Introduction

A camcorder (video camera recorder) is an electronic device that combines a video

camera and a video recorder into one unit.Equipment manufacturers do not seem to
have strict guidelines for the term usage. Marketing materials may present a video
recording device as a camcorder, but the delivery package would identify content
as video camera recorder.

In order to differentiate a camcorder from other devices that are capable of recording
video, like cell phones and compact digital cameras, a camcorder is generally identified
as a portable device having video capture and recording as its primary function.

The earliest camcorders employed analog recording onto videotape. Since the 1990s
digital recording has become the norm, but tape remained the primary recording media.
Starting from early 2000s tape as storage media is being gradually replaced with
tapeless solutions like optical disks, hard disk drives and flash memory.

All tape-based camcorders use removable media in form of video cassettes.

Camcorders that do not use magnetic tape are often called tapeless camcordersand
may use optical discs (removable), solid-state flash memory (removable or built-in) or
a hard disk drive (removable or built-in).

Camcorders that permit using more than one type of media, like built-in hard disk drive
and memory card, are often called hybrid camcorders.

1
History

 Today’s camcorders are very compact and can easily fit in

the palm of your hand. You can stick them in your pocket or
purse. No matter where you are, on a plane, on a beach, in
your house or on a mountaintop, it is easy to create your
own high quality video productions. 

 Modern camcorders provide outstanding visual and audio

capture qualities, are small enough to travel anywhere, and
have impressive lens and zoom ratios.  Most provide a wide range of
automatic and manual imaging modes, as well as a variety of input
and output selections. Editing is easy. You can edit from camcorder
to camcorder, you can use a dedicated editing box, or you can dump
your video into your computer and edit using nonlinear technology.
Soon you will be able to send your videos from your camcorder
directly to the Internet.

 But it wasn’t always like that. When I, and many other “old”
videographers started shooting video, there really was no such thing
as mobile video. Television show producers used large quad decks
(about the size of refrigerator lying on its back) to record video onto
2-inch wide videotape. Then, as the seventies rolled around, these
monster machines evolved into smaller suitcase sized machines that
used one inch or ¾ inch videotape to record video. When you
wanted to do a location shoot, you drove a truck full of the
equipment, or lugged the decks, cameras, switching devices, tripods,
and cables to the location and set it up.

 Even worse, in those days, the cameras were using electronic tubes
to convert the light to electrical impulses, not solid state CCDs.  Not
only did the tubes burnt out from use, they needed to be constantly
adjusted, calibrated and babied. Even during a shoot, the cameras 2
needed constant attention.  As the tubes warmed up during a show,
the colors would constantly shift and the tubes would wiggle out of
alignment and would require re-configuring every hour or so. In
addition, the tubes were not as light sensitive as today’s camcorders
and chip cameras. You had to pour LOTS of light onto the subjects to
get a picture. It got hot very fast.

 According to Rik Albury who was doing video back in the early
sixties at the University of Florida, “Mobile for us was dolly-trucking
large cameras around the studio as far as our cables could
reach.”  Albury adds that there were no such things as editing decks
or nonlinear editing systems. He had to edit the two-inch wide
videotapes by using razor blades and scotch tape. The editor had to
manually roll the tape back and forth across the video heads to find
the right spot, make a crayon mark, and then physically cut the tape
into sections and scotch tape it back together. If he was lucky, the
editor was able to get the slice between the electronic frames. If
not, he got bad glitches and image rolling and had to do it again.
There was a special solution that could be applied to the tape that
would let the editors sort of see where the magnetic particles were
so that they could cut between them.

 Another early mobile video innovators was Walt Rauffer who is now
with the Sesame Street Workshop. Back in 1962, Walt cut a 3” tube
B&W Pye orthicon camera into two pieces to make it a bit mobile.
According to Walt, “We used it to shoot beer commercials for the
networks and edited on 2 inch wide quad tape using a razor blade.”

 According to Rick Diehl of LabGuysWorld, an online museum of old

video gear, the first home video system was offered by Ampex in
1963. Advertised in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog, this
system included a big camera, TV monitor, special furniture and  was
based around a 100-pound Ampex VR-1500 video recorder. Available
for just $30,000, an Ampex engineer would come out to your home
and set it up for you. 

  3
Handheld Video?
 Priorto the introduction of the Portapak, there was no such thing as
handheld video cameras. Most professional mobile and location work
was shot on 16mm film. Home users who wanted to document their
parties and special events had to use 8mm or Super8 film.

 Loading a 8mm film camera required opening it up and threading in

the film and not exposing it by mistake. When you were done
shooting the brief 3 minutes of film, without any sound, you had to
rewind it inside the camera, carefully take it out and put it in a
special light proof canister, and then send it off to be developed.
When you got it back in a week or so, you had to pull out your 8mm
film projector and set it up in front of a big blank white wall or set
up a projection screen. Then after threading the film onto the reels
through the projector’s series of gears and pulleys, you could finally
watch it back. Hopefully your projector was in good shape or you
might rip or melt your precious film.

 Some engineers and producers were experimenting with mobile

video, creating their own camera and videotape recorder packs.
Perry Mitchell, reports that he created his own portable kit by slicing
apart the camera head and camera control unit (CCU) into two
separate pieces, attaching the CCU to a backpack and lugging that
around. SEE PICTURE. The fifty-pound videotape recorder unit was
then mounted on another backpack and was connected to the CCU
backpack by a thick cable.

 Things began to Get Better

 In 1967, Sony introduced the first PortaPak, the Sony DV-2400
Video Rover. The first ”portable” video system, this two-piece set
consisted of a large B&W camera and a separate record-only helical
½” VCR unit. It required a Sony CV series VTR to play back the
4
video. Even thought it was clunky and heavy, it was light enough for
a single person to carry it around.  However, it was usually operated
by a crew of two -  One shot the camera and one carried and
operated the VCR part.  

 Unlike today’s camcorders and video-recorders that use

videocassettes and cartridges, helical is like an old reel-to-reel tape
recorder but a bit more complicated. The tape spun off of one reel,
carefully threaded it around the erase, video and audio heads, and
then onto the pick-up reel. It was easy to make a mistake or not get
the tape tight enough.

 The camera was a bit funky too. It had a single tube B&W vidicon
camera that had a few problems. If you moved the camera too fast,
the images would smear. You couldn’t point the camera at the sun or
bright lights or you would burn a permanent hole in the tube.

 Soon after, other manufacturers like Panasonic and JVC began

making and selling their own portapaks as well.  As time went on,
the cameras got better and better, smaller and smaller. The tubes
got more durable and soon added color capabilities.

  Even more importantly, editing improved. No longer did the helical

tape have to be physically cut and taped back together. New insert
and assembly editing technologies  allowed editors to record
electronically from deck to deck. At first, this was manual.

 You had to learn how long it took your decks to come up to speed
and then manually backwind them the correct distance, hit play and
then, at the right moment, hit record to make an edit. Sometimes
you would get a good edit, sometimes you wouldn’t.   I remember
going back and forth on a single edit five times or more to get a
stable edit that would fall between the video frames and would be
stable, without any flagging, wiggling or jiggle.
5
 In the early seventies, time code began appearing on professional
editing decks and this greatly improved ease of editing. Not only
could you lock in the frame number, you could also accurately do the
required pre-rolls.

 By the way, even with the improvements in the cameras, recorders
and editing techniques, they were still capturing component analog
video. This meant that every time you made a dub or copy for
editing, you lost image quality and resolution. In addition, these
were two piece units – a camera with tube inside and separate
recorder unit.

  

The Impact of Mobile Video and Personal

Video
 The Sony Portapak, and other portable video gear from JVC and
Panasonic that followed it, revolutionized the video business and
opened up video to the masses, making it a medium that anyone
could use. No longer was video and television limited to major
networks or to those with big budgets.

 This created an explosion of what became known as “guerilla video”

and video art. In the late sixties and early seventies, the streets
were exploding with counter culture and politics. Many people used
these portable camcorders to document the times around
them.  Video artists like Nam June Paik used portapaks to create6
“artistic” programs that didn’t have to have a story, just images and
emotion and sound. As a side note, Nam June Paik is often credited
with purchasing the very first portapak, from the very first Sony
shipment. 

 These new portapaks were also grabbed up by businesses of all

sizes and types, athletic departments at schools and universities,
and government agencies, including the military. Even psychologists
were quick to pick up on the implications of videotaping sessions
that could be played back later for review.

 In the early seventies, I purchased my first Portapak, a Panasonic

3085.  Aside from a few goofy video art exercises, I was soon
heavily immersed in the counterculture and politics, documenting
street art, guerilla theater and traveling to various protests and
events. During the time of protests against nuclear plants, I recall
marching up the beach, taping the protesters, and as they swarmed
closer to the reactors, climbing over a 8 foot high chain link fence,
lugging the 30 pound Portapak and camera.

 In addition to Portapaks being big and unwieldy, the batteries were
primitive and didn't last as long as they do now. Tobe Carey, a
documentary producer living and working in Woodstock, NY, lugged
his heavy Sony AV-3400 Portapak down to the Yucatan area of
Mexico to shoot a video documenting the process of giving birth in a
hammock. As part of the shoot, he had to climb up on top of a hut to
document the making of a traditional thatched roof. 

 Not only did he have to precariously balance on the roof, he had to

drape the VCR unit with a white cloth to keep the hot Mayan sun
from depleting the batteries.  The documentary was shot in 1971,
edited over the next two-years and finally played at the First Global
Village Video Festival in NY City in 1974.  Cablecasting the tape was
not easy either. Instead of just giving the finished tape to the
local cable company to play, he had to lug his Sony Portapak to the
cable station’s head end located in a small concrete block building at
the end of a mountain dirt road. There he had to physically connect
the portapak's video outputs to the cable company's channel-3
7
modulator. Then he hit play and reels began to revolve.
 Various groups used these Portapaks to create their own counter-
cultural TV programs. Groups like the Ant Farm, Videofreex and Top
Value Television produced hundreds of hours of productions. Some
of these were documentaries of the times; others were bitter satires
and comments on society.  Ken Shapiro (no relation) used portapaks
to produce a show called Channel One.  It consisted of short video
segments that were then played back to an audience in a theatre
setting. This series of vicious comedy sketches parodying TV evolved
to become the hit movie, “The Groove Tube” that starred Chevy
Chase, Richard Belzer, Paul Bartel and Carrie Fisher.  

 Broadcasters also embraced these mobile technologies. Prior to the

introduction of portapaks, most TV news was shot on 16mm film.
After developing and editing, it was run through a video projector
device called a telecine that broadcast it over the air. By using these
mobile video cameras and recorders, broadcast news organizations
were able to go into the field and get news as it happened. As the
technology improved, TV news mostly abandoned film and moved to
video.

 In 1971, Sony introduced their new U-Matic concept to the world. A
single cassette, with ¾ inch wide tape, it made loading the tape
much easier. Just stick the tape cartridge in and the machine did the
rest. Most of the time.  The first units were large table sized
machines, but they got smaller, and eventually become portable
enough to be carried by a production crew.

 At the same time, Sony and JVC were working on smaller ½”
formats for home users. Sony’s product was called Betamax. JVC’s
was called VHS.  Both used videocassettes similar to the larger U-
Matic. These units used 2 hour length VHS cassettes that were much
easier to quickly insert and remove than the older helical VTRs with
their 20 and 30 minute tape reels.  In 1976, JVC finally introduced
color VHS to the world. 

 As soon as I could, I jettisoned my old B&W Sony Portapak for the
8
new VHS color format. Even though they were lot easier to use and
not as bulky, these were still two-piece units, with a color camera
with a built-in microphone and a separate VCR unit, connected via a
cable. I remember, dragging mine around to concerts and events,
documenting the politics of the time and early stirrings of the punk
rock movement.

 According to the Consumer Electronics Association,  in 1982, both

JVC and Sony announced the “CAMera/recorder”, or camcorder,
combinations. On June 1, 1982, JVC’s camcorder used its new mini-
VHS format, VHS-C. In Japan five months later, Sony announced its
Betamovie Beta camcorder, which was promoted with the slogan
"Inside This Camera Is A VCR." The first Betamovie camcorder hit
stores in May 1983. It was a record only machine without an
electronic viewfinder.

In February 1984, photo giant Kodak introduced a new camcorder

format, 8mm, in its first 8mm camcorder, the KodaVision 2000. In
1985, Sony introduced the first chip-based camcorders. Called Video
8, it was also Sony’s first8mm camcorder. The same year, JVC
introduced VHS-C, a compact version of VHS cassettes. The next
year, 1989, JVC introduced S-VHS. Still analog video, it provided it
separated the video signal into two distinct channels. This provided
better color and higher resolution, about 400 lines compared to VHS
at 220 lines.  This higher resolution enables users to actually edit
and copy their videos without worrying that their second and third
generation tapes would be fuzzy. About the same time, Sony also
joined the s-video movement and introduced their first Hi8
camcorder, the venerable CCD-V99 camcorder.

In 1992, Sharp became the first company to build in a color LCD

screen to replace the conventional viewfinder. In fact,
their LCD screen was basically the entire camera with the lens
assembly hanging off of it.   No longer did users have to squint
through a tiny eyepiece.  This has become a standard feature of
almost every consumer camcorder. Finally, today’s digital video
technology first arrived in late 1995. Panasonic and Sony brought

9
out the first Digital Videocamcorders, soon followed by Sharp and
JVC.
 Today’s new camcorders incorporate the best of the evolution.
Small and compact, large LCD viewfinders and high quality Digital
Video recording. Go anywhere, shoot anywhere.  What’s next?
Maybe batteries that last for days? No more videotape and the ability
to record directly to flash memory? Wireless video recording directly
to the Internet? Camcorders built into your head and biologically
connected to your optic nerves? Who knows?  One thing can be
guaranteed though, in another 20 years, your cool and
hip digital camcorder, will be looked at as nothing more than a
quaint and cute heirloom of primitive times.

An arrangement of a separate portable recorder like a Betamax unit shown here and a

video camera is still considered a camcorder by some sources.[6]

10
A shoulder-mount RCA camcorder
Video cameras originally designed for television broadcast were large and heavy,
mounted on special pedestals, and wired to remote recorders located in separate
rooms.

As technology advanced, out-of-studio video recording was made possible by means of

compact video cameras and portable video recorders. The recording unit could be
detached from the camera and carried to a shooting location. While the camera itself
could be quite compact, the fact that a separate recorder had to be carried along made
on-location shooting a two-man job. Specialized video cassette recorders were
introduced by both JVC (VHS) and Sony (Umatic & Betamax) to be used for mobile
work. The advent of the portable recorders helped to eliminate the phrase "film at
eleven" — rather than wait for the lengthy process of film developing, recorded video
could be shown during the 6 o'clock news.

In 1982 Sony released the Betacam system. A part of this system was a single camera-
recorder unit, which eliminated the cable between camera and recorder and
dramatically improved the freedom of a cameraman. Betacam quickly became the
standard for both news-gathering and in-studio video editing.

In 1983 Sony released the first consumer camcorder - the Betamovie BMC-100P. It
used a Betamax cassette and could not be held with one hand, so it was typically
resting on a shoulder. In the same year JVC released the first camcorder based
on VHS-C format. In 1985 Sony came up with its own compact video cassette format
— Video8. Both formats had their benefits and drawbacks, and neither won the format
war.
In 1985, Panasonic, RCA, and Hitachi began producing camcorders that recorded to
full-sized VHS cassette and offered up to 3 hours of record time. These shoulder mount
camcorders found a niche with videophiles, industrial videographers, and college TV
studios. Super VHS full-sized camcorders were released in 1987 which exceeded
broadcast quality and provided an inexpensive way to collect news segments or
videographies.

In 1986 Sony introduced the first digital video format, D1. Video was recorded in

11
uncompressed form and required enormous bandwidth for its time. In 1992 Ampex used
D1 form-factor to create DCT, the first digital video format that utilized data
compression. The compression utilized discrete cosine transform algorithm, which is
used in most modern commercial digital video formats.
In 1995 Sony, JVC, Panasonic and other video camera manufacturers launched DV. Its
variant using a smaller MiniDV cassette quickly became a de-facto standard for home
and semi-professional video production, for independent filmmaking and for citizen
journalism.

In 2000 Panasonic launched DVCPRO HD, expanding DV codec to support high

definition. The format was intended for use in professional camcorders and used full-
size DVCPRO cassettes. In 2003 Sony, JVC, Canon and Sharp introduced HDV, the
first truly affordable high definition video format, which used inexpensive MiniDV
cassettes.

In 2003 Sony pioneered XDCAM, the first tapeless video format, which

uses Professional Disc as recording media. Panasonic followed next year,
offeringP2 solid state memory cards as recording medium for DVCPRO HD video.

In 2006 Panasonic and Sony introduced AVCHD as an inexpensive consumer-grade

tapeless high definition video format. Presently AVCHD camcorders are manufactured
by Sony, Panasonic, Canon, JVC and Hitachi.

In 2007 Sony introduced XDCAM EX, which offers similar recording modes to XDCAM
HD, but records on SxS memory cards.

With proliferation of file-based digital formats the relationship between recording media
and recording format became weaker than ever: the same video can be recorded onto
different media. With tapeless formats, recording media has become a storage device
for digital files, signifying convergence of video and computer industries.

12
HOW A CAMCORDER WORKS?
Everyone does it. When they acquire their first camcorder
they cradle it respectfully in their hands and admire how
technology can make something so small do so much. The camcorder
is a tribute to the ingenuity of mankind: a mixture of physics,
electronics, micromechanical engineering, and mass production.
It's amazing how something so miniscule can have so many parts
that all work together ('til you drop it).
Let's take a voyage through a camcorder to see how it
works. This will not be a deep science lesson; that could take
hundreds of pages and leave you yawning by the middle of page
one.We'll just cover the main parts of a camcorder and tell
what they do.
Remember the old song "Dry Bones" ("...The thigh bone's
connected to the hip bone, the hip bone's connected to the back
bone ...")? Well, in a camcorder, the lens bone is connected to
the CCD chip, the CCD's connected to the circuit board, the
circuit board's connected to the VCR, and that's the word of the
designers.
The lens-
Light, like a rainshower, falls in all directions, bouncing
everywhere. Pretty disorganized. Before we can make use of the
light to make a picture, we have to organize it. Just as a rain
gutter can channel a downpour, a lens collects scattered light,
organizes it, and focuses it very sharply into a mini
"light-picture."
Just for kicks some evening, turn off all the lights in the
house, find the biggest magnifying glass you have, and hold it
about six feet from one lit bare light bulb or desk lamp. On the
opposite side of the lens, hold a piece of white paper and focus
the light from the lamp onto the paper. Move the paper back and
forth slowly and suddenly a sharp upside-down image of the lamp
will appear. Depending upon the lens and the distances, the
image could be small or large. Your camera lens does the same
thing, only better. The focus part of the camera lens adjusts
13
for the distance the object is away from the lens. The zoom part
of the lens adjusts the magnification (bigness) of the image.
Another lens component called the iris, blocks out some of the
light, in case the image gets too bright for the camera.
Now that we have a sharp, mini image (about the size of a
postage stamp), what do we do with it?
The CCD chip -
Once we have the image focused, we need to have some way to
turn it into electrical signals. This is where the CCD (Charge
Coupled Device) chip comes in. The CCD, also about the size of a postage stamp,
contains about three hundred thousand tiny dots of photosensitive material. Each dot
can sense the light that falls upon it and convert it into an electrical charge. Circuits in
the camera measure these electrical charges, turning them into
video signals.
To understand how a CCD chip works, imagine if everyone
attending last summer's Woodstock Festival brought a water pail
with them. Imagine three hundred thousand people standing in
neat columns and rows (this has to be imagination, it couldn't be
the real Woodstock) holding their buckets to the sky. Now
imagine a small rain cloud sweeping across the valley dumping a
torrent on some of the audience, filling their buckets. Some of
the spectators would be on the edge of the shower receiving only
a half bucket of rain and a few lucky patrons may hardly see a
drop. The band on stage hammers out a rhythm and with each beat, each patron hands
his bucket to the person on his right and
accepts a bucket from the person on his left. At the end of the
rows, someone else weighs each bucket, pours the water out, and recycles the empty
bucket to the first person in the row. Since
some buckets may be full while others are nearly empty, the
scales will show different measurements.
In the CCD chip, it is light instead of rain that falls
into the bucket. Light and dark parts of the picture make
electronic buckets full of electronic charge or empty. An
electronic "clock" circuit is the drumbeat that passes these
charges from hand to hand until they are measured at the end of
the electronic row.
After measuring the content of each bucket, the CCD empties
the pail in preparation for more light, and does all 300,000
buckets at the rate of 30 times per second. There's a lot of
fast bucket handling going on, but the CCD buckets are very small and the electrons
don't splash out.
Incidentally, it is very unlikely that you would get rained
on while the spectator next to you remained dry. Rain showers
have gradual edges, and so would camera pictures if it weren't
for the lens. The lens focuses the image, making sharp edges.
14
If there were a lens for the showers over Woodstock, you might
easily get drenched while your neighbor stayed dry. Maybe he
stood under a lean-to with a rain gutter funneling water into
your boot.
Now hear this -
Now that we have a video signal, where does the audio come
from? Each camcorder has a built-in microphone, usually behind a little grille embedded
in the front of the camera above the lens.
Inside the microphone is a tiny diaghram, sometimes called an
electret condenser. Power from the camera puts a charge of
electricity on the diaghram, making it act like the plastic wrap
that clings to everything but the food you wish to cover. Sound
waves vibrate the diaghram causing the electric charges to get
squeezed together, then farther apart as they cling to the
diaghram. Since electrical charges don't like to be squeezed,
some of them squirt out, running down a wire where they can be
measured and amplified (made stronger). Thus waves of sound,
vibrate the diaghram in sympathy, and create waves of
electricity, called audio. There can be thousands of such waves
every second.
Tall circuits and short circuits -
Once the camera makes video signals, it passes them to
circuits that control the brightness, contrast, color, and other
aspects of the picture. A sample of this signal is sent to your
viewfinder, a tiny TV monitor in your camcorder. The audio
signals are automatically adjusted so that the volume doesn't get
too high or too low. A sample may be sent to your earphone
output.
At this point, the audio and video signals could pass from
the camera to a different VCR, a switcher/mixer, or to a TV
monitor, if your camcorder had audio and video output connectors.
Audio, video, and S-video (also called Y/C representing two
signals, one for luminance or brightness, and the other for
chrominance or color) signals are standardized. A TV monitor or
VCR doesn't care whether these signals are coming from a camera
and microphone, camcorder, VCR, or from a TV tuner. Video is
video. Audio is audio. That's it.
When you pass standard audio and video signals from one
machine to another, you can do things with them. Video signals
can be enhanced (made to look crisper), brightened, darkened,
time base corrected, color adjusted, combined with other images,
twisted and turned in unimaginable ways. Audio can be faded up
or down in volume, mixed with music, sound effects, narration,
and sweetened in numerous ways. Some camcorders with special
effects can modify the audio and video signals inside them; you
15
don't have to run wires from gadget to gadget.
The VCR makes heads spin -
Inside your camcorder is a miniature videocassette
recorder. It doesn't have a tuner and a timer to record programs
off the air, but can do most anything else your home VCR can do.
It records audio, maybe with high fidelity, and records video.
It doesn't care where the audio and video come from. Normally
these signals come from the microphone and camera circuits, but
in advanced camcorders, the audio and video signals could come
from another VCR, a separate camera and microphone, a
switcher/mixer, or from a TV tuner. Once the VCR receives audio
and video signals, regardless of their sources, it has the job of
recording them on the tape.
Video signals consist of many electrical vibrations.
Remember all those measurements taken from hundreds of thousands
of electrical buckets 30 times per second? Each piece of data
represents an electrical vibration, and somehow that vibration
needs to be recorded on the tape. Audio, on the other hand,
consists of only several thousand vibrations per second, making
it easier to record. Since audio is easier, let's explain audio
first.
On VHS and SVHS VCRs, audio can travel to a stationary
"head", a tiny electromagnet that converts electrical vibrations
into magnetic vibrations. Tape, which is a long ribbon of
plastic impregnated with metal particles, slides over the audio
record head allowing each of the magnetic vibrations to magnetize
a tiny portion of the tape.
Let's use our imaginations again. Instead of a head making
electrical vibrations, picture a dripping faucet with each drip
representing a "water" vibration. Now imagine someone pulling
toilet paper off a roll and passing it under the faucet so that
the faucet dripped along one edge of the paper. If the drips
came at a constant rate and you pulled the paper at a constant
speed, you could see their marks forming a regular pattern along
the edge of the paper. If the drips came faster, representing
more vibrations per second (a higher pitched tone), the spots
would be closer together. If you wanted to, you could turn off
the water, roll the paper back onto the roll, then pull it off
again and "read" how fast the drips had been coming. You could
tell if the drips represented a high tone (drips positioned close
together) or a low tone (drips far apart). The good thing about
videotape is that the magnetic drips don't dry out or make the
edge of the tape soggy, and the tape is a lot easier to wind into
the cassette than winding toilet paper back onto the roll.
Audio, you remember, represented a few thousand vibrations
16
per second, or drips per second. If you move the toilet paper
fast enough, you can easily tell one drip from the other. Video
signals, on the other hand, consist of millions of electrical
vibrations per second (a relative flood). There is no way you
could pull the toilet paper past the faucet fast enough to
separate one drip from the other. This is where the spinning
video heads come into the story. In your VCR and camcorder is a
spinning drum, about the shape of a cat food can. At opposite
ends of the drum are video heads, tiny electromagnets that change
video's electrical vibrations into magnetic vibrations. The drum
spins as the tape moves passsed it. Because the drum is tilted a
little, one head will slide across the tape in a diagonal path
and when it slides off the edge of the tape, the next head on the
drum begins to touch the tape and takes its own diagonal swipe
across the tape. Each head creates a diagonal line of magnetism
on the tape. If you could see them they would look like diagonal
candy stripes.
The diagonal stripes is how the engineers got around the
problem of too many drips too close together. The spinning video
heads spread the magnetism out over a wider area on the tape.
VHS and SVHS sound can be recorded two different ways on
the tape. The first way, which I've already described, involves
linear audio tracks (the sound is recorded in a straight line of
magnetism along the edge of the tape) but yields moderate
fidelity. Being separate from the video, the audio tracks can be
independently erased and redubbed with new sound. Or the picture
can be changed without touching the linear sound tracks.
The second way sound can be recorded on the tape yields
high quality, hi fi stereo sound. The method involves taking the
audio signal and mixing it with the video signal so that the
video head records audio and video at the same time. Thus the
spinning video heads while recording high frequency video
magnetism on the tape, are simultaneously recording the low
frequency audio magnetism along with it. Since the two
magnetisms are mixed, it is impossible to separate them. That's
why hi fi sound and pictures cannot be edited separately, whereas
the linear audio tracks along the edge of the tape can be erased
and rerecorded; they have a place of their own.
Like their VHS brothers, 8mm and HI8 VCRs record hi fi
sound mixed with the picture (a technique called AFM - audio
frequency modulation). Once recorded, the two are inseparable.
The 8mm and HI8 formats allow sound to be recorded another way
which is editable, a method called PCM (Pulse Code Modulation).
Here, the video head, as it swipes across the tape, records video
(and hi fi AFM audio) for most of its swipe. Then for the
17
remainder of the swipe, it stops recording those things and
begins recording PCM sound. Here the sound waves (converted to
electrical waves by the microphone and amplifier circuits) gets
recorded as pulses of magnetism. Since the PCM tracks represent
only sound and no video, editing VCRs can erase them and rerecord
new sound without touching the picture. The stereo PCM tracks
have respectable fidelity.
Playback, the recording process in reverse -
Just as you could "read" the drip spots on the toilet
paper, the audio and video heads can "read" the magnetism from
the tape.
First the audio: On VHS and SVHS VCRs, the tape slides
over the stationary audio head. Magnetism on the tape generates
electrical vibrations in the head. These vibrations may be fast
or slow depending on what was recorded, and thus mimic the
original signal.
After amplification, the audio signal passes out the VCR or
camcorder's audio output to an earphone, another VCR, an
audiocassette recorder, or a modulator (described shortly).
Hi fi VHS and SVHS VCRs can "listen" to the linear audio
tracks or to their hi fi audio tracks, depending on how you throw
a switch. The hi fi sound is read off the tape along with the
video. A circuit separates the two and sends the audio to one
place (audio and/or earphone output) and video to another (video
output).
Similarly, 8mm and HI8 VCRs may have a switch to select
whether the AFM sound or PCM sound is read off the tape.
Video, you recall, was recorded as diagonal swipes of
magnetism. The spinning video heads can sense the magnetism as
well as record it. Tracking circuits assure that the spinning
heads follow the diagonal magnetic paths perfectly (in fact, when
they get off --- playing between the magnetic stripes --- you see
bands of snow in the picture called "mistracking").
Circuits separate the picture signals from the hi fi sound
and send video to the camera's electronic viewfinder, its video
output, and/or to a modulator.
RF, RF, said the dog -
Camcorders with audio and video (or S-video) outputs allow
you to send these standardized signals elsewhere, perhaps to
another similarly equipped camcorder, VCR, audiocassette
recorder, TV monitor, or sound system. Independent audio and
video (preferably S-video) signals are the best way to pass
picture and sound from device to device. For instance, it's best
to connect audio and S-video directly to your TV to view the
sharpest picture. Connect audio and S-video from VCR to VCR to
18
copy a tape with the clearest sound and picture. If S-video
isn't available, use regular video.
But discrete audio and video require two wires.
Connections would be easier with just one. Further, some devices
--- simple TV sets with antenna terminals only --- lack audio and
video inputs. What then?
Enter the modulator (also called RF generator --- RF stands
for Radio Frequency). This gizmo changes audio and video signals
into a TV channel. It combines the audio and video with a high
frequency signal (like radios use --- thus the term radio
frequency) and sends the combo down an antenna wire. From here
it can be fed to a TV set (tuned usually to channel 3 or 4) or to
a tuner (a device that decodes TV channels back into audio and
video) or to a VCR's antenna input.
The modulator muddies up the picture and sound a little,
and the TV tuner may soften it a bit more, the whole process
perhaps losing 10% of your picture quality. That's why it's
better to stick to straight audio and video, and leave RF to
situations where you have no other choice (like playing back your
day's recordings on a hotel room TV).
RF modulators are sometimes built into the camcorder, (it
may have 3 outputs: one audio, one video, one RF). They're
always built into household VCRs. Most camcorders, to save
weight, have separate modulators you connect to your camcorder.
This takes us the whole route from the lens bone to the
video head bone to the modulator bone.
And that's the word of the designers.

Overview

19
Camcorders contain 3 major components: lens, imager, and recorder. The lens
gathers and focuses light on the imager. The imager (usually a CCD orCMOS sensor on
modern camcorders; earlier examples often used vidicon tubes) converts incident light
into an electrical signal. Finally, the recorder converts the electric signal into digital
video and encodes it into a storable form. More commonly, the optics and imager are
referred to as the camerasection.
Lens
The lens is the first component in the light path. The camcorder's optics generally have
one or more of the following adjustments:

 aperture or iris to regulate the exposure and to control depth of field;

 zoom to control the focal length and angle of view;
 shutter speed to regulate the exposure and to maintain desired motion portrayal;
 gain to amplify signal strength in low-light conditions;
 neutral density filter to regulate the exposure.
In consumer units, the above adjustments are often automatically controlled by the
camcorder's electronics, but can be adjusted manually if desired. Professional units
offer direct user control of all major optical functions.

Imager
20
The imager converts light into electric signal. The camera lens projects an image onto
the imager surface, exposing the photosensitive array to light. The light exposure is
converted into electrical charge. At the end of the timed exposure, the imager converts
the accumulated charge into a continuous analog voltage at the imager's output
terminals. After scan-out is complete, the photosites are reset to start the exposure-
process for the next video frame.

Recorder
The third section, the recorder, is responsible for writing the video-signal onto a
recording medium (such as magnetic videotape.) The record function involves many
signal-processing steps, and historically, the recording-process introduced some
distortion and noise into the stored video, such that playback of the stored-signal may
not retain the same characteristics/detail as the live video feed.
All but the most primitive camcorders imaginable also need to have a recorder-
controlling section which allows the user to control the camcorder, switch the recorder
into playback mode for reviewing the recorded footage and an image control section
which controls exposure, focus and white-balance.

The image recorded need not be limited to what appeared in the viewfinder. For
documentation of events, such as used by police, the field of view overlays such things
as the time and date of the recording along the top and bottom of the image. Such
things as the police car or constable to which the recorder has been allotted may also
appear; also the speed of the car at the time of recording. Compass direction at time of
recording and geographical coordinates may also be possible. These are not kept to
world-standard fields; "month/day/year" may be seen, as well as "day/month/year",
besides the ISO standard "year-month-day". And the Danish police have the speed of
the police car in the units "km/t" sic (time being Danish for "hour").

Consumer camcorders 21
Analog vs. digital

Camcorders are often classified by their storage device: VHS, VHS-

C, Betamax, Video8 are examples of older, videotape-based camcorders which record
video in analog form. Newer camcorders includeDigital8, MiniDV, DVD, Hard Disk and
solid-state (flash) semiconductor memory, which all record video in digital form. (Please
see the digital video page for details.) In older digital camcorders, the imager-chip,
the CCD was considered an analog component, so the digital namesake is in reference
to the camcorder's processing and recording of the video. Many next
generation camcorders use aCMOS imager, which register photons as binary data as
they hit the imager, thus tightly marrying part 2 and 3.

The take up of digital video storage in camcorders was an enormous

milestone. MiniDV storage allows full resolution video (720x576 for PAL,720x480
for NTSC), unlike previous analogue video standards. Digital video doesn't experience
colour bleeding, jitter, or fade, although some users still prefer the analog nature
of Hi8 and Super VHS-C, since neither of these produce the "background blur" or
"mosquito noise" of Digital compression. In many cases, a high-quality analog recording
shows more detail (such as rough textures on a wall) than a compressed digital
recording (which would show the same wall as flat and featureless). Although, the low
resolution of analogue camcorders may negate any such benefits.

22
The main digital pro TV camera at Greater Grace World Outreach.
The highest-quality digital formats, such as Digital Betacam and DVCPRO HD, have the
advantage over analog of suffering little generation loss in recording, dubbing, and
editing (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 do suffer from generation loss in the editing process
only). Whereas noise and bandwidth problems relating to cables, amplifiers,
and mixers can greatly affect analog recordings, such problems are minimal in digital
formats using digital connections (generally IEEE 1394, SDI/SDTI, or HDMI).

Although both analog and digital can suffer from archival problems, digital is more prone
to complete loss. Theoretically digital information can be stored indefinitely with zero
deterioration on a digital storage device (such as a hard drive), however since some
digital formats (like MiniDV) often squeeze tracks only ~10 micrometers apart (versus
~500 μm for VHS), a digital recording is more vulnerable to wrinkles or stretches in the
tape that could permanently erase several scenes worth of digital data, but the
additions tracking and error correction code on the tape will generally compensate for
most defects. On analog media similar damage barely registers as "noise" in the video,
still leaving a deteriorated but watchable video. The only limitation is that this video has
to be played on a completely analogue viewing system, otherwise the tape will not
display any video due to the damage and sync problems. Even digital recordings on
DVD are known to suffer from DVD rot that permanently erase huge chunks of data.
Thus the one advantage analog seems to have in this respect is that an analog
recording may be "usable" even after the media it is stored on has suffered severe
deterioration whereas it has been noticed[9] that even slight media degradation in digital
recordings may cause them to suffer from an "all or nothing" failure, i.e. the digital
recording will end up being totally un-playable without very expensive restoration work.

Modern recording media

Some recent camcorders record video on flash memory devices, Microdrives,

small hard disks, and size-reduced DVD-RAM or DVD-Rs using MPEG-1, MPEG-
2 or MPEG-4 formats. However because these codecs use inter-frame compression,
23
frame-specific-editing requires frame regeneration, which incurs additional processing
and can cause loss of picture information. (In professional usage, it is common to use a
codec that will store every frame inidividually. This provides easier and faster frame-
specific editing of scenes.)

Most other digital consumer camcorders record in DV or HDV format on tape and

transfer content over FireWire (some also use USB 2.0) to a computer, where the huge
files (for DV, 1GB for 4 to 4.6 minutes in PAL/NTSC resolutions) can be edited,
converted, and (with many camcorders) also recorded back to tape. The transfer is
done in real time, so the complete transfer of a 60 minute tape needs one hour to
transfer and about 13GB disk space for the raw footage only - excluding any space
needed for render files, and other media. Time spent in post-production (editing) to
select and cut the best shots varies from instantaneous "magic" movies to hours of
tedious selection, arrangement and rendering.

Consumer market

As the mass consumer market favors ease of use, portability, and price, most of the
consumer-grade camcorders sold today emphasize handling and automation features
over raw audio/video performance. This segment has followed an evolutionary path
driven by relentless miniaturization and cost-reduction, made possible by progress in
design and manufacturing. Miniaturization conflicts with the imager's ability to gather-
light, and designers have delicately balanced improvements in sensor-sensitivity with
sensor-size reduction, shrinking the overall camera imager & optics, while maintaining
reasonablely noise-free video in broad daylight. Indoor or dim light shooting is generally
unacceptably noisy, and in such conditions, artificial lighting is highly recommended.
Mechanical controls do not scale below a certain-size, and manual camera-operation
has given way to camera-controlled automation for every shooting parameter (focus,
aperature, shutter-speed, white balance, etc.) The few models that do retain manual-
24
override frequently require the user to navigate a cumbersome menu-interface. Outputs
include USB 2.0, Composite and S-Video, and IEEE 1394/Firewire (for MiniDV models).
On the plus-side, today's camcorders are affordable to a wider-segment of the
consumer market, and available in a wider variety of formfactors and functionality, from
the classic camcorder-shape, to small flip-cameras, to video-capable camera-phones
and digicams.

At the high-end of the consumer-market, there is a greater emphasis on user-control

and advanced shooting modes. Feature-wise, there is some overlap between the high-
end consumer and prosumer markets. More expensive consumer camcorders generally
offer manual exposure control, HDMI-output and external audio-input, progressive-scan
frame-rates (24fps, 25fps, 30fps), and better lenses than basic models. In order to
maximize low-light capability, color-reproduction, and frame-resolution, a few
manufacturers offer multi-CCD/CMOS camcorders, which mimic the 3-element imager
design used in professional equipment. Field tests have demonstrated most consumer
camcorders (regardless of price), to produce noisy video in low light.

Before the 21st century, video editing was a difficult task requiring a minimum of two
recorders. Now, the typical home Personal Computer can hold several hours of
standard-definition video, and is fast enough to edit footage without additional upgrades.
Most consumer camcorders are sold with a basic video editing program, so users can
easily create their own DVD-videos, or share their edited-footage online.

JVC GZ-MG555 hybrid camcorder (MPEG-2 SD Video)

In the first world market, nearly all camcorders sold today are digital. Tape-based
(MiniDV/HDV) camcorders are declining in popularity, as tapeless models (miniDVD,
SD-card, hard-drive) cost almost the same, but offer greater convenience. For example,
video captured on SD-card can be transferred to PC much faster than digital-tape.
Hard-disk camcorders feature the longest continuous recording-time, though the
25
durability of the Hard Drive is a concern for harsh and high-altitude environments.
Footage from miniDVD camcorders can be dropped into and played on a DVD-player.
As of 2007, analog camcorders are still available but not widely marketed anymore.
Even with a street price below US$200, both digital-tape and basic-tapeless technology
have reached price parity with the older analog-tape, which suffers many disadvantages
compared to the newer units, and all low-end camcorders face market pressure from
the rising popularity of multi-function devices (cameraphones, digicams) with basic
video-recording capability.

Other devices with video-capture capability

Video-capture capability is not confined to camcorders. Cellphones, digital single lens

reflex and compact digicams, laptops, and personal media players frequently offer some
form of video-capture capability. In general, these multipurpose-devices offer less
functionality for video-capture, than a traditional camcorder. The absence of manual
adjustments, external-audio input, and even basic usability functions (such as autofocus
and lens-zoom) are common limitations. More importantly, few can capture to standard
TV-video formats (480p60, 720p60, 1080i30), and instead record in either non-TV
resolutions (320x240, 640x480, etc.) or slower frame-rates (15fps, 30fps.)

When used in the role of a camcorder, a multipurpose-device tends to offer inferior

handling and audio/video performance, which limits its usability for extended and/or
adverse shooting situations. However, much as camera-equipped cellphones are now
ubiquitous, video-equipped electronic devices will likely become commonplace,
replacing the market for low-end camcorders.

The past few years have seen the introduction of a slew of DSLR cameras with high-
definition video. Although the current crop still suffer from the typical handling and
usability deficiencies of other multipurpose-devices, DSLR video offers two videographic
features unavailable on consumer camcorders, shallow depth-of-field and
interchangeable lenses. Professional video-cameras possessing these capabilities are
currently more expensive than even the most expensive video-capable DSLR. In video
applications where the DSLR's operational deficiencies can be mitigated by meticulous
26
planning of the each shooting location, a growing number of video productions are
employing DSLRs, such as the Canon 5D Mark II, to fulfill the desire for depth-of-field
and optical-perspective control. Whether in a studio or on-location setup, the scene's
environmental factors and camera placement are known beforehand, allowing the
directory of photography to determine the proper camera/lens setup and apply any
necessary environmental adjustments, such as lighting.

A recent development to combine the feature-sets of full-feature still-camera and

camcorder in a single unit, is the combo-camera. The Sanyo Xacti HD1 was the first
such combo unit, combining the features of a 5.1 megapixel still-camera with a 720p
video recorder. Overall, the product was a step forward in terms of a single-device's
combined level of handling and usability . The combo camera's concept has caught on
with competing manufacturers; Canon and Sony have introduced camcorders with still-
photo performance approaching a traditional digicam, while Panasonic has introduced a
DSLR-body with video features approaching a traditional camcorder.

Uses
Media

27
Operating a camcorder

Camcorders have found use in nearly all corners of electronic media, from electronic
news organizations to TV/current-affairs productions. In locations away from a
distribution infrastructure, camcorders are invaluable for initial video acquisition.
Subsequently, the video is transmitted electronically to a studio/production center for
broadcast. Scheduled events such as official press conferences, where a video
infrastructure is readily available or can be feasibly deployed in advance, are still
covered by studio-type video cameras (tethered to "production trucks.")

Home video
For casual use, camcorders often cover weddings, birthdays, graduation ceremonies,
kids growing up, and other personal events. The rise of the consumer camcorder in the
mid to late '80s led to the creation of shows such as the long-running America's
Funniest Home Videos, where people could showcase homemade video footage.

Entertainment and movies

Camcorders are often used in the production of low-budget TV shows where the
production crew does not have access to more expensive equipment. There are even
examples of movies shot entirely on consumer camcorder equipment (such as The Blair
Witch Project and 28 Days Later). In addition, many academic filmmaking programs
have switched from16mm film to digital video, due to the vastly reduced expense and
ease of editing of the digital medium as well as the increasing scarcity of film stock and
equipment. Some camcorder manufacturers cater to this market,
particularly Canon and Panasonic, who both support "24p" (24 frame/s, progressive
scan; same frame rate as standard cinema film) video in some of their high-end models
for easy film conversion.

Even high-budget cinema is done using camcorders in some cases; George Lucas used

28
Sony CineAlta camcorders in two of his three Star Wars prequel movies. This process is
referred to as digital cinematography.
Formats

Analog

8 mm Camcorder

Lo-Band: Approximately 3 megahertz bandwidth (250 lines EIA resolution or

~333x480 edge-to-edge)


Entertainment from Ampex equipment. 29
BCE (1954): First tape storage for video, manufactured by Bing Crosby

 BCE Coloer (1955): First color tape storage for video, manufactured by Bing
Crosby Entertainment from Ampex equipment.
 Simplex (1955): Developed commercially by RCA and used to record several
live broadcasts by NBC.
 Quadruplex (1955): Developed formally by Ampex, and this became the
recording standard for the next 20 years.
 Vera (1955): An experimental recording standard developed by the BBC, but
was never used or sold commercially.
 Umatic (1971): The initial tape used by Sony to record video.
 Umatics (1974): A small sized version of Umatic used for portable recorders.
 Betamax (1975): Only used on very old Sony and Sanyo camcorders and
portables; obsolete by the mid/late-80s in the consumer market.
 Type B (1976): Co-developed by Sony and Ampex and this became the
broadcast standard in europe for most of the 1980s.
 Type C (1976): Co-developed by Sony and Ampex.
 VHS (1976): Compatible with VHS standard VCRs, though VHS camcorders
are no longer made.
 VHS-C (1982): Originally designed for portable VCRs, this standard was later
adapted for use in compact consumer camcorders; identical in quality to VHS;
cassettes play in standard VHS VCRs using an adapter. Still available in the
low-end consumer market (JVC model GR-AXM18 is VHS-C; see page 19 of
the owner's manual). Relatively short running time compared to other formats.
 Betacam (1982): Introduced by Sony as a 1/2 inch tape for professional video
recorders.
 Video8 (1985): Small-format tape developed by Sony to combat VHS-C's
compact palm-sized design; equivalent to VHS or Betamax in picture quality,
but not compatible. High quality audio as standard.
Hi-Band: Approximately 5 megahertz bandwidth (420 lines EIA resolution or
~550x480 edge-to-edge)

 Umatic BVU (1982): Largely used in high-end consumer and professional

equipment. The introduction of Umatic BVU spelled the end of 16mm film


recordings.
30
Umatic BVU-SP (1985): Largely used in high-end consumer and professional
equipment. The introduction of Umatic BVU spelled the end of 16mm film
recordings.
 Betacam-SP (1986): An minor upgrade to the Betacam format, but because
of the upgrade, it became a broadcast standard.
 MII (1986): Panasonic's answer to Betacam-SP
 S-VHS (1987): Largely used in medium-end consumer and prosumer
equipment; rare among mainstream consumer equipment, and rendered
obsolete by digital gear like DigiBetacam and DV.
 S-VHS-C (1987): An upgrade to provide near-laserdisc quality. Now limited to
the low-end consumer market (example: JVC SXM38). As per VHS-C,
relatively short running time compared to other formats.
 Hi8 (1988): Enhanced-quality Video8; roughly equivalent to Super VHS in
picture quality, but not compatible. High quality audio as standard. Now
limited to low-end consumer market (example: Sony TRV138)
Digital

MICROMV camcorder and tape (top) compared to MiniDV and Hi8 tapes

 31
Umatic (1982): An experiments overhaul was made to umatic to record digital
video, but this was impractical and the tapes were used as a transport for
digital audio only. This led to the D series of tapes about 4 years later.
 D1 (Sony) (1986): The first digital video recorder. It used digitized component
video, encoded at Y'CbCr 4:2:2 using the CCIR 601 raster form and
experimentally supported full HD broadcasts.
 D2 (video format) (1988): This was a cheap alternative the D1 tape created
by Ampex and this actually encoded video digitally instead of sampling
composite video and experimentally supported full HD broadcasts.
 D3 (1991): Created by Panasonic to compete with the Ampex D2 and
experimentally supported full HD broadcasts.
 DCT (videocassette format) (1992): This was the first compressed video tape
format created by Ampex based on the D1 format. It used discrete cosine
transform as its codec of choice. DST was a data-only standard introduced to
the rapidly growing IT industry.
 D5 HD (1994): 1080i digital standard introduced by Sony based on the D1
tape.
 Editcam (1995): First drive recording standard introduced by Ikegami.
FieldPak used a IDE hard and RAMPak used a set of flash ram modules. It
can record in DV25, Avid JFIF, DV, MPEG IMX, DVCPRO50, and Avid
DNxHD format, depending on generation.
 Digital-s (1995): JVC debuted a digital tape similar to VHS but had a different
tape inside and supported digital HD broadcasts. Widely used by FOX
broadcasting. Also called D-9.
 MiniDV (1995): Smaller version of the DV standard released by Sony.
Became the most widespread standard-definition digital camcorder
technology for several years.
 DVD (1995): Uses either Mini DVD-R or DVD-RAM. This is a multi-
manufacturer standard that uses 8 cm DVD discs for 30 minutes of video.
DVD-R can be played on consumer DVD players but cannot be added to or
recorded over once finalized for viewing. DVD-RAM can be added to and/or
recorded over, but cannot be played on many consumer DVD players, and
costs a lot more than other types of DVD recordable media. The DVD-RW is

32
another option allowing the user to re-record, but only records sequentially
and must be finalized for viewing. The discs do cost more than the DVD-R
format, which only records once. DVD discs are also very vulnerable to
scratches. DVD camcorders are generally not designed to connect to
 computers for editing purposes, though some high-end DVD units do
record surround sound, a feature not standard with DV equipment.
 DV (1996): Sony debuted the DV format tape with DVCAM being professional
and DVCPRO being a Panasonic variant.
 D-VHS (1998): JVC debuted the digital standard of VHS tape and which
supported 1080p HD. Many units also supported IEEE1394 recording.
 Digital8 (1999): Uses Hi8 tapes (Sony is the only company currently
producing D8 camcorders, though Hitachi once also did). Most, but not all
models of Digital 8 cameras have the ability to read older Video8 and Hi8
analog format tapes. The format's technical specifications are of the same
quality as MiniDV (both use the same DV codec), and although no
professional-level Digital8 equipment exists, D8 has been used to make TV
and movie productions (example: Hall of Mirrors).
 MICROMV (2001): Uses a matchbox-sized cassette. Sony was the only
electronics manufacturer for this format, and editing software was proprietary
to Sony and only available on Microsoft Windows; however, open
source programmers did manage to create capture software for Linux[1]. The
hardware is no longer in production, though tapes are still available through
Sony.
 XDCAM (2003): A professional blu-ray standard introduced by Sony. This is
similar to that of regular BRD but used different codecs, namely MPEG IMX,
DV25 (DVCAM), MPEG-4, MPEG-2, and HD422.
 Blu-ray Disc (2003): Presently, Hitachi is the only manufacturer of Blu-ray
Disc camcorders.
 P2 (2004): First solid state recording medium of professional quality,
introduced by Panasonic. Recorded DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, DVCPRO-HD, or
AVC-Intra stream onto the card.
 HDV (2004): Records up to an hour of HDTV MPEG-2 signal roughly equal to
broadcast quality HD on a standard MiniDV cassette.
 SxS (2007): Jointly developed by Sony and Sandisk. This is a solid state


format of XDCAM and is known as XDCAM EX.
MPEG-2 codec based format, which records MPEG-2 program stream or
33
MPEG-2 transport stream to various kinds of tapeless media (hard disks,
 solid-state memory, etc). Used both for standard definition (JVC, Panasonic)
and high definition (JVC) recording.
 H.264, shorthand term for compressed video using the H.264 codec that is
part of the MPEG-4 standard in an MPEG-4 file most often stored to tapeless
media.
 AVCHD, a format that puts H.264 video into a transport stream file format.
The video is compressed according to the MPEG-4 AVC (aka H.264) format,
but the file format is not MPEG-4.

Brands

Handycam

Sony DVD-Handycam
34
Handycam is a Sony brand used to market its camcorder range. It was launched in
1985 as the name of the first Video8 camcorder, replacing Sony's previous line
of Betamax-based models, and the name was intended to emphasize the "handy" palm
size nature of the camera, made possible by the new miniaturized tape format. This was
in marked contrast to the larger, shoulder mounted cameras available before the
creation of Video8, and competing smaller formats such as VHS-C.

Sony has continued to produce Handycams in a variety of guises ever since, developing
the Video8 format to produce Hi8 (equivalent to S-VHS quality) and later Digital8, using
the same basic format to record digital video. The Handycam label continues to be
applied as recording formats evolve.

Nowadays Handycam is synonyms of Video camera. The word "Handycam" is normally

used for video camera/camcorder of Sony.

Sony DCR DVD 610E

Product Name :
, Camcorder

    This Sony camcorder supports 8cm DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW,

DVD+R DL discs for shoo ...
[ Read More ] [ Specifications ] [ Description ]  

Category : Camcorders, Sony-Camcorders

Brand : Sony

Price Range : Rs. 14,995 to 17,990    

User Rating :

Expert Rating :

Offers : 1 Online , 6 Local   

SONY CORP. 35
Basic Information

Code ISIN Industry Section

6758 JP3435000009 Electric Appliances 1st

Financial Information

Issued
Earnings Net Assets
Fiscal ROE PER PBR Dividend shares
per share per share
(thousands)

2009/03
-98.59 2,954.25  - -32.96 1.10  - 1,004,535
Group / Final

2009/03
-76.03 2,413.40  - -42.75 1.35 42.50  -
Company / Final

2009/09
-63.18 2,872.48  -  - 1.13  - 1,004,535
Group / Interim

2009/09
 -  -  -  -  - 12.50  -
Company / Interim

Quotes

Recent Price
3,245 (15:00) Net Change (%) -5 (-0.15%)
(Trade Time)

Open 3,270 Previous Close 3,250

High 3,300 Low 3,230

Year's High (Date) 3,645(2010/03/23) Year's Low (Date) 2,694(2010/01/04)

Volume 5,664,900 Turnover 36

18,458,108,500

Trade Unit 100

Chart Type 5minutes Daily Weekly Monthly

Panasonic ( パ ナ ソ ニ ッ ク  Panasonikku) is an international brand

name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation (formerly
known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.) Under this brand the company
sells plasma and LCD display panels, DVD recorders and players,Blu-ray
Disc players, camcorders, telephones, vacuum cleaners, microwave ovens, shavers,
projectors, digital cameras, batteries, laptop computers (under the sub-
brand Toughbook), portable CD, analog tape decks and home stereo equipment,
37
electronic components and semiconductors, all of which are marketed under their
slogan "Ideas for Life."
On January 10, 2008, Matsushita announced that it intends to change the company
name to Panasonic Corporation, effective October 1, 2008.The proposal to change the
company's name was approved at the firm's annual shareholder's meeting on June
26. As of October 1, 2008, the company changed its name to Panasonic Corporation.
Non-audio/visual products (mostly home appliances) used to be branded with "National"
in Japan are now marketed under the Panasonic brand.

PANASONIC CORP.

Basic Information

Code ISIN Industry Section

38
6752 JP3866800000 Electric Appliances 1st
Financial Information

Issued
Earnings Net Assets
Fiscal ROE PER PBR Dividend shares
per share per share
(thousands)

2009/03
-182.25 1,344.50  - -7.50 1.02  - 2,453,053
Group / Final

2009/03
-27.11 1,030.38  - -50.42 1.33 30.00  -
Company / Final

2009/09
-22.63 1,304.52  -  - 1.05  - 2,453,053
Group / Interim

2009/09
 -  -  -  -  - 5.00  -
Company / Interim

Quotes

Recent Price
1,351 (15:00) Net Change (%) -16 (-1.17%)
(Trade Time)

Open 1,358 Previous Close 1,367

High 1,369 Low 1,345

Year's High (Date) 1,585(2010/01/15) Year's Low (Date) 1,228(2010/02/26)

Volume 6,673,800 Turnover 9,029,367,800

Trade Unit 100

Chart Type 5minutes Daily Weekly Monthly

39
The Samsung Group (Korean: 삼성 그룹) is a multinational conglomerate corporation
headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It is the world's largest
conglomerate by revenue with an annual revenue of US $173.4 billion in 2008 and is
South Korea's largest chaebol. The meaning of the Koreanhanja word Samsung (三 星 )
is "tristar" or "three stars".

The Samsung Group is composed of numerous international affiliated businesses, most

of them united under the Samsung brand including Samsung Electronics, the world's
largest electronics company, Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's second
largest shipbuilder[8] and Samsung C&T, a major global construction company.

Samsung has been the world's most popular consumer electronics brand since 2005
40
and is the best known South Korean brand in the world. Samsung Group accounts for
more than 20% of South Korea's total exports and is the leader in many domestic
industries, such as the financial, chemical, retailand entertainment industries. The
company's strong influence in South Korea is visible throughout the nation, which has
been referred to as the "Republic of Samsung".

Product Name : Samsung VP-DX200I

, Camcorder

    The VP-DX200i camcorder packs a 34x optical with 1,200x digital

zoom and 1/5 inc ...
[ Read More ] [ Specifications ] [ Description ]  

Category : Camcorders, Samsung-Camcorders

Brand : Samsung

Price Range : Rs. 9,490 to 15,999   

User Rating :

Expert Rating :

41
SAMSUNG KODEX200 SECURITIES EXCHANGE
TRADED FUND [STOCK]

Basic Information

Code ISIN Industry Section

KR7069500007 others  
1313

Financial Information

Issued
Earnings Net Assets
Fiscal ROE PER PBR Dividend shares
per share per share
(thousands)

Quotes

Recent Price
1,961 (13:16) Net Change (%) -9 (-0.45%)
(Trade Time)

Open 1,997 Previous Close 1,970

High 1,997 Low 1,954

Year's High (Date) 2,000(2010/04/13) Year's Low (Date) 1,666(2010/02/12)

Volume 620 Turnover 1,225,790 42

Trade Unit 10
Chart Type 5minutes Daily Weekly Monthly

43
CanonInc. (キヤノン株式会社 Kyanon Kabushiki Gaisha?, TYO: 7751, NYSE: CAJ) is a
Japanese multinational corporation that specializes in the manufacture of imaging and
optical products, including cameras, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its
headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo,Japan.
Canon-LEGRIA FS36
Product Name :
, Camcorder

    The Legria FS36 features a massive 8GB Internal Flash Drive and
SDHC card slots, ...

Category : Camcorders, Canon-Camcorders

Brand : Canon

Price Range : Rs. 20995* ( * approx. price)    

CANON FINETECH INC.

Basic Information

Code ISIN Industry Section

JP3242900003 Machinery 1st

6421

Financial Information

Issued
Earnings Net Assets
Fiscal ROE PER PBR Dividend shares
per share per share
(thousands)

2009/12
52.35 1,703.75 3.1 30.70 0.94  - 42,533
Group / Final

2009/12
Company / Final
60.88 1,549.26 3.1 26.40 1.04 24.00 44  -

2009/06 -6.82 1,669.56  -  - 0.96  - 42,533

 Group / Interim

2009/06
 -  -  -  -  - 12.00  -
Company / Interim

Quotes

Recent Price
1,610 (15:00) Net Change (%) +3 (+0.18%)
(Trade Time)

Open 1,620 Previous Close 1,607

High 1,620 Low 1,591

Year's High (Date) 1,715(2010/04/05) Year's Low (Date) 1,144(2010/01/22)

Volume 110,600 Turnover 177,413,100

Trade Unit 100

Chart Type 5minutes Daily Weekly Monthly

45
Canon DV 012

Optura 100 MC

Canon DV 012 is the model number of a single CCD Mini DV camcorder. It was sold

in North America under the name Optura 100 MC.

Still images may be recorded onto an SD flash memory card with an image resolution of
either 1280x960 or 640x480 and an image quality of either "fine" or "standard."

When held in the hands, the Canon DV 012 is a sturdy camcorder that imparts a heavy
feeling of ruggedness. It was replaced by the Optura 200 MC which has a nearly
identical exterior appearance.
Canon XL-2

Canon XL2 with some peripheral attachments, including wireless microphones and
external monitor

The Canon XL-2, released in 2004, is Canon's prosumer 3CCD standard 46

definition camcorder. The XL-2 is the big brother to the GL family and the successor of
the similar looking Canon XL-1s. It is succeeded by the Canon XL-H1 with a similar 20x
lens and similar design, but in black.

The Canon XL-2 was designed to be very customizable, along with an array of pro-
grade features. Some of these include:

 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios

 60i, 24p, and 30p frame rates
 with selectable 2:3 or 2:3:3:2 pulldown in 24p mode
 4-channel audio
 Optical Image Stabilization with the included 20X L IS lens
 Control of gamma, knee, and much more to get the desired picture
 Open architecture Design
 Interchangeable lenses
The camera also has 2 XLR inputs in the back, as well as the capability to add 2 more
with an adapter that plugs into the accessory shoe. This makes it useful for use with
wireless microphones or other audio sources. The XL2 records to a miniDV tape and
can export to a computer via a Firewire (IEEE 1394) port. The XL2 is one of only a few
cameras that can record to all 4 miniDV audio tracks simultaneously.
Canon XL-1/XL-1s

XL-1s resting on hard carrying case.

47
The Canon XL-1 is a Three-CCD Standard Definition Digital Video camcorder made
from 1997 to 2001 by Canon Inc.. The camera was designed for theprosumer market,
and was very popular with independent filmmakers. The XL-1s was the follow-up
camera to the XL-1, and it adds new features such as a more powerful 3CCD system.
The successor to the XL-1s is the Canon XL-2.

The XL-1 and XL-1s have many features of a high-end camera such as interchangeable
lenses, viewfinders, and XLR inputs. Many features of the XL-1s were carried over into
the Canon GL-2 and XL-2.
Design
The Canon XL-1 and the XL-1s were designed to be very customizable. The camera's
features include:

 4:3, and electronic 16:9 (non native) anamorphic aspect ratios.

 60i, as well as "Frame" 30p picture modes.
 Optical Image Stabilization with the included 16X L ISII lens.
 ND Filter
The XL-1s has been used to make studio films such as Full Frontal and 28 Days Later.
Canon XL H1

The Canon XL-H1 HDV camera, with a few accessories.

The Canon XL H1 is Canon's first HDV camcorder. It is the successor to the Canon XL-

2 which is the successor to the widely used Canon XL-1s. It can shoot in the HDV
standard resolution of 1440x1080 pixels and has 3 native interlaced

48
1440x1080 CCDs (The photosites are 1.33:1 aspect ratio, allowing for a full 16:9 frame.)
where Sony's HVR-V1U has 960x1080 diagonal photosites, and Panasonic's AG-
HVX200 pixel shifted 960x540 (goes to 1280x1080 but theoretically with pixel shift, has
a resolution of 1440x810).
The camera can also shoot in Standard Definition in either 16:9 or 4:3. It has
an HDSDI uncompressed output. There's also component uncompressed HD output.

Comparative Study 49
 V/S

o
Panasonic SDR-S9 SD Video Camera Price – Rs.11,900/-
10x Optical Zoom
50
o 700x Digital Zoom
o SD/SDHC Memory Card
 Panasonic SDR-S10 SD Video Camera Price – Rs.13,900/-
o 10x Optical Zoom
o 700x Digital Zoom
o SD/SDHC Memory Card
Panasonic SDR H40 Camcorder Price – Rs.17,900/-
o 42X Optical Zoom
o 40GB Harddisk drive
o Advanced Optical Image Stabilizer
Panasonic SDR H60 Camcorder Price – Rs.19,900/-
o 60GB HDD
o 50x Optical Zoom & Advanced O.I.S.
o Easy Archiving & Playback with BN1
o SD Card Slot (still/movie)
o 2.7” Wide LCD (Power LCD plus)
Panasonic SDR H280 3CCD Camcorder Price – Rs.27,900/-
o 3CCD Camera System & Leica Dicomar Lens
o 3.1 Megapixel still picture recording
o 30GB HDD with Optical Image Stabiliser
Panasonic SDR H80 Camcorder Price – Rs.22,000/-
o 70x optical zoom with Advanced O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
o iA (Intelligent Auto) function
o 54h recording in 60-GB HDD (LP mode)
Panasonic SDR H90 Camcorder Price – Rs.24,000/-
o 70x optical zoom with Advanced O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
o iA (Intelligent Auto) function
o 72h recording on 80-GB HDD (LP mode)
Panasonic HDC-SD9 – 3CCD Camcorder Price – Rs.33,900
o World’s smallest and lightest 3CCD Full-HD Camcorder
o Full-HD 1920 x 1080p recording with Leica Dicomar Lens
o Advanced Optical Image Stabilizer with Face detection

51
Manufacturing base

52
Slightly more than 50% of the electronics' segment's total annual production during the
fiscal year 2005 took place in Japan, including the production of digital cameras, video
cameras, flat panel televisions, personal computers, semiconductors and components
such as batteries and Memory Sticks. Approximately 65% of the annual production in
 Japan was destined for other regions. China accounted for slightly more than 10% of
total annual production, approximately 70% of which was destined for other regions.

Asia, excluding Japan and China, accounted for slightly more than 10% of total annual
production with approximately 60% destined for Japan, the US and the EU. The
Americas and Europe together accounted for the remaining slightly less than 25% of
total annual production, most of which was destined for local distribution and sale.

Sony's Sales and Distribution by Geographical Regions in 2009

Geographic Region Total Sales ( Yen in millions)

Japan 1,873,219

United States 1,827,812

Europe 2,307,658

Other Area 2,041,270

Sony DCR 650E DVD Handycam Price – Rs.20,900/-

o HYBRID convenience: DVD & Memory Stick
o 60x optical zoom
o Built-in zoom microphone
o Touch Panel LCD with user-friendly menu system
o Easy Handycam® Button
o Scene Selection
Sony DCR SX40E Handycam Price – Rs.19,900/-
o HYBRID convenience: 4GB internal memory & Memory Stick
o 60x optical zoom
o Quick Startup
o Touch Panel LCD with user-friendly menu system
o Easy Handycam® Button
o Scene Selection
Sony DCR SR47E HDD Handycam – Rs.23,900/-
o 60GB Hard Disk Drive
o
o
60x optical zoom
HYBRID convenience: Hard Disk Drive & Memory Stick
53
o Quick Startup
o Easy Handycam® Button
o Touch Panel LCD with user-friendly menu
Sony DCR SR67E HDD Handycam – Rs.26,900/-
o 80GB Hard Disk Drive
o 60x optical zoom
o Built-in zoom microphone with Dolby Digital 5.1ch.
o HYBRID convenience: Hard Disk Drive & Memory Stick
o Quick Startup
o Easy Handycam® Button
Sony HDR XR100 HDD Handycam  Price- Rs.39,900/-
o 1920×1080i Full HD video recording
o 80GB Hard Disk Drive
o “Exmor” CMOS Sensor
o BIONZ Image Processor
o Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar Lens
o SteadyShot

CONCLUSION

54
During the preparation of my project report, I took into account
many important factors regarding the marketing strategies of
these companies and going by my observation and experience. I
can infer Sony, Canon, Panasonic, Samsung is a consumer
oriented and it products better quality goods at increased in
extreme circumstances only.

Bibliography

55
Websites

 http://www.google.com
 http://www.wikipedia.com
 http://www.scribd.com

56
57