The DVC Format: Just Another Acronym?

"Hey, I just heard about a new three-letter acronym that's supposed to revolutionize the whole videomaking world."

"Oh. You mean VDT?"

"Nope."

"How about "HDTV?"

"That's four letters."

"Oh. Then you're talking about VOD."

"Wrong again."

"Hmph. ITV? CD-I? MOV? AVI?"

"Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. It's a new recording medium, one that captures sights and sounds digitally, right inside the camcorder--"

"Oh, yeah. I've heard of that. Some kind of CD-ROM format that two giant consumer electronics companies are fighting about. DVD, isn't it?"

"You're getting closer. This is a product that uses tape to record digital video. It's smaller than Hi8, has better image quality than Beta, no generation loss in successive dubs, interfaces easily with non-linear editors..."

"Oh, you mean DV."

"Yeah. Digital videocassette."

"Well why didn't you say so?"

Yes, Another Format
Yes, it's true. There's yet another video format looming on the horizon: digital videocassette. Consumer electronics companies have been singing its praises for some time now. And as with any new videomaking product, it's sometimes hard to separate the facts from the marketing hype.

But once you do so, you'll see that the promise of DV is no mere pipe dream. In terms of image quality, DV claims to be the best consumer video format that's ever seen the light of day--and manufacturers have the data to back up those claims.

For example: the much-lauded MPEG-1 video compression scheme boasts image quality comparable to VHS. To achieve this, MPEG playback devices process 3 million bits of information per second. But DV doesn't use MPEG. It uses a video compression scheme that handles roughly 25 million bits per second; this translates into more than 8 times the resolution power of MPEG.

Granted, the horizontal resolution you'll see on the screen wont be eight times that of VHS; a monitor (and its connection to the video source) can only go so far in reproducing detail. Other attributes of the image, however--such as color and luminance reproduction--will rival that of Betacam SP.

The audio quality will also be superior to anything currently available in the consumer camcorder realm--16-bit CD-quality, to be exact.

What's more, it's compact. A one-hour DV tape, which is a mere 6mm (1/4 inch) wide, comes in a cassette that fits easily into the palm of your hand.

As if these three items weren't enough, DV has one major advantage that sets it apart from all other consumer videotape formats. This attribute is DV's ace in the hole, its unfair advantage, its sine qua non, the attribute without which it probably wouldn't exist.

It's, well--digital, I guess you'd say.

Why Digital?
I know, I know; many of you are thinking, "Digital, schmigital. I capture my images on Hi8 and edit on S-VHS, and you know what? It looks just fine to me."

If you're one of these people, you're in good company. A very large number of today's videomakers are happy with their analog formats, and don't have much need of anything better. For this reason, the VHS and 8mm families of video products will probably be with us for many years to come.

Nonetheless, digital video offers a number of advantages over its analog counterpart. Two of the most important of these are its ability to hold a signal and its easy interface with other emerging digital technologies.

Digital video's secret weapon, the attribute that makes it better able to hold up under pressure, is the fact that it's encoded in a way that makes it easier to record. Instead of an actual video signal, the tape records a long series of bits (zeroes and ones), which require special processing to decode into a video signal. This bitstream is easier for a magnetic medium to keep track of than a complex analog waveform. As long as the decoder can read the zeros and ones, the decoded video signal is identical each time you play it. For this reason, digital videocassettes can withstand several editing passes without degradation of the signal.

And then there's all that cutting-edge equipment we keep hearing about: nonlinear editors, high definition television (HDTV), video on demand (VOD) servers and so on. What do all of these technologies have in common? You guessed it: they're digital. As long as the camera comes with a digital output, the DVC format is capable of providing footage for all these digital video applications--without conversion of the signal.

For years, the real pros (the broadcast folk) have used digital videotape. They've long known that digital video is truly the wave of the future. In response to this, a consortium of video professionals came up with a single format that could handle the needs of the digital future in a cost-effective and convenient way.

DV and DVCPro
The answer they came up with was DV. That's right, I said DV, not DVCPro. Because of Panasonic's development of DVCPro, some have referred to DV as consumer DVC. But don't let the lack of three little letters at the end of the word fool you: DV is a professional format. It records with broadcast specifications that surpass cameras used in the field today.

This means that when DV takes off in the consumer world, then camcorder hobbyists will have access to the same quality footage that the pros use. (Neat, huh?)

Before you cancel your plans to buy that Hi8 or S-VHS camcorder, you should know that DV won't be available at a comfortable price point for a while. DV is a new technology, and as with most new technologies, the pros and the rich kids will probably be the only ones who can afford the first units that hit the market.

With that in mind, let's cover the differences between the two versions of DV currently in the works: DVCPro and just plain DV. The former, DVCPro, is a video system that Panasonic developed from the industry-wide DV standard and modified for professional use. The latter is the subject of this article--DV itself, so to speak.

As you may have guessed, DVCPro equipment has more capabilities that DV. It's reportedly easier to edit because the DVCPro tapes record the signal on a track almost twice as wide as the DV. But get this: there's absolutely no difference in image quality between the two formats--none whatsoever. The formats are not interchangeable, but they do use the same decoding and playback technology that delivers 25 million bits per second.

Vanilla DV
In September 1995, Sony and Panasonic released the first-ever DV camcorders in Japan. These camcorders carried price tags ranging from 235,000 to 350,000 yen, or roughly $2640 to $4000.

Why the high entry-level cost? "It's the encoder," says Sony spokesman David Yaun. "The hardware that changes the analog signal to digital and back again is what drives the price up at this point."

Panasonic's first DV camcorder, the PV-DV1000, will probably hit the market first, but only by a few days. It features image stabilization, CD-quality sound, Panasonic 5-pin editing control and manual control of iris, white balance and shutter speed, among other things. One thing the PV-DV1000 doesn't have, however, is a digital output. Panasonic spokesman Bill Mannion claims that the company is waiting to see what sort of standard the industry will set for digital outputs before they place them on their camcorders.

Sony's DV camcorders are similar in price, features and performance to the Panasonic model. Their lower-priced model has one CCD, while the more expensive one has three. But the Sony models will include a digital I/O port that makes the DV encoded signal available to nonlinear editors, video servers and the like. This I/O port (serial 1394, or "firewire") is the key to the format's power, and Sony should be commended for including in on their earliest models. Will consumers even bother with the high cost of DV if it's just a prettier, better-sounding acquisition format? We don't think so.

For a short period of time, Sony intended to release a DV editing VCR before Christmas of 1995. They've since changed their minds, however, owing to the pending deliberations over copy protection standards for the pre-recorded video industry.

When it does hit the market in 1996, this VCR will more than likely come with the Firewire 1394 serial bus standard--a super-fast 4-wire copper interface that supports data transfer rates of up to 400 million bits per second. With this interface, the digital video signal will become available to other media--HDTV monitors, video-on-demand servers, nonlinear editors and the like.

Firewire 1394 does have some drawbacks, the main one being its limit of 4 1/2 meters in length. In the future, a better solution is likely to replace Firewire; fiber optics seem a likely choice, as these will carry huge amounts of data over very long distances.

DVCPro: Edit in the Field
Okay, now that we've dealt with professional-quality DV products that only pros can afford, let's move on to DVCPro. (Confused? So are we.)

As stated before, Panasonics Broadcast and Professional division developed the DVCPro format. It's based on the original DV formula, with one big difference: it uses a wider track (more tape) to record the encoded signal than DV, which reportedly makes it easier to edit. This also makes it incompatible with DV.

A number of DVCPro products should be available in the fall of 1995. The first products to hit the market will probably be the AJ-D700 camcorder and the AJ-D750 studio VCR, priced at $22,000 and $27,000 dollars respectively. Panasonic also plans to release a $5,000 throw-away DVCPro camcorder at about the same time. Why make a $5,000 throw-away camcorder? So that journalists and other intrepid adventurers can shoot in dangerous parts of the world without risking a $20,000 camera.

One of the more striking DVCPro products that Panasonic will release in 1996 is the Field Edit Package. Similar in design to a laptop computer, the Field Edit Package incorporates two DVC decks, each with its own LCD screen, and a jog/shuttle for each deck. This unit will allow professionals to edit their videos with a nonlinear interface while they're traveling; because it's a laptop, you could even edit videos while flying on a plane from location to location. The price tag? Around $28,000.

Other Formats
With this hot new format in the air, how are the supporters of the VHS and 8mm families going to respond? Most camcorder manufacturers (including Sony, Thomson, Panasonic, JVC, Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Sanyo) have plans to make DV products themselves, so there won't be a big conflict there. And because this is a single new format that all major camcorder manufacturers have agreed upon, there'll be no format war like we saw in the 70s and 80s between Beta and VHS.

Nonetheless, the older formats are adapting to meet the competition of DV. To help maintain the viability of their VHS format, JVC has developed two new ways to use VHS tape for digital recording: D-VHS and Digital S. The former will primarily be used as a storage medium for digital satellite broadcasts, while the latter will use a special tape to record high-quality digital video that rivals DV in performance. Each of these is an article in its own right, so we'll leave them for now.

So what does all this mean to you, the videomaking public? It means we've all taken a big step into the digital future of moving images. It means more videomaking power in the hands of the consumer. It means easy interface with all of the new and exciting ways that video will be transmitted in the next century. To sum up, it means one thing: a huge advance in video technology.

With this in mind, it would benefit us to remember what happened in the audio industry. Within a short time--a few years--a widely-accepted analog format was completely transplanted by its digital successor, to the extent that most major consumer electronics stores don't even carry the analog format (turntables) anymore.

Could it happen in the video world? It could indeed, but not overnight. We'll just have to wait and see.