DV and 4:2:2
 

Are DV tapes (not the compression format itself) capable of recording 4:2:2? If not would they have to be sped up and record less time to do so?

If they are capable why aren't manufactures releasing cheaper DV cameras that can record 4:2:2.?

Thanks

They could, but there already is a market for those cameras and they start at a price much higher. You want 4:2:2? Spend $10,000 US and up. They don't need to give away the technology (and quality).

Jeff

Companies like Canon and Sony know they won't be able to hold on to such attitudes for very long, lest they be overtaken by competition. I think we'll start to see prosumer cameras supporting a higher-fidelity replacement to the DV standard in the next five years.

I think what you're going to see is a format like DV50 trickle down into the prosumer price range. DV50 offers 4:2:2, 1:3.3 compression, data is 6.25 mb per second. All this is achieved by doubling the tape speed (and other improvements). Picture quality rivals Digital Betacam. However, it has yet to be determined if the tapes will hold up in the hands of consumers. The doubling of the tape speed puts considerable stress on an already fragile tape. Record times also slip into a length consumers are not happy with, or you increase the tape cassette size and the camera gets larger and heavier (which consumers also don't like). That's one of the factors why D-9 hasn't caught on.

Jeff

Jeff,

I almost got a d-9 camera, they are getting extremely cheap here now, as i think the format flopped, but it would have been nice for me, the only thing that stopped me is the process of actually getting the footage off the tape (deck) is an expensive component and turned me off it.

Zac

D-9 (formerly Digital S) has excellant picture quality rivalling Digital Betacam. It is one of the two DV 50 formats, the other being DVCPRO 50. They have very similar specs.

Jeff