Invasion of the Minicams by Mark Sterne They’re small. They’re quiet. They’re stealthy. They can operate in very low light levels. Best of all, they’re digital. Don’t look now, but there may be one in the room with you. They are the latest digital video cameras, and they are proliferating like rodents, with whom they share several of the characteristics mentioned above. Ever since small, lightweight video cameras using VHS-C cassettes became available for the consumer market, agencies and producers have occasionally used them for man on the street interviews, events requiring unusual mobility or taking place in cramped locations, and the odd impromptu focus group. This trend accelerated slightly with the introduction of Video 8 and a little more when Hi 8 was introduced. It was the arrival of MiniDV, however, that made the minicam a near mandatory accessory. The minicam is to the video producer what a Palm Pilot is to a MIS engineer. There are currently several flavors of digital minicam. While MiniDV, available from several manufacturers, is by far the most popular, Sony has also introduced Digital 8, a digital version of Hi 8 which uses Hi 8 tape and is aimed specifically at the consumer market. Sony also makes a higher-end product called DVCAM, which they are promoting as an ENG/EFP format. Two other ENG/EFP targeted products are Panasonic’s DVCPRO, also known as D7, and JVC’s Digital-S, recently designated D9 by SMPTE. It is crucial to note that all of these formats except Digital-S store information using the same DCT (discrete cosine transform) compression technology and that the formats are digitally interchangeable. MiniDV MiniDV, or DV as it is also known, was the first and remains the most popular of the digital video mini formats. MiniDV cameras are available from a variety of vendors, including Sony, Panasonic and Canon. MiniDV uses 4:1:1 or 4:2:0 sampling and 5:1 compression, and typically features two 16 bit or four 12 bit PCM audio channels. Current MiniDV cameras often include a Firewire (IEEE 1394) port for digital I/O. Think of MiniDV as the poster child for the digital minicam revolution. DVCPRO (D7) DVCPRO is Panasonic’s professional level version of DV, designed for ENG/EFP and, in its DVCPRO-50 variant, HD applications. DVCPRO uses 4:1:1 sampling and 5:1 compression; DVCPRO-50 ups the ante with 4:2:2 sampling and 3.3:1 compression, competing directly with Digital-S. DVCPRO provides playback compatibility with MiniDV and DVCAM tapes, but uses metal particle tape as opposed to the evaporated metal tape used by these formats. DVCAM Sony promotes its DVCAM format as a professional quality extension of the consumer DV format, competing with Panasonic’s DVCPRO, and also offers playback compatibility with DV tapes. DVCAM samples at 4:1:1 rate and has 5:1 compression, which is good enough for ENG/EFP applications, but a bit shy of the quality typically required for commercial postproduction. Audio is selectable between two PCM channels at 16 bit and 48 kHz, or four PCM channels at 12 bit and 32 kHz. Digital 8 Sony’s Digital 8 Handycams are the latest incarnation of their popular 8mm video line. Targeted at consumers, Digital 8 Handycams not only play back Video 8 and High 8 tapes, they can record on standard Video 8 and High 8 tapes, although Sony recommends using the High 8 media. A 120 minute High 8 tape can record 60 minutes in Digital 8 format. Digital 8 has two PCM 16 bit audio channels and a Firewire port. It also has analog inputs, which is offered to consumers as an easy means of digitally archiving their existing VHS/VHS-C libraries. Digital-S (D9) JVC’s Digital-S format is a true ENG/EFP format, and is the only format discussed here that uses half-inch tape. It is included because it combines many of the advantages of the DV formats with several features found only in broadcast equipment, such as pre-read. Digital-S is a hybrid format of sorts, and is arguably the only currently cost-effective entry into DTV production and post. Digital-S offers 4:2:2 sampling and mild 3.3:1 compression, which offer significant advantages in post production over the 4:1:1 and 4:2:0 DV formats that are its competitors in terms of cost. At the same time, the quality is closer to that of much more expensive 4:2:2 formats such as Digital Betacam. The larger form factor has the advantage of being more robust, in terms of both the hardware and the media. The initial equipment offering supported two-channel audio; current versions offer four channels. The latest version of D9 is D9 HD, in which the 50Mbps bitrate has been doubled. The use of half-inch tape, combined with an improved compression engine, has made possible a 100Mbps bitrate that supports both 720P and 1080i HDTV. The HD version supports eight independently editable audio channels, making it suitable for surround sound audio editing. Firewire and editing According to the latest hype from Apple, if you have a Firewire-equipped camera, a PowerMac G3, and Apple’s new Final Cut Pro software, you have everything you need for digital postproduction. Apple claims they are committed to integrating video into the standard Mac environment in a manner analogous to their creation of the desktop publishing industry in the eighties. QuickTime is positioned as the hub technology that will allow direct digital input from DV cameras into the Mac. Quicktime is also the core technology for all editing and effects functions, and for multiplatform output to disk, CD, or tape. Apple’s website (http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro) contains extensive material documenting their plans for providing turnkey video postproduction solutions, including third-party cameras, and it seems that they are tryjng to cut Avid out of the picture entirely. The wisdom of this approach remains to be seen. The screenshots for the Final Cut software indicate that Apple has carefully studied interface conventions originally developed by Adobe and Avid, but whether the underlying technology is on par with the vastly more experienced vendors’, it is too early to say. Working editors who like the Avid are probably more committed to Avid’s software than Apple’s hardware, and the majority of them are likely to migrate with Avid to Windows NT systems, leaving Apple’s proprietary platform to the non-broadcast part of the video market. The reasons for the recent explosion in the use of minicam originated footage in post are not completely clear. To be sure, the picture and sound quality and technological flexibility of the new small digital formats make them viable as real production tools. However, PostMan believes it is at least in part due to the success of Apple’s evangelists that digital video is gathering such momentum in postproduction circles. The concept of being able to go from camera to personal computer based nonlinear editing and finishing completely in the digital domain is a heady one. The auteur theory of film production rises phoenix-like in the minds of digerati producers, who envision an unprecedented level of personal control over the creative process. How many individuals have the cinematic, sound design, lighting, directing, editing, graphic design, and organizational skills to singlehandedly produce great video? Time will tell.