2000 and newer models added LP speed Digital8 recording (only supported on Hi8 tapes, not Video8 tapes). Both existed from the beginning, but the 1/4" CCD models were discontinued.ġ998-1999 models only support Digital8 recording and playback at SP speed. The more consumer oriented line uses a 1/6" CCD image sensor and the more prosumer line uses a 1/4" one. In the early years after Digital8's introduction, Sony sold a product line with coverage from entry level to high-end consumer. As well as camcorders, Sony also released Digital8 Video Walkman portables, the GV-D200 and GV-D800. Most, though not all, Digital8 camcorders can play back analogue Video8 and Hi8 tapes. In fact, the larger 8mm format is more robust, laying down wider tracks. This is most likely because the larger, bulkier Digital8 cassette is perceived as an inferior technology, even though the Digital8 and DV formats offer indistinguishable A/V performance. By 2005 and later, the Digital8 product line catered purely to the entry-level consumer. Hitachi marketed a few Digital8 camcorders for a while but no longer did so by that point. By 2004 Sony, the format's original backer, was the only company still producing Digital8 equipment, and had no plans to develop new Digital 8 cameras.
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DIGITAL MINI CAM PROFESSIONAL
While little or no Digital8 equipment has been produced for the professional market, there are no technical barriers opposing its development.ĭigital8 is an obsolete format. Furthermore, Digital8 was released some time after MiniDV, giving the rival DV format a lead in the professional market.
DIGITAL MINI CAM UPGRADE
(Among the exceptions is 2001 film Hall of Mirrors.) This is likely a reflection of Sony's design and market objectives for Digital8 format: to serve as a lower cost upgrade path for current customers (from analog 8 mm), by leveraging existing manufacturing infrastructure of 8 mm video equipment, and offering a familiar media format but with digital capabilities.
DIGITAL MINI CAM TV
While analog Hi8 video enjoyed widespread use by amateur home video, current affairs TV programs, and some professional news organizations, Digital8 seems to have remained strictly a consumer or amateur product. The use of this recording method enables digital images to be recorded on a Hi8 tape. According to Sony's press release of January 7, 1999, for the MiniDV format one frame is recorded onto 10 tracks, with the Digital8 format one frame's worth of information is recorded vertically onto 25 tracks. In addition, Digital8 uses tape at 29mm per second more like the higher-end DVCAM (28mm/s) and DVCPRO (34mm/s). These extra-thin, extra-long tapes are rare and expensive. The maximum recording time for Digital8 and MiniDV is 135 minutes and 130 minutes, respectively, using D-90 and DVM-85 tapes. The two formats may also use different media formulations: Digital8 can use metal-particle or metal-evaporated media, while MiniDV is based solely on metal-evaporated media. At an application level - for example, in a 1394/FireWire link - a Digital8 camcorder appears and behaves exactly like a Mini DV camcorder.ĭigital8 and Mini DV use different, non-interchangeable cassette media, with Digital8 cassettes being the physically larger of the two. From a user standpoint, Digital8 is DV, or rather, equivalent to and compatible with consumer MiniDV.
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Most Hi8 tapes sold after the introduction of D8 are marked for both Hi8 and Digital8 usage.Ĭontrary to popular perception, the Digital8 format is not technically inferior to MiniDV-both are identical at the bitstream level.
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Digital8 recordings can be made on standard-grade Video8 cassettes, but this practice is discouraged in the Sony user manuals, and Hi8 metal-particle cassettes are the recommended type for Digital8 recording. LP is model specific, such as the TRV-30, TRV-40, and others. There are 90-minute versions marketed specifically for Digital8, but these use thinner tape than the 60-minute ones. For both NTSC and PAL Digital8 equipment, a standard-length 120-minute NTSC/90-minute PAL Hi8 magnetic tape cassette will store 60 minutes of Digital8 video (Standard Play) or 90 minutes (Long Play). To facilitate digital recording on existing Hi8 video cassettes the helical scan video head drum spins 2.5× faster. Digital8 equipment uses the same videocassettes as analog recording Hi8 equipment, but the signal is encoded digitally using the industry-standard DV codec, which means it has identical digital audio and digital video specifications compared with DV. The Digital8 format is a combination of the earlier analog Hi8 tape transport with the digital DV codec. Magnetic tape-based consumer videocassette format for camcorders Digital8 Media typeĭigital8 (or Di8) is a consumer digital recording videocassette for camcorders based on the 8 mm video format developed by Sony, and introduced in 1999.