Movie Making Manual/Cinematography/Cameras and Formats/Table of Formats

This Module is part of the Cinematography section of the Movie Making Manual





Please see the Comparison table of cameras for camera details such as sensor size, sensor resolution etc

Click on the links to see the (often excellent) corrospoding article on WikiPedia.


Part 1 edit

Name Media Intro'd Developer raw Mbps* raw MBps* real-world MBps* chroma subsampling Colour space recorded res video compression type video compression ratio luma sampling freq b/p/c** audio encoding audio channels audio sampling rate audio quantisation audio kbps digital interfaces notes
VHS*** tape 1976 JVC analogue analogue analogue
Betamax*** tape 1975 Sony analogue analogue analogue
sVHS*** tape 1987 JVC analogue analogue analogue
Hi8*** tape 1989 analogue analogue analogue
tape 1986 Sony analogue analogue analogue
DV tape, miniDV tape 1995 25 Mbps 3.1 MBps 3.7 MBps 4:1:1(NTSC) 4:2:0(PAL) 720x480(NTSC) 720x576/25i/p(PAL) 768x576/25/i/p(PAL) DCT intraframe MJPEG 8 linear PCM 2 / 4 48 kHz(2ch) 16 bit IEEE1394
DV tape, miniDV tape, XDCAM disks 1997 Sony 25 Mbps 3.1 MBps 3.7 MBps 4:1:1(NTSC) 4:2:0(PAL) 720x480(NTSC) 720x576/25i/p(PAL) 768x576/25/i/p(PAL) DCT intraframe MJPEG 8 linear PCM 2 / 4 48 kHz(2ch) 16 bit IEEE1394
XDCAM disks 2003 Sony 25 Mbps 3.1 MBps 3.7 MBps 4:1:1(NTSC) 4:2:0(PAL) 720x480(NTSC) 720x576/25i/p(PAL) 768x576/25/i/p(PAL) DVCam or MPEG IMX 8 linear PCM 2 / 4 48 kHz(2ch) 16 bit IEEE1394
DV or miniDV tape 2003 25Mbps 3.1MBps 3.7MBps 4:2:0 1440x1080/25i 720/60p, 720/30p, 720/50p, 720/25p, 1440x1080/60i, 1440x1080/50i MPEG2 74.25MHz 55.7MHz 8 linear MPEG1 Audio Layer II 2 48kHz 16 bit 384kbps IEEE1394
tape or P2 1997 Panasonic 25 Mbps 3.1 MBps 3.7 MBps 4:1:1 MJPEG IEEE1394
tape or P2 Panasonic 50 Mbps 6.25 MBps 7.5 MBps 4:2:2 MJPEG
tape or P2 Panasonic 100 Mbps 12.5 MBps 15 MBps 4:2:2 960x720(0.7MP)p, 1280x1080(1.4MP)p HD SDI
tape 1996 Sony 4:2:2 MPEG Main Profile @ Main Level (MP@ML) GOP 2 PCM 4 48 kHz
tape 1993 Sony 90Mbps 4:2:2 YUV DCT compressed component video Intraframe MJPEG 10bit PCM 4 48 kHz SDI
tape or XDCAM disks 2001 >Betacam SX CCIR 601 MPEG 8+cue+TC SDI
tape 1997 144Mbps 4:2:2 1440x1080i 720p DCT 10 bit 4 48 kHz 20 bit HD SDI
tape 2003 440Mbps / 880Mbps 4:4:4(880Mbps) 4:2:2(440Mbps) 2x4:2:2(880Mbps) RGB 1920x1080 MPEG-4 Studio Profile 12 dual HD SDI

Part2 edit

Name Media Intro'd Developer raw Mbps* raw MBps* real-world MBps* chroma subsampling Colour space recorded res video compression type video compression ratio luma sampling freq b/p/c** audio encoding audio channels audio sampling rate audio quantisation audio kbps digital interfaces notes
uncompressed DDR 1492 Mbps 187 MBps 234 MBps 4:4:4 1920x1080(2.1MP)/24p none 1:1 10 log/lin
DDR 2294 Mbps 286 MBps 344 MBps 4:4:4 RGB / XYZ 2048x1556(3.2MP) none 1:1 10 log/lin none 0
DDR 6370 Mbps 796 MBps 956 MBps 4:4:4 4096x2160(8.9MP) or 4520x2540(11.5MP) none 1:1 10 lin/log none 0
DDR 4:4:4 none 1:1 10 lin/log none 0
DDR 4:4:4 none 1:1 10 lin/log none 0
19mm tape 1987 Sony CCIR 601 uncompressed 1:1 4:2:2 PCM
D3 tapes 1994 Panasonic uncompressed component video uncompressed
250 Mb/s 1035/1080/720/i/p /24/25/30/59.94/60 intra-frame 4:1 Uncompressed 4 40 kHz 20 bit
Encrypted hard disk 2005 ~190 Mbps ~24 MB/s 4:4:4 XYZ 2k 24p JPEG2000 12 uncompressed 128 bit AES encryption
*** celluloid
*** celluloid
***

Part 3 edit

Name Media Intro'd Developer raw Mbps* raw MBps* real-world MBps* chroma subsampling Colour space recorded res video compression type video compression ratio luma sampling freq b/p/c** audio encoding audio channels audio sampling rate audio quantisation audio kbps digital interfaces notes
Avid 220(10-bit 6:1) 145(8-bit 7:1) 4:2:2 7:1 - 4:1 8/10 bit
August 2003 CineForm Variable Variable 4:2:2 601 and 709 Upto 2048x1556 Wavelet Variable (average 6:1)
Optical disk 1996 4:2:0 MPEG-2 48kHz, PCM, DTS, MP2, Dolby Digital (AC-2)
MPEG
Microsoft
Quicktime
Apple
MPEG
MPEG
WM9
Microsoft
Real Media
Real

Notes
* Constant bitrate unless otherwise stated
** b/p/c = bits per pixel per colour channel
*** Obviously, these analogue formats can't be measured absolutely in these terms. These estimates provide an interesting comparison to the electronic formats.