A Quick Guide to Camcorder Formats (page 3)

Mini DV is a solid video format. It offers extremely high quality video and audio and has virtually no generation loss. In addition, the tape is so small that Mini DV camcorders can be extraordinarily small and portable, yet still offer long recording times.

Mini DV delivers up to 525 lines of video resolution. On the downside, you'll occasionally experience artifacts with the way Mini DV compresses video. It is especially noticeable in patterns, but also shows up in some high action shots. The untrained eye may not catch these blocky, "pixilated" artifacts as they flash through the picture quickly, but after you start to look for them, they may become noticeable.

There are four parts to a Mini DV track: video, audio, subcode and ITI (Insert and Tracking Information). The video and audio are self-explanatory. The subcode holds timecode, date and time and track numbers. The ITI holds information for doing video insert edits.

For audio, Mini DV offers two modes: a 16-bit stereo pair, or two 12-bit stereo pairs (four 12-bit tracks total). The 16-bit option offers better quality (on a par with CD), while the 12-bit option lets you do audio dubs later to the additional tracks.

Perhaps the most-important feature of Mini DV is that it can use FireWire to transfer the digital bit stream directly to another tape, or to a hard-drive for editing. Because you are just transferring the ones and zeros that make up the serial stream, you lose no audio or video quality when you do it. That means no generation loss. Any way you slice it, Mini DV is top-notch for consumer video.

The consumer-friendly Digital8 camcorder format uses many of the same principals as Mini DV, but writes that information onto more-common Hi8 tapes instead of the specialized Mini DV tapes. It also offers an easy upgrade path for owners of current 8mm and Hi8 camcorders who want to be able to edit current stock of video on a computer. Digital8 uses a Hi8 tape, but records information in a manner almost identical with that of Mini DV. It also includes the FireWire port that makes Digital8 NLE-friendly.

The video quality of Digital8 comes in at the same 525 lines of resolution that Mini DV has to offer.

A big plus for the format is that you can play Hi8 and 8mm analog tapes on a Digital8 camcorder, and by running it through the FireWire port, the camera will convert it to digital. This won't change the original quality of the video signal, but it will allow you to bring your old analog footage into a computer editor with a FireWire port.

The future offers even more options for digital video. Sony has a camcorder that uses its MiniDisc as a storage medium, and soon Hitachi will introduce a DVD-RAM camcorder.

The MiniDisc camcorder stores video in MPEG-2 video and offers four 12-bit audio tracks. Perhaps the most striking feature of the only MiniDisc camcorder is that it has built-in editing. This could be an ideal format for the Web videographer.

Hitachi will soon introduce a DVD-RAM camcorder. This uses a removable DVD disc that stores ultra-high quality MPEG-2 video. Expect long recording times, high video quality and Dolby Digital 16-bit audio.

A healthy and competitive technological market is to blame for the diversity of video formats we have today. As camcorders get smaller and cheaper and have better video quality, we still hold on to the older, larger formats because they too have their own advantages. Before shopping, take stock of your needs. Whether you need an inexpensive cam to help you start shooting or a feature-rich one that supports editing well, you will find there is a camcorder for you.

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