[Gamerweb boy]

Im confused.

Whats the difference?

[chrisjr]

Tape format basically.

They use different types of tape "cassette". DV looks very similar to the analogue 8mm formats and MiniDV uses a narrower 6mm tape.

[ALanJ]

Originally Posted by chrisjr

Tape format basically.

They use different types of tape "cassette". DV looks very similar to the analogue 8mm formats and MiniDV uses a narrower 6mm tape.

I thought DV and mini DV were the same tape but in smaller and larger casettes. For all intense and purposes ALL consumer DV based cameras are miniDV. Full size DV tapes were something that there was a professional market in briefly.

So for morstpeople DV and miniDV are actually the same.

[Orbitalzone]

Yes I think that there's some confusion over the types here....

Digital8 is Sony's digital version of the existing 8mm tape system

MiniDV is the domestic Digital Video standard that all MiniDV camcorders use. There's also a full size DV format that professional camcorders use... a full size DV recorder/editing suite can also accept a miniDV tape (much like how VHS-C tapes can be viewed in a normal VHS video recorder by using an adaptor, although miniDV tapes need no adaptor.

DV Camcorder means a digital Video camcorder which generally means MiniDV or Fullsize DV tapes (professional use) Howevef it could equally apply to a DVDram camcorder or even a hard drive digital camcorder or any similar type of good quality camcorder.

However you see cheapo 128mb memory card type digital cameras with live record feature also called DV Cam or similar... so it's all very confusing.

[chrisjr]

I stand corrected.

The problem is Sony often described their Digital8 format as DV which technically I suppose they are but does nothing to clarify matters....

I did find this link which has some interesting info on the subject...

http://www.pctechguide.com/24digvid_DV_format.htm

And some links to related topics.

[Orbitalzone]

It's that pesky word - digital that gets applied to everything these days, so the meaning gets very confused!

Handy link by the way....