Mini DV 

Of all the small consumer video formats currently available, the small mini-DV format is by far the best.

Today's range of digital camcorders can record images of around 500 lines' resolution using a format that has existed since 1995. The digital formats that are based upon the mini-DV format as they provide a whole new raft of capabilities over older analogue formats.

DV has the benefit of facilitating clone copying of sequences whilst suffering no discernable loss of quality to either picture or sound. DV utilises a compression system such that very high quality images can be recorded onto tiny tapes - and has established itself as the standard for small-guage digital video usage.

Sound is of a very high quality, too, with 12-bit and 16-bit encoding being the norm - well up to CD audio quality. DV benefits from PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) 12-bit and 16-bit stereo audio recording and playback, with the added facility of audio dubbing (or, more accurately, substitution of the pre-recorded audio with a new sound source whilst retaining the video pictures in a sequence). which can then be output (played out of the camcorder) to another recorder or to a TV set.

MiniDV is the very first digital format available to consumers! Unlike previous formats that record an analog signal (acts very much like an electronic wave), digital recording instead puts numeric information onto the tape. The greatest benefit is that noise and dropouts inherent in the magnetic tape can be ignored, resulting in broadcast-quality recordings. You can't tell the difference between a live camera image and one that is recorded!