Video Capture Details - DV Terms and Concepts Explained

DV

DV is an acronym for Digital Video. DV is a well defined standard which enables DV compatible devices to transmit and receive movies.

Resolution

The resolution of DV movies are fixed to the following sizes:

Frame Rate

DV uses the following frame rates:

Video Compression

DV uses a lossy form of compression for reducing the size of the video stored in the file. The video is compressed to around a fifth of its original size (5:1 compression). The compression algorithm is similar to MJPEG, with each frame being compressed individually.

Audio Settings

DV audio can have 1 or 2 audio channels and the sample rate is either 32 KHz or 48 KHz. The relationship is shown in the table below:

These combinations are fixed (ie. it is not possible to have 2 channel 48 KHz or 1 channel 32 KHz). The audio remains uncompressed.

When you capture 32 KHz  audio from a DV source, Capture only captures the audio from the first channel. Capture does not support capturing audio from the second channel.

Data Rate

DV is transferred at a constant 3.6 MB per second, for both PAL and NTSC formats. The audio settings do not change the data rate.