Four Japanese electronics companies announced plans to collaborate to develop a system of specifications for recording and playing back high-definition digital video on DV- standard cassette tapes, the companies said.
The group, which includes Canon, Sharp, Sony and Victor Co. of Japan (JVC), has stated its goal to complete the standard by September.
The basic specifications for the tentatively named “HDV” format will cover the 720p (progressive) and 1,080i (interlace) high-definition picture formats, at a variety of different frame rates. The intention of the developers is to enable the development of products conforming to a “global high-definition infrastructure.”
The HDV format specifies the data recording of MPEG2 compressed high-definition signals based on the DV format, which is the tape format used by most current for most digital camcorders.
Because the new format employs the same cassette case, tape speed, and track pitch as the DV format, it can utilize mechanical parts based on the DV format.
The 720p/30 frames per second specifications in the HDV format are the same specifications employed in JVC’s new “GR-HD1” high-definition digital camcorder, which was is available now.
