DV (digital video) was originally designed for recording onto magnetic tape. Tape is enclosed into cassettes of four different sizes: small, medium, large and extra-large. All DV cassettes use tape that is ¼ inch (6.35 mm) wide.
Small cassettes, also known as S-size or MiniDV cassettes, had been intended for amateur use, but have become accepted in professional productions as well. MiniDV cassettes are used for recording baseline DV, DVCAM as well as HDV.
Medium or M-size cassettes are used in professional Panasonic equipment and are often called DVCPRO tapes. Panasonic video recorders that accept medium cassette can play back from and record to medium cassette in different flavors of DVCPRO format; they will also play small cassette containing DV or DVCAM recording, via an adapter.
Large or L-size cassettes are accepted by most standalone DV tape recorders and are used in many shoulder mount camcorders. Despite that this cassette size can be used in both Sony and Panasonic equipment, they are often called DVCAM tapes. Older Sony decks would not play large cassettes with DVCPRO recordings, but newer models can do that.
Extra-large cassettes or XL-size have been designed for use in Panasonic equipment and are sometimes called DVCPRO XL. These cassettes is not widespread, only two models of standalone Panasonic tape recorders can accept them.
Technically, any DV cassette can record any variant of DV video. Nevertheless, manufacturers are often label cassettes with DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50 or DVCPRO HD mark and indicate recording time with regards to the label posted. Cassettes labeled as DV indicate recording time of baseline DV; another number can indicate recording time of Long Play DV. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO have yellow lid and indicate recording time when DVCPRO25 is used; with DVCPRO50 the recording time will be twice shorter, with DVCPRO HD it will be four times shorter. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO50 have blue lid and indicate recording time when DVCPRO50 is used. Cassettes labeled as DVCPRO HD have red lid and indicate recording time when DVCPRO HD-LP format is used; a second number may be used for DVCPRO HD recording, which will be twice shorter.
NOTE: For more information about how video tapes and movies degrade over time and how to store your movies check our our "How to Store and Care for Video Tapes" by clicking here.
How old are your videotapes? A typical Videotape will last only around 8- 10 years before the oxide covered plastic tape they are recorded on begins to degrade, tear or stretch. The colors fade and sometimes the picture is too snowy to watch. Before that happens to your video tapes, transfer them to DVD. We can transfer all consumer formats including VHS videotape, VHS-C videotape, 8MM videotape, Hi8 videotape, Digital 8 videotape, MiniDV videotape, and yes, even the old Betamax videotape. We can also convert foreign PAL and SECAM to the US standard NTSC and from NTSC to PAL and SECAM.
NOTE: For more information about how miniDV tapes degrade over time and how to store miniDV tapes check our our "How to Store and Care for Video Tapes" by clicking here.
Many of our clients want to know if they can edit their own home movie once they are transferred to DVD. The answer is two fold! Like a rented movie you can not edit a DVD once it is created. However, for many of our clients we digitize their old video tapes to a "movie format" on a computer hard drive. With this process our clients can add titles, delete bad footage and add movie-like transitions to their home movies. Once completed these movies can be easily converted to the "DVD format" to be enjoyed on a TV or PC.
