Consumer Video Camcorder Technology
Consumer
Camcorder Technology has progressed over the past 40 years or so
with developments such as the CCD and the endless pursuit of making
smaller and smaller cameras. The transition from analog to digital
recording has opened up a range of possibilities due to the ability
to involve the computer and software.
The most
crucial aspect of any camera is the image sensor, which converts an image
– or more precisely, the light that makes up an image – into an electrical
impulse for broadcast or recording. In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
companies such as Texas Instruments and Fairchild shrunk down bulky camera
optics to single-chip CCD (charged-couple device) imaging solutions,
making portable cameras – both video and still – possible. But these chips
were monochrome-only; they could convert only black-and-white images. In
the mid-1970s, Kodak pioneered the development of color CCDs.
Once
color CCDs could be manufactured inexpensively, and once the videocassette
was introduced, the race for a consumer video camera/recorder was on. When
JVC announced VHS for the first time in Japan in September 1976, the
company also unveiled two companion video cameras, each weighing about
three pounds, each of which could be attached to a 16.5-pound
shoulder-slung portable VCR. Two years later, Sony unveiled its first
portable Betamax/video camera combination. RCA followed with its own
two-piece VHS system in 1978.
But these early portable video
attempts were bulky and required both a camera and a bulky portable VCR.
Almost simultaneously in 1982, two companies announced CAMera/reCORDER, or
camcorder, combinations.
On June 1, 1982, JVC unveiled its new mini-VHS
format, VHS-C. In Japan five months later, Sony announced its Betamovie
Beta camcorder, which it advertised with the catch-phrase "Inside This
Camera Is A VCR." The first Betamovie camcorder hit stores in May 1983,
about 7 years after Sony's first consumer VCR, the Betamax.
In February 1984, photo giant Kodak introduced a new camcorder
format, 8mm, and its first 8mm camcorder, the KodaVision 2000. Sony
followed with its 8mm camcorder the following January, and the first
hi-band 8mm, or Hi8, camcorder, in April 1988.
In 1992, Sharp became the
first company to build in a color LCD screen to replace the conventional
viewfinder. All camcorders today offer a swing-out LCD panel that keeps
the user from having to squint through a tiny eyepiece.
By the
early 1990s, a new and improved video format was in development – the
digital video cassette (DVC), now simply DV or Mini DV, which used a
quarter-inch tape housed in a cassette about the size of DAT (digital
audio tape). The format
was created by a group of manufacturers called the HD Digital VCR
Conference.
Panasonic and later Sony introduced the first Mini DV
camcorders in September 1995, followed by Sharp and JVC two months later.
The advantages of the new format were immediate: the cameras themselves
were much smaller than either 8mm or VHS-C; the resolution was twice that
of VHS, resulting in less generational loss when editing and making
copies; and, because of its digital nature and the FireWire (IEEE-1394)
interface on all DV camcorders, footage could be downloaded and edited on
a personal computer.
This editing capability gave rise to personal
computer-based home video editing, which has become as sophisticated as
editing suites found in many TV studios. It also enabled struggling
filmmakers to use video to create their imaginative works with only an
inexpensive camcorder.
Camcorder technology, like all technologies, continues to evolve.
In 2000, Hitachi introduced the first DVD-RAM camcorder which used a
3-inch disc, and in 2002 followed with three DVD-R-compatible models. Sony
advanced the tape-based camcorder with its MicroMV technology, which uses
a cassette half the size of that of a MiniDV. Sony has also introduced DVD
based camcorders using mini DVD-R and DVD-RW 8cm sized discs. In October 2001, the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) honored Hitachi,
JVC, Kodak, Matsushita and Sony with Emmy awards for their parts in
developing the camcorder.
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How
to choose a camcorder
Video
Compression
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