Roadmap to High-Definition Standards

Matsushita, Sony propose HD video camera spec — This opens up a whole new can of worms by putting HD content on normal DVD media.

The AVCHD format is an HD digital video camera format for recording 1080i and 720p signals onto 8-cm DVD media. The format employs MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec for video compression, and Dolby Digital (AC-3) or Linear PCM for audio codec. Data transfer rate is maximum 18 Mbits per second. The 8-cm DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R and DVD+RW and DVD+R discs can be used.

While present DVD formats employ MPEG 2 video compression, the AVCHD format will use H.264 video compression to store HD images on an 8-cm DVD disk with 1.46 Gbyte capacity. It compresses data at twice the efficiency of conventional MPEG 2; a one-sided DVD disc can store 20 minutes of high-resolution digital images while a two sided disc can store 40 minutes of footage at a 9 Mbps data rate.

In a statement, Matsushita and Sony said the penetration of HD-capable TV sets was gaining unprecedented momentum, setting the stage for enjoying HD images more easily at home. The video format was proposed to make use of existing discs, even though both companies support the Blu-ray Disc format.



  1. gquaglia says:

    Maybe they realize that consumers would probably opt for this before shelling out $500+ for a player that may or may not even be the standard after a year or two.

  2. Mr. H. Fusion says:

    Not interested. Why would I want to invest in a format that binds me to only a 20 minute shoot. Then I would need to keep several empty DVDs handy. If it was an industry standard and appeared all the camera manufacturers were moving in that direction then I would think a little longer.

    When I pull out my cameras I like to get serious and not have to worry about running out of room halfway through an event.

  3. Mike Voice says:

    Why would I want to invest in a format that binds me to only a 20 minute shoot.

    That was why I went with 8mm instead of VHS-C 🙂

    But, all current DVD-camcorders use 8-cm discs – and so have limited recording time – at least compared to normal DVDs or MiniDV-tape.

    What is interesting is that Matsushita [Panasonic] also is working on a AVCHD camera that will write to SD-cards.

    One that writes AVCHD to an internal hard-drive can’t be far behind! 🙂

    As the articles at camcorderinfo suggest – AVCHD is to DVD, as HDV is to MiniDV – in that AVCHD and HDV allow recording of HD onto existing media.

    http://www.camcorderinfo.com/

    [their article links are absurdly long, since they include multi-word story titles]


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