DV Resources
Useful info, opinions, and good links relating to the professional use of small digital video formats, especially DV, and on cameras, editors, etc.
"It's been almost five years since my first brush with DV, when I purchased a Sony VX-1000 camcorder. Since then, my use and interest in this format and its technology has grown continually. Yet my need for high-quality, professional results in everything I produce has not always made the DV path an easy one, or the right one. I've learned a lot of things along the way, one of which is that there is a lot of hype and unfounded opinion "out there." This page is my opportunity to collect and share the best of what I've learned, what I heard and gotten from others, and where other good resources reside on the web. I hope that you find it interesting, useful and, with your input and commentary, that this page will grow." SR
The Great Debate: DV vs. Betacam SP - posted 12/20/00, by Sam Russell
I keep talking with folks about what I have been able to produce in DV. Often I get responses of surprise and, sometimes, curious looks or a putdown like "Oh, DV, it's really compressed a lot, it's only 4:1:1 and besides, who's going to go out with a consumer-looking camera?" Earlier this year I organized an ITVA (now MCAi) meeting in Princeton, New Jersey, which addressed this debate. We called it "The Big-Little Shootout" and pitted a couple of DV's, a Sony VX-1000 and a Canon GL-1, against a really nice Sony D-20 camera. We had a huge turnout, especially by the techies, and a huge debate ensued! With very clean video projection, everyone pretty much agreed that the D-20 looked better. But these little goodies also came out of the meeting.
- If you were looking at a VHS or NTSC broadcast from these cameras, it would be pretty hard to tell the difference.
- We weren't really comparing the recording formats, since we were displaying the camera outputs directly in high resolution projection and the $25,000. camera did look better than the $3,000. cameras.
- The 4:1:1 sampling of DV actually gives a slightly greater color bandwidth than with Beta SP. In comparing the recording formats side by side, the most obvious difference would be the lack of dropouts or "hits" with DV.
As explained in my Videography article, I have been able to add "fixes" and updates to Betacam productions that are seamless. Go to Speaking of Video.
