[P1] DVD region codes?

[Benjamin Ing]

On Wednesday, Jul 16, 2003, at 00:02 America/Los_Angeles, George 
Slusher wrote:

> Why is
> it exactly 1 hour, rather than some odd number, which would be the case
> if it were merely a difference of data density? The tape runs through 
> the
> camcorder twice as fast. That's not necessary, as shown by the mini-DV,
> which packs the same time into a much smaller package and shorter tape.

Maybe because a Digital 8 transport runs twice as fast as the Hi-8? ;-)

Digital 8 was a transitional format. It uses the exact same video heads 
to record the data that the Hi-8 decks used to record analog video - 
and don't forget that we are talking about analog recording for Hi-8 
and its predecessors and digital, or recording bits representing the 
recording with Digital 8. (fwiw, it's a great format if you have lots 
of Hi-8 and 8mm videos that you might need to transfer through 
FireWire, the reason that I bought one.)

DV is a new digital format with new video heads. The video heads have a 
smaller gap allowing a faster writing speed and also a faster reading 
speed, meaning that bits can be written smaller on the tape. The 
density can be packed tighter on the DV tape. This is all possible 
because newer technology allows for better tolerances and more precise 
reading and writing (some people have argued that with the larger bit 
sizes due to larger size and lower speed of the Digital 8 format would 
be safer, since the tolerances do not need to be as tight). Of course, 
because DV is using newer, more precise components, the price will 
remain high until the electronics companies recoup their R&D investment 
and learn how to better mass-produce components.