Sony MiniDV 60 minute (LP: 90 min) cassette
introduction to MiniDV & HDV cassette transfer
DV (originally known as Digital Video Cassette or DVC) is a family of digital video tape cassettes and codecs, launched in the mid-'90s, of which MiniDV was the prevalant consumer-oriented version. The HDV development allowed high definition video to be recorded on DV tape (on both miniDV and the larger HDV-specific cassettes.)
At Greatbear, we carefully restore and transfer, at the highest quality, all variations of the DV video tape format, from MiniDV / HDV in PAL and NTSC. (See also our dedicated services for the related DVCPRO, DVCAM and Digital8 formats).
We offer a range of delivery formats for our video transfers. Following International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives TC-06 guidelines in digitising to uncompressed or lossless formats. We also recognise that for some born-digital recordings like MiniDV and HDV it is more appropriate to capture and preserve the direct DV stream with its associated metadata, and this is our preferred workflow with DV and HDV recordings.
We can provide the appropriately-sized USB delivery media for your files, or use media supplied by you, or deliver your files online. Files delivered on hard drive can be for any operating system MacOS, Windows or GNU/Linux and filesystems (HFS+, NTFS or EXT3).
MiniDV / HDV video cassette recordings can vary both in duration and in the extent of physical tape degradation, so we always assess tapes before confirming the price of a transfer.
We offer free assessments - please contact us to discuss your project.
For an introduction to our assessment and treatment processes, please see our guide to "what happens to your video tape".
MiniDV & HDV playback machines
DV VTRs are in some ways a rare transition between older analogue formats and a digital format used domestically and professionally.
Most of the Sony range of DV / DVCAM / HDV machines will replay tapes made on small, cheap, domestic MiniDV camcorders in addition to DVCAM tapes and the later High Definition, HDV recordings. This flexibilty can also be confusing and a range of machines are necessary for all format and standard variations.
The mechanical tape transports used in DV cameras and decks are also not all made equal and the cheapest are usually the least reliable long term, while being the most difficult to service. Some HDV decks also have tape burnishing and cleaning systems that can help to reduce the error rate on some tapes.
We have a range of professional and domestic DV video decks to reliably cater for the full range of transfer needs for this born-digital format.
- Sony DSR 20 (PAL)
- Sony DSR 25 (PAL / NTSC)
- Sony DSR 1500 AP (PAL), Sony DSR 1500A (NTSC)
- Sony DSR 2000P x 2 (PAL, LP capable)
- Sony HVR M15E x 2 (PAL / NTSC, DV / HDV)
- Sony HVR M35E (PAL / NTSC, DV / HDV)
- Sony HVR-1500 (PAL / NTSC, DV / HDV)
- JVC BR-DV600E x 2 (PAL)
- JVC SR-VS20 x 2 (PAL, LP capable)
MiniDV & HDV format variation
| DV recording type | direct digital transfer to equivalent digital video file supported | SDI / HDSDI digital transfer of audio & video | 2 / 4 channels of audio supported | preservation of timecode supported | preservation of DV stream metadata to logfile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DV SP 576i | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| DV LP 576i | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| DV SP 480i | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| DV LP 480i | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HDV 1080/50i | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HDV 1080/25p | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HDV 1080/60i | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HDV 1080/30p | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| HDV 1080/24p | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Scroll to the right to view full table on smaller screens.
Sony DSR-2000AP Digital Videocassette Recorder
Sony HVR-1500 digital HD Videocassette Recorder
MiniDV S-size cassette dimensions: 6.5 x 4.8 x 1.2 cm
MiniDV & HDV tape risks & vulnerabilities
The main problems with MiniDV arise from the size of the tape. The tape is very thin and fragile, and there is little margin for error if things go wrong. MiniDV tapes were commonly used in domestic camcorders, which had less well-built tape transports that made tape damage more likely. The machines were also prone to make unaligned recordings, leading to interchange problems - the ability to record on one machine, and play back successfully on another.
MiniDV used metal evaporated tape formulation which had a problem with excessive drop outs (on DV recordings this means the image becomes pixelated). If you have a glitch on digital tape it is likely that when repaired, parts of the recording will be lost. Compare this with analogue tape which degrades more gracefully, and can be spliced together so that the majority of the recording can be saved.
Dramatic degradation can affect all digital tape, even when there are no visible defects, leading to tapes becoming unplayable. We therefore recommend that you migrate your digital tape to files as soon as possible.
MiniDV and HDV tape brands / models
Commonly-found MiniDV / HDV tapes include:
- Canon
- Canon DVM-E30; Canon DVM-E60
- Canon HDVM63AMQ
- JVC
- JVC M-DV30ME; JVC M-DV60ME; JVC DVM30; JVC DVM60; JVC DV30; JVC DV60
- JVC PRO-HD DVM63
- Maxell
- Maxell DVM60SE; Maxell DV60ME
- Panasonic
- DVC range: Panasonic AY-DVM60FE; Panasonic AY-DVM80EJ
- Advanced Master Quality range: Panasonic HDVM63AMQ
- Sony
- Sony DV 60PR4; Sony DVM60PR4; Sony DVM60PR3; Sony DVM60PRL; Sony DVM60PRR
- Digital Master range: Sony DVM63; Sony HDM-63VG; Sony DVM-63HD
- TDK
- TDK DV60; TDK DVM60
MiniDV & HDV history
DV refers to a family of codecs and tape formats launched in 1995 by a consortium of video camera manufacturers, led by Sony and Panasonic.
MiniDV was introduced in 1998 and is the consumer version of DVCAM.
HDV, developed by JVC in 2003, used the same tape format as MiniDV with a different video codec, allowing high-definition video to be recorded in camera.
MiniDV and HDV capture video and audio on to S-size high-density cassette tapes. The format delivered sound and video that is sharper and higher-quality than earlier analogue recordings. Another benefit was its flexibility and ease of transfer to devices such as laptops, where material could be easily edited.
It is still possible to buy MiniDV tapes today, and relatively easy to acquire the camcorders second hand, but they have largely been superseded by tapeless digital camcorders that record to memory cards and solid-state drives.
MiniDV logo; HDV logo
Video cassettes, tape boxes, compatible cameras and playback machines for MiniDV and HDV can be identified by these logos. DV and MiniDV are trademarks of the Sony Corporation. HDV is a trademark of Sony and JVC.