D-VHS
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D-VHS is a digital video format developed by JVC, in collaboration with Hitachi, Matsushita and Philips. The "D" in D-VHS is for Data, not Digital. It uses the same physical cassette format and recording mechanism as S-VHS, and is capable of recording and displaying both standard definition and high definition content. The content data format is in MPEG-2 Transport stream, the same data format used for most digital television applications. The format was introduced in 1998.
The JVC D-VHS deck, released in the UK, was not a bitstream recorder, although it did have a FireWire input. Instead it is best thought of as a digital recorder for traditional analog inputs such as domestic analog TV and digiboxes for digital broadcasts. The deck was able to record D-VHS signals onto S-VHS tapes, which made it a cost-effective source of high quality domestic recordings. Pictures were noticeably superior to S-VHS and were essentially transparent when compared to an off-air source. Using the LS3 mode, approximately 17.25 hours of digital video could be stored on a S-VHS E-240.
The deck's biggest shortcomings were the lack of a DV output and, perhaps more crucially, the lack of RGB input via the SCART connector (PAL territories only as the NTSC versions had component outputs).
As a last "hurrah" for VHS, the D-VHS system was terrific as a domestic recorder (the only comparison at the time being the DV format, which never gained any traction except as a camcorder medium), but given the wholesale move to DVD and then hard disk drive (HDD) recording, the format failed to make any headway into the video market.
There has been no small-format version of D-VHS equivalent to VHS-C; JVC, the originator of the format, chose to use MiniDV for its digital camcorder lines, and since 2005 has also expanded into tapeless camcorder designs based on hard drive storage (the Everio line). JVC does market the Digital-S format for professional use; while the tapes and technology used are superficially similar to D-VHS tapes, the underlying data format is based on the DV codec and the media formulation is drastically different.
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[edit] Tape Length
HD content is stored at 28.2 Mbit/s, while SD content can be stored at bit rates from 14.2 Mbit/s down to 2 Mbit/s. The tape labels are a bit confusing for HD as D-VHS was originally a standard definition format that recorded at the "STD" speed. When HD was introduced it required twice the amount of tape. For this reason, a DF-300 will only record 150 minutes and not 300 minutes. High Definition can only be recorded at STD speed if the bit stream is CBR (Constant Bit-Rate) at 14.1 Mbit/s or less, or is VBR (Variable Bit-Rate) with no peaks exceeding 14.1 Mbit/s. Somewhat confusingly, "STD" does not refer to "Standard Definition", but "Standard Speed", for high definition. "HS" is "High Standard".]
| Tape Label | Data storage | Tape Length | Rec. Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HS | STD | LS3 | LS5 | |||
| DF-240 | 25gig | 240 m | 120 min (2 h) | 240 min (4 h) | 720 min (12h) | 1,200 min (20 h) |
| DF-300 | 31.7 gig | 300 m | 150 min (2:30 h) | 300 min (5 h) | 900 min (15 h) | 1,500 min (25 h) |
| DF-420 | 44 gig | 420 m | 210 min (3:30 h) | 420 min (7 h) | 1,260 min (21 h) | 2,100 min (35 h) |
| DF-480 | 50 gig | 480 m | 240 min (4 h) | 480 min (8 h) | 1,440 min (24 h) | 2,400 min (40 h) |
[edit] Issues
There are technical issues with compatibility between recordings from Mitsubishi and JVC D-VHS decks. PAL and NTSC recordings are incompatible too. Very few models are available to the world market and sales of this format have been weak; correspondingly, prices have remained high for both VCRs and media.
However, it still is the only way to archive high definition material that is encrypted from cable and satellite companies. This has been true for the last seven years, and will be true until the widespread introduction of Blu-Ray (BD) and HD DVD recorders. Even then, cost and digital rights management issues are expected to push back even further the public's ability to archive high definition material. This link shows how many are recording HD video from cable and satelite including encyrpted content.
[edit] D-Theater
In 2002, prerecorded D-VHS cassettes are sold under the brand name D-Theater in the US. While D-Theater is a D-VHS tape, it is incompatible with D-VHS decks without the D-Theater logo. They provide content in both 720p and 1080i as well as at least one Dolby Digital audio track. Supported movies studios include 20th Century Fox, Artisan Entertainment, DreamWorks and Universal Pictures. D-Theater provides much better audio and video quality than previous formats (VHS and DVD), but has since been displaced by newer formats such as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. D-Theater does have region code restrictions. There are 2 know regions; 1 for the USA, 2 for Japan. There has never been a D-Theater video release in region 2. Region code hacks for Japanese decks have been performed to support playback of US titles. The last movie available was 20th Century Fox's I, Robot. This title was a surprise to many as there were no prior announcements nor any indication that the title was available. It was originally available only on JVC's D-VHS store in late 2004 and no other distributor had it (not even Fox themselves). A couple of weeks later they started trickling out to more distributors after much delay and confusion about its existence.
Most tapes have built-in copy protection mechanism (DTCP, also known as "5c") (copy never) that disables copying via FireWire. HDNet productions and 2929 Entertainment via Magnolia Entertainment do provide some of their original content on D-VHS but without copy protection. Many of the tapes have an introduction by the owner Mark Cuban encouraging you to make copies of the program.
[edit] DTS
Additional tracks may be included on D-Theater in other sound formats such as DTS. However, only the newest D-VHS players like JVC HM-DH40000, HM-DH5U, HM-DT1000, and Marantz MV-8300 include alternate audio track capabilities.
DTS D-Theater D-VHS tapes. * means dts was not mentioned on the package.
- Moulin Rouge!
- True Lies
- X2
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- Speed
- Alien (Director's Cut)
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- Passion of the Christ
- Man on Fire
- The Day After Tomorrow
- I, Robot
- Meet the Parents
- The Scorpion King *
- Red Dragon *
- 2 Fast 2 Furious*
- The Life of David Gale*
- Love Actually
- Lost in Translation
- The Truth About Charlie
- 21 Grams
- The Rundown
[edit] Rare D-Theater tapes
When Lions Gate bought Artisan, a number of titles that were supposed to be released were cancelled. Some of them were Dirty Dancing, Basic Instinct and Total Recall. 20th Century Fox while experimenting with DTS did test tapes of PHONEbooth with DTS. There are also a number of Universal Studio test tapes without DTS tracks, but the released versions contains DTS without mention on the package. These DTS tracks I believe where late minute additions. All of these examples of preproduction/review/test tapes have been in the hands of various D-Theater collectors.
[edit] See also
- VHS
- S-VHS
- W-VHS, an analog high-definition recording format
- MicroMV and HDV, digital tape formats using MPEG-2
- Digital-S
- Blu-ray Disc
- HD DVD
[edit] External links
- JVC Victor's D-VHS home page
- D-VHS Movies and info
- HDnet Store and info
- Audio Video Science Forum D-VHS list
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| Magnetic tape |
VERA (1952) - 2 inch Quadruplex videotape (1956) - 1 inch type A videotape (1965) - U-matic (1969) - Video Cassette Recording (1972) - V-Cord (1974) - VX (aka "The Great Time Machine") (1974) - Betamax (1975) - 1 inch type B videotape (1976) - 1 inch type C videotape (1976) - VHS (1976) - Video 2000 (1979) - VHS-C (1982) - M (1982) - Betacam (1982) - Video8 (1985) - MII (1986) - D1 (1986) - S-VHS (1987) - D2 (1988) - Hi8 (1989) - D3 (1991) - D5 (1994) - Digital-S (D9) (199?) - S-VHS-C (1987) - W-VHS (1992) - DV (1995) - Betamax HDCAM (1997) - D-VHS (1998) - Digital8 (1999) - HDV (2003) |
| Optical discs |
Laserdisc (1978) - Laserfilm (1984) - CD Video - VCD (1993) - DVD (1996) - MiniDVD - CVD (1998) - SVCD (1998) - FMD (2000) - EVD (2003) - FVD (2005) - UMD (2005) - VMD (2006) - HD DVD (2006) - Blu-ray Disc (BD) (2006) - DMD (2006?) - AVCHD (2006) - Tapestry Media (2007) - HVD (TBA) - Protein-coated disc (TBA) - Two-Photon 3-D (TBA) |
| Grooved Videodiscs |
SelectaVision (1981) - VHD (1983) |
