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DV
versus Digital8 versus S-Video vs DVD
Camcorder vs Hard Drive Camcorders
Mark
Shapiro
A decade ago, it was very easy to recommend one video
format over another. If someone was planning
to make money with their video, making many
copies or wanted to do some editing, you
simply aimed them at s-video, either Hi8mm
or S-Video. If they just wanted to have fun,
record family events and activities, then we
aimed them towards regular 8mm or VHS. It
was cut and dry.
About
10 years ago,
Digital Video entered the scene and suddenly
became the leader for quality and for
dubbing. Instead of ½ inch wide VHS tape or
8mm wide tape, it introduced a new format, 6.5-mm Digital Videotape or miniDV cassettes. Recognizing
a new marketing and technology trend, every
major video manufacturer quickly jumped on
the DV bandwagon and brought out their own
family of DV camcorders. Some had one CCD
chip, some had three. Some had color foldout
viewfinders and some offered incredible
optical focusing ranges.
DV camcorders were now the solution. That
was, if you could afford it. DV cams were
starting around $2500 but you could get a
Hi8 or S-Video camcorder for under a grand.
However, about five years ago, the whole
market changed again as Sony introduced their new
Digital 8 camcorders. Not only did it record
a true DV signal on inexpensive 8mm and
Hi8mm videotapes cassettes, but you could
also play back your existing 8mm and Hi8
tapes. They could play back either as a
regular analog signal directly into your TV
set or another VCR, or you could play them
back as DV over a firewire/1394 cable
connected to your computer for video editing
and web purposes.
And the neatest thing was that it
worked! I tested and reviewed the first
batch of Digital8 camcorders and was quite
amazed by how good the process actually was.
Since the introduction of 8-mm video in 1985, Sony has
estimated that the industry has shipped
roughly 50 million 8mm camcorders throughout
the world. That is a lot of people who might
want to use the new D8 camcorders to play
back old 8mm and Hi8 tapes.
What Technology
Should You Pick?
What kind of camcorder should you buy? It
all depends on how much you want to invest
and how much quality and features you need.
In the pages of this magazine, you
can find dealers selling VHS camcorders for
under $400 and Hi8 camcorders for under
$500. You can pick up an entry level Sony
Digital8 or a new Hitachi Digital8 for under
$700. For the same price, you have a choice
of Canon, Panasonic and JVC brand Digital
Video camcorders.
Also
check out Sony's new MICROMV
camcorders and editing
gear
How much quality do you need?
Standard VHS
provides a horizontal resolution of about
240 lines. That looks pretty good on most TV
sets. Hi8 and S-VHS can provide better
looking color and horizontal resolutions of
up to 400 lines, If you have a big screen TV
with an s-video input jack you will be able
to notice the difference. A dub from a VHS
master does not look as good as a dub coming
from an s-video master. Digital Video and
Digital8 can provide cleaner color and
sharper resolutions of up to 500 lines.
Professional formats like Digital Beta can
provide resolutions in excess of 700 lines.
The magic word here is “can provide”. D8
and DV can record up to 500 lines of
resolution if their lens assembly, CCD front
end and processing electronics are
sophisticated enough to provide 500+ line
resolution to be recorded by the recording
section.
Which Video Format is for you? Price
versus Performance
Lets look at the different technologies and
products that are available right now.
You can get a new Hi8mm or S-video
camcorder for less than $500. Remember that Hi8 was the favorite mode for prosumers and
professional videographers for many years.
Various newsgathering and documentary
houses also used s-video with good results.
With a good lens and front end, Hi8 and
S-VHS can capture great looking images. The
problem is that the recording process itself
creates image degradation. For example, if
you connected your s-video camcorder
directly to a monitor and were able to
compare the image that was originally
captured by the lens versus the image that
was played back from tape you would see a
noticeable difference.
Unfortunately, I have noticed, in the latest
crop of inexpensive s-video camcorders, a
definite trend to using lower quality optics
and imaging circuitry. When s-video was hot,
camcorder makers strove to maximize
s-video’s fullest potential of 400 lines
of resolution by using good lens and CCD
chips. What I have seen lately, in an effort
to cut costs, new s-video camcorders that
barely record video any better than you can
get from a good VHS camcorder. In other
words…why buy a low-end s-video camcorder
when you can get a standard 8mm or VHS
camcorder for the same price or less?
DV and Digital8 have quickly edged out high-end
s-video camcorders. The ironic point is that
I have been told by those in the know that
it costs a camcorder manufacturer less to
make a DV cam than a standard VHS or S-video
camcorder. Several camcorder manufacturers
have already phased out their Hi8 and s-VHS
camcorders.
DV and Digital8 both look pretty
good.
Which should you select?
As mentioned earlier, Digital8 is the
same basic technology as DV. They use the
same compression schemes, the same digital
transfer technologies.
Since Digital8 and DV employ the
same digital signal-processing scheme, Sony
was even able to use the same three-piece
chip set for the new 8mm digital technology
as for the 6.5-mm format. The big difference, and really the
only difference, from a technology
standpoint, is that Digital8 uses 8mm tape
and DV camcorders use miniDV cassettes.
This is important because, right now, 8mm
tape is lot cheaper and easier to find than
DV tape. . I think you can wander into
almost any grocery store or mini-market and
find 8mm but not DV.
8mm tape is a lot less expensive than
DV. However,
miniDV cassettes are rapidly coming down in
price as demand and supply heat up. My first
DV tape cost me somewhere in the excess of
$28 for 30 minutes. Recently, I bought a
whole of 60-minute DV tapes for under $10
each. I recently found DV tapes for under $8
each! However,
you can still buy 8mm tapes for three bucks
each. By the way, even though Sony
recommends using the higher priced Hi8mm
tapes instead of regular generic 8mm
cassettes, I personally can see no
difference when played back.
Some DV makers say that miniDV cassettes are
of higher quality and will last longer with
fewer dropouts. That makes sense. However,
after talking to numerous digital8 users I
contacted for this story, none of them
commented about problems using umm tape in
the D8 camcorders. To tell the truth, I was
somewhat surprised. Several users said that
they think the new generation of motors and
pulleys used in the D8 camcorders is a lot
gentler on the 8mm tape than the previous
generation of Hi8 and 8mm camcorders.
MiniDV cassettes are also a lot smaller than
8mm tapes, which of course are a lot smaller
than VHS cassettes. If you are traveling or
find yourself carrying extra tapes around
with you, DV's smaller size may be a
definite advantage. As mentioned earlier, a
two-hour 8mm tape will only handle an
hour’s worth of recording in Digital8
mode. However, you can get DV tapes in one
hour, two hour and longer loads. In fact,
Sony just announced a 270-minute miniDV
cassette for DV camcorders. That is two and
half hours of nonstop video recording –
assuming your batteries hold out that long.
Speaking of batteries, a DV camcorder may be
a more efficient user of battery power. In
general, the larger and more bulky a tape,
the more power it will take to pull it
through the camcorder. However, I have not
seen any firm comparisons between D8 and DV
battery life.
The Advantages of DV
Camcorders
Because they use miniDV cassettes, DV
camcorders can be made a lot smaller than
Digital8 camcorders that rely on the larger
8mm cassette size. Even in standard size
camcorders, using a smaller tape assembly
means that more electronics and a larger
lens can be squeezed into the same size
camcorder.
Image quality is one of the biggest
differences between the two technologies.
So far, all the digital8 camcorders
have been targeted towards consumers. As
mentioned above, Digital8 has the capability
to record at 500 lines of resolution.
However, most Digital8 camcorders only seem
to produce an image quality of 400 lines or
less, equivalent to Hi8mm. So far, all
Digital8 camcorders have only a single CCD,
which limits color resolution. To keep the
prices down, these camcorders also use lower
quality optics and image processing front
ends. As mentioned earlier, Sony is using
the same chip sets for these new Digital8
camcorders as it did for its 8mm and Hi8
camcorders.
Digital8 could and
should support higher qualities but so far,
probably due to marketing decisions, it has
not. Finally, so far, digital8 camcorders do not have the wide
range of features and special effects found
on more sophisticated DV camcorder models.
However, they could.
According to various camcorder hackers (see
sidebar), Sony Digtal8 camcorders do have a
bunch of sophisticated features like zebra
bars, manual white balance, manual exposure,
etc. However, it is not turned on. By using
a special remote control and following the
directions VERY carefully, you can activate
these special features.
Another disadvantage of Digital8 is the long
time it takes to rewind a tape compared to
the much faster DV camcorders. However, many
users work around this by simply buying an
inexpensive tape rewinder and using that
instead.
Another possible disadvantage of D8 is that
recordings made on 8mm tape, rather than the
recommended and more expensive Hi8 tape, may
not play back on other D8 camcorders.
Personally, I have not seen or heard this to
be true but this is what Sony says.
D8 does have some big advantages, especially
if you have lots of old 8mm or Hi8mm tapes.
D8 will play these tapes – DV cannot. You
can use your D8 camcorder to play 8mm and
Hi8 tapes directly to your TV set, monitor
or another VCR. If you have a computer with
a DV in – 1394, Firewire, iLink, whatever
they call it, you can use your D8 camcorder
to convert your existing videos to DV and
transfer them to your computer for editing,
viewing and/or sending over the Internet. I
have also hear that if you input an analog
signal into some of the newer Sony D8’s,
you can get a live Firewire DV signal out.
What is the future?
No one knows what will happen next. D8 and
DV camcorders, at least the entry-level
models, have similar prices and performance
capabilities. However, many of those in the
industry, and especially Sony’s
competitors, are predicting that Digital8 is
a loser and will quickly disappear. They say
in a few years, D8 technology will no longer
be available and if people have recorded
videos on D8, they will no longer have a way
to play them back. They say that DV has been
accepted as the standard with the consumer,
the prosumer and the professional video
markets. However, with Hitachi’s
announcement of Digital8 camcorders, and the
rumor of other deals in the near future, the
Digitla8 format may actually survive and
prosper.
Sony may decide to add Digital8 recording to
its line of prosumer-level 3CCD camcorders
like the next VX-2000. I expect Sony to
sooner or later come out with a Digital8 VCR
that can sit on your TV set and capture off
the air shows as digital recordings as well
as play back Hi8 and 8mm. Sony – why not
add a VHS player to that…maybe I am just
dreaming.
My personal opinion is to seriously consider
D8, especially if you have a library of 8mm
and Hi8 tapes. If you are new to
videotaping, I would lean to getting an
entry level DV camcorder for the same price
range. If you are a video professional and
need 3 CCDs, good lens, and quality manual
controls and effects, you have no choice but
to select a high end DV camcorder.
Next Generation - DVD and Hard
Drive Camcorders
DVD camcorders have been on the
market for about five years or so, and are quickly becoming
very popular. The quality is greatly improving, the prices are
dropping and you can get some cool "pseudo" editing playback
features that you cannot get with tape based formats.
Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony and other
manufacturers are currently offering several lines of DVD
camcorders at various price ranges. The big advantage of using
a DVD to record on is that you can pop out the recorded DVD
disk and play it back immediately in your DVD player. You
don't have to worry about attaching cables and wires or
adapters. The downside is that the image quality is not quite
as good as what you can get with most digital video
camcorders. A DVD camcorder has to convert the video to a
MPEG2 format and then record it to the disk, all in real time.
 The
newest technologies to hit camcorders is built-in hard drives
to record JPEG2 quality video. I am not talking about small
micro drives but "full-size" hard drives originally designed
for use in laptop computers. The first out of the gate with
these are the new JVC Everio camcorders. We tested a few and
were quire impressed. The quality the first generation
camcorders were not quite as good as top of the DV camcorders
but still was good enough for most home and prosumer
applications. One big advantage is that they transfer video
files to your computer rather than a video stream. This means
that if you do lots of video editing - instead of transferring
your video in real time from your camcorder to your computer's
hard drive, you will be transferring a large file over USB 2 -
which can occur three to four times faster. For more info,
check out the
Everio review
Camcorder
Review Section
Sony
DVD Camcorders
Check
out Hitachi's DVD camcorders and Format comparison chart
Canon DVD Camcorders
Want to shoot DVD? Here is a GREAT DEAL
For more information
about Sony Digital8
http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/handycam/other/faq.html
copyright
2005 - Internet Video Magazine
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