment records in DV format only, but usually can playback Video8 and Hi8 tapes as well.

MiniDV mark

DV was originally designed for recording onto magnetic tape. Tape is enclosed into videocassette of four different sizes: small, medium, large and extra-large. All DV cassettes use ¼ inch (6.35 mm) wide tape.

Small cassettes (66 x 48 x 12.2 mm),[21] also known as S-size or DVC or MiniDV cassettes, had been intended for amateur use, but have become accepted in professional productions as well. MiniDV cassettes are used for recording baseline DV, DVCAM, and HDV. These cassettes come in lengths up to about 14~20.8GB for 63 or 90min minutes of DV or HDV video.[22] When recording in DVCAM, these cassettes hold up to 41 minutes of video. There are some 83-minute versions but these use thinner tape than the 63-minute ones, and Panasonic advised against playing these cassettes in DVCPRO decks.

Medium or M-size cassettes (97.5 × 64.5 × 14.6 mm),[21] which are about the size of eight-millimeter cassettes, are used in professional Panasonic equipment and are often called DVCPRO tapes. Panasonic video recorders that accept medium cassette can play back from and record to medium cassette in different flavors of DVCPRO format; they will also play small cassettes containing DV or DVCAM recording via an adapter. These cassettes come in lengths up to 66 minutes for DVCPRO, 33 minutes for DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD-LP, and 16 minutes for the original DVCPRO HD.

DVCAM cassettes in both miniDV and large size

Large or L-size cassettes (125.1 x 78 x 14.6 mm)[21] are close in dimensions to Betacam cassettes and are accepted by most standalone DV tape recorders and are used in many shoulder-mount camcorders. The L-size cassette can be used in both Sony and Panasonic equipment; nevertheless, they are often called DVCAM tapes. Older Sony decks would not play large cassettes with DVCPRO recordings, but newer models can play these and M-size DVCPRO cassettes. These cassettes come in lengths up to 276 minutes of DV or HDV video (or 184 minutes for DVCAM). Unlike the VHS and Digital8 formats that use thinner tape for their longest-length variants, the 276-minute DV cassette employs the same tape as its shorter-length variants. On the DVCPRO side, these cassettes have nearly double the tape capacity of their M-size counterparts, with duration up to 126 minutes for DVCPRO, 64 minutes for DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD-LP, and 32 minutes for the original DVCPRO HD. A thin-tape 184/92/46-minute version was also released.

Various DVCPRO cassettes in different sizes

Extra-large cassettes or XL-size (172 x 102 x 14.6 mm)[21] have been designed for use in Panasonic equipment and are sometimes called DVCPRO XL. These cassettes are not widespread, only a few models of Panasonic tape recorders can accept them. Each XL-size cassette holds nearly double the amount of tape as the full-length L-size cassettes with a capacity of 252 minutes of DVCPRO video or 126 minutes of DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO HD-LP video.

Technically, any DV cassette can record any variant of DV video. Nevertheless, manufacturers often label cassettes with DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO HD and indicate recording time with regards to the label posted. Cassettes labeled as DV indicate recording time of baseline DV; another number can indicate recording time of Long Play DV. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO have a yellow tape door and indicate recording time when DVCPRO25 is used; with DVCPRO50 the recording time is half, with DVCPRO HD it is a quarter. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO50 have a blue tape door and indicate recording time when DVCPRO50 is used. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO HD have a red tape door and indicate recording time when DVCPRO HD-LP format is used; a second number may be used for DVCPRO HD recording, which will be half as long.

Panasonic stipulated use of a particular magnetic-tape formulation—metal particle (MP)—as an inherent part of its DVCPRO family of formats. Regular DV tape uses Metal Evaporate (ME) formulation (which, as the name suggests, uses physical vapor deposition to deposit metal onto the tape[23]), which was pioneered for use in Hi8 camcorders. Early Hi8 ME tape was plagued with excessive dropouts, which forced many shooters to switch to more expensive MP tape. After the technology improved, the dropout rate was greatly reduced, nevertheless Panasonic deemed ME formulation not robust enough for professional use. Tape-based professional Panasonic DVCPRO camcorders and decks only record onto DVCPRO-branded cassettes, effectively preventing use of ME tape.

A disassembled MiniDV cassette

Mini-DV tape mechanism inside an early 2000s Panasonic Palmcorder. Quarter for scale.

Cassette Formats	DV	DVCPRO	DVCAM
Small S-size / "MiniDV"		Only made MiniDV adapters
Medium M-size	-		-
Large L-size
Extra Large XL-size	-		-

With proliferation of tapeless camcorder video recording, DV video can be recorded on optical discs, solid state flash memory cards and hard disk drives and used as computer files. In particular:

• Sony XDCAM family of cameras can record DV onto either Professional Disc or SxS memory cards.
• Panasonic DVCPRO HD and AVC-Intra camcorders can record DV (as well as DVCPRO) onto P2 cards.
• Some Panasonic AVCHD camcorders (AG-HMC80, AG-AC130, AG-AC160) record DV video onto Secure Digital memory cards.
• JVC GY-HM750 can be set to standard definition mode and in this case will record '.AVI or .MOV SD legacy format' video onto SDHC cards. For clarity - and contrary to what has previously been written, the camera does not natively support SxS memory cards, has no slots for them and requires an optional add-on recorder (or 'adapter' as JVC call it) to achieve this - basically this camera is an 'XDCAM EX' High definition unit and the add-on SxS recorder was only made available to achieve better compatibility in facilities which were Sony based.
• Most DV and HDV camcorders can feed live DV stream over IEEE 1394 interface to an external file-based recorder.

Video is stored either as native DIF bitstream or wrapped into an audio/video container such as AVI, QuickTime or MXF.

• DV-DIF is the raw form of DV video. The files usually have extensions *.dv or *.dif.
• DV-AVI is Microsoft's implementation of DV video file, which is wrapped into an AVI container. Two variants of wrapping are available: with Type 1 the multiplexed audio and video is saved into the video section of a single AVI file, with Type 2 video and audio are saved as separate streams in an AVI file (one video stream and one to four audio streams). This container is used primarily on Windows-based computers, though Sony offers two tapeless recorders, the HDD-based HVR-DR60[24] and the CompactFlash-based HVR-MRC1K,[25] for use with DV/HDV camcorders that can record in DV-AVI format either making a file-based copy of the tape or bypassing tape recording altogether. Panasonic AVCHD camcorders use Type 2 DV-AVI for recording DV video onto Secure Digital memory card.[26]
• QuickTime-DV is DV video wrapped into QuickTime container. This container is used primarily on Apple computers.
• MXF-DV wraps DV video into MXF container, which is presently used on P2-based camcorders (Panasonic) and on XDCAM/XDCAM EX camcorders (Sony).