Digital Betacam

Digital Betacam (Digibeta) was launched by Sony in 1994. Since then it has achieved real success at the top-end of broadcast and commercial production, as a high quality digital alternative to 16mm and Super 16 film (Digital Cinematography) and has become the de-facto standard for quality TV production in most of the world. Despite the introduction of many other digital formats over recent years Digibeta still remains at the top of the quality ladder for standard definition video production.

Commercials, dramas and prestigious documentaries are all ideally suited to the high quality images produced by Sony's Digibeta camcorders. Production teams used to working on film feel at home with Digital Betacam, with its extensive range of film accessories available for the camcorders.

One advantage of Digital Betacam over film becomes apparent when shooting live or unpredictable events. With tape being significantly cheaper than film stock, the cameraman can afford to keep the camera rolling when it would be prohibitively costly to do so with film. This is an important consideration when shooting natural history or other real-life situations.

As a well established format the cost of using Digibeta has fallen over the years bringing Digibeta within the reach of smaller budget productions. The tapes can be used by most production companies and there is no shortage of hire equipment available. The range of accessories and add-ons is immense and most Cameramen and Production Crews are familiar with the equipment.

For the technically minded, Digibeta is a Digital format that uses mild 2:1 compression to record the full 4:2:2 component video signal on half inch tape. It has 4 digital audio channels (2 only on most cameras) as well as time code and cue tracks. Camera tapes run for up to 42 minutes and studio tapes run for up to 124 minutes.

Click here for more information on Digital Cinematography.