There are a number of video formats in the world of media today used to store data. Did you know a lot of the new media players will work with multiple formats? Some of the formats I list below are dinosaurs but I still thought I should include them in the list.
Information about the various video formats.
8mm, Video8, Hi8, Digital8
8mm Video refers to a group of three video formats and they are Video8, Hi8 and Digital8. Together these formats, championed by Sony, played a very important part in the early history of consumer and pro-sumer camcorders.
Beta, Betamax, Betacam, Betacam SP, Betacam SX , Digital Betacam
The Beta group of video formats includes the failed consumer-level Betamax as well as a number of very successful professional-level formats. The professional Beta formats have been leaders in the television production market, especially in the field of ENG (Electronic News Gathering).
DV, MiniDV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO HD, HDV
DV (Digital Video) is a video standard launched in 1996. It was created by a consortium of companies and given the official name IEC 61834. The DV standard has spawned a few variations, including DVCAM (Sony) and DVCPRO (Panasonic). Consumers know DV in it’s smaller format MiniDV. The high-definition version is HDV, which uses the same style tapes but uses MPEG-2 for compression.
DV uses intraframe compression; that is, compression within each frame rather than between consecutive frames. This makes it an ideal format for editing. It uses the Firewire (IEEE 1394) interface to transfer video files between cameras, editing equipment, etc. The tapes can be played back in both DVCAM and DVCPRO VCRs.
DVD, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, HD-VMD, CH-DVD
DVD is an optical disc storage technology. DVD was introduced in 1997 as a replacement for several formats including CDs, VHS and laserdisc. The letters DVD are often said to stand for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc, but the official standard does not specify any particular meaning for the letters.
DVD gained acceptance more slowly than initially predicted for reasons ranging from licensing issues to consumer wariness because the VHS vs Betamax war was still fresh in everyone’s minds. However it’s advantages were significant and it became the dominant format for distributing pre-recorded content as well as computer data storage. DVD comes in a variety of flavours which can be confusing. The different physical formats determine how data is stored (e.g. DVD-ROM); application formats determine how program content is stored and played (e.g. DVD-Video).
HDTV, 1080i, 1080p
HDTV means high definition television. HDTV is a video and television standard that includes a group of formats, or modes, which all provide higher resolution than previous standards.
Flash
Flash video is a relative newcomer to the digital video scene. Up until version 6, Flash did not handle full-motion video well enough to be useful. As of version 7, true streaming video is supported by Flash and anyone with the latest player can see Flash video clips. Flash video files use the extension .flv. FLV files are usually played from within a .swf file, which is the conventional Flash file format.
The biggest advantages of Flash is for delivering video on the Internet. About 95% of browsers have Flash installed. It also works equally well on PCs, Macs and Linux computers. You can create your own interactive media content with graphics, animations, etc. You can even create your own media player with custom controls.
MPEG, MPEG-4
MPEG video is a series of video standards defined by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). MPEG4 Scalable delivery, used in various applications including Internet, cell phones and television.
Quicktime
QuickTime is a multimedia technology developed by Apple Computer and first released in 1992 (a year before Microsoft’s Video for Windows). It has evolved to become a versatile platform, capable of handling video, audio, animation, text, music, and virtual reality (VR) panoramas.
RealMedia
RealMedia is a multimedia container format created by RealNetworks. Its extension is “.rm”. It is typically used in conjunction with RealVideo and RealAudio and is used for streaming content over the Internet.
VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS, S-VHS-C, D-VHS
VHS is a consumer-level video standard developed by JVC and launched in 1976. Originally VHS was an acronym for Vertical Helical Scan (a reference to the recording system used) but was later changed to the more consumer-friendly Video Home System.
This should help you understand the different formats better.
