HDV

There are a number of manufacturers who make HDV camcorders but the Sony HVR - Z1 is probably the most commonly used HDV camcorder in television production. HDV is a high definition version of DV and records onto the same mini DV tapes giving a maximum record time of 80 minutes. It can record in either 720p or 1080i modes and has an aspect ratio of 16:9. HDV uses a high compression ratio with 4:2:0 colour subsampling and can display motion artefacts in scenes which contain a lot of information. For example a field of swaying grass may appear "blocky" because the HDV system cannot resolve all of the information.

Data transfer rate: 25 mgb/s in 1080i, 19.7 mgb/s in 720p

Record time Small Cassette: up to 63 mins

Record time Large Cassette (edit decks only): up to 276 mins

Cassettes are black with a red lid