Video tape
HDV tape transfer to computer digital video
HDV tape transfer to computer.
Video Image Productions provide an HDV tape transfer to computer video files.
About HDV video tape.
HDV is a format for recording of high-definition video on Mini DV cassette tape. The video was recorded in MPEG 2 format. It used the same Mini DV video tape format that was used for Standard definition video recording. The format was originally developed by JVC and supported by Sony, Canon, and Sharp. The four companies formed the HDV consortium in September 2003.
Conceived as an affordable high definition format for digital camcorders, HDV quickly caught on with many amateur and professional videographers due to its low cost, portability, and image quality acceptable for many professional productions.
The data rate for both the audio and video is constant and is roughly the same as DV data rate. The relatively low video data rate can cause bit rate starvation in scenes that have lots of fine detail. Rapid movement or other complex activity like flashing lights. It may result in visible artifacts. These Include blockiness and blurring. In contrast to the video, HDV audio bitrate is relatively generous. At the coded bitrate of 384 kbit/s, MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio is regarded as perceptually lossless.
Personal view.
I bought into HDV very early on. I still own a Sony Z1 which has been my work horse for many years. One important thing to remember with any HDV tape transfer to computer is to keep the tape heads clean.
Our transfer process.
Our HDV tape to computer service is a totally digital process.
Connections. Even though HDV is a tape based format it is still digital. Our HDV decks have firewire and HDMI output connections. These are then connected to our Apple and PC work stations. With this type of connection there is no quality loss in the transfer. The hardware used is Black Magic Design professional broadcast products.
Link to Sony HDV tape.
Video tape History VHS
The word video comes from the Latin words “To See”.
What Is Video tape ?
In a nutshell VT is the recording of moving Images onto magnetic tape.
In most cases it uses helical scan heads to read the electronic information magnetically, as well as recording Images.
Analogue and digital.
VT can be used to record digital formats such as Mini-DV, DVCAM or analogue formats such as VHS and video 8.
History of VT.
In 1951 in the USA the BCE company gave the first demonstration of video tape recording but the image quality was very poor.
Broadcast.
The first example of broadcast video came in 1956 with Quadruplex machines. The one draw back with this system was its inability to freeze the picture.
Domestic market.
In 1971 Sony released a VCR cassette recorder based on a format called U-Matic.
Betamax
1975 saw Sony launch the Betamax format.
VHS In the following year of 1976 JVC launched VHS and the rest is history.
End of an era.
By the late 1990’s DVD was already putting the nail in the coffin of VHS. With its superior resolution and noise free picture DVD was destined to replace the VHS format.
Professional.
With the advent of greater storage capacities for solid-state digital media. One would be led to believe that VT is a thing of the past.
Even thou digital media have fallen in price to archive HD video in a solid-state form or onto hard drives is still an expensive business. Also the reliability of hard drives is still no match for the old video formats.
HD formats.
HDV was used to capture HD video using the Mpeg-2 encoding method. It was really the same as Mini-DV.
Sony HDCAM was the biggest seller when it came to HD video tape for the broadcast market and is still used for Television programmes worldwide due to its longevity and reliability.
SD Video Lives: A Q&A with Pat Johnston of AheadTek