Digital Betacam (also known as DigiBeta, D-Beta, DBC or simply Digi) launched in 1993. It supersedes both Betacam and Betacam SP, while costing significantly less than the D1 format. Digital Betacam records a 3 to 1 DCT-compressed digital component video signal at 10-bit YUV 4:2:2 sampling in NTSC or PAL at a bitrate of 90 Mbit/s plus four channels of uncompressed 48 kHz digital audio. It is a popular digital video cassette format for broadcast television use.

HDCAM SR was introduced in 2003. It uses a higher density tape and is capable of recording in 10 bits 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 RGB with a video bitrate of 440 Mbit/s. The increased bitrate (over HDCAM) allows HDCAM SR to capture much more of the full bandwidth of the HDSDI signal (1920 x 1080). Some HDCAM SR VTRs can also use a 2x mode with an even higher video bitrate of 880 Mbit/s, allowing for a single 4:4:4 stream at a lower compression or two 4:2:2 video streams simultaneously.

HDCAM is a high-definition video tape version of digital Betacam. The HDCAM codec uses rectangular pixels and as such the recorded 1440 x 1080 content is upsampled to 1920 x 1080 on playback. The recorded video bit rate is 144 Mbit/s. Audio has 4 channels of AES3 20-bit, 48 kHz digital.

Betacam SX is a digital version of Betacam SP. First available in 1996, Betacam SX became popular with television news organizations due to its lower cost and its compatibility with older Betacam systems already in use.

Betacam SP or "Beta SP" was the industry standard for most television stations from 1987 through the late 1990s. Despite the format's age it remained a common standard for video post-production into the 2000s.

DVCAM is Sony's professional version of DV. Like DVCPRO, DVCAM uses locked audio, preventing synchronization drift on DV if several generations of copies are made. DVCAM uses a 50% wider track pitch and the tape is transported 50% faster, which reduces recording time by one third compared to DV.

HDV is a high-definition video format on DV cassette tape. It was originally developed by JVC and supported by Sony, Canon and Sharp. An affordable high definition format for digital camcorders, HDV quickly caught on with many amateur and professionals due to its low cost and acceptable quality.

D-1 is a 4:2:2 component digital video recording standard, introduced in 1986 by SMPTE. D-1 was the very first real-time, digital broadcast-quality tape format. If you have a library of aging D-1 tapes, Digitizing World has the high-end decks in house to transfer them to modern digital formats.

D-2 is a professional digital videotape format created by Ampex and introduced at the 1988 as an alternative to the D-1 format. Like D-1, D-2 stores uncompressed digital video but it stores a composite video signal, rather than component video as with D-1.

D-3 is an uncompressed composite digital video tape format introduced by Panasonic in 1991 to compete with Ampex's D-2. Like D-2, the composite video signal is sampled at four times the color subcarrier frequency, with eight bits per sample. Four channels of 48 kHz 16-20 bit PCM audio, and other ancillary data, are inserted during the vertical blanking interval.

D-5 is a professional digital video format introduced by Panasonic in 1994. Like Sony's D-1 (8-bit), it is an uncompressed digital component system (10bit), but uses the same half-inch tapes as Panasonic's digital composite D-3 format. A 120 min D-3 tape will record 60 min in D-5/D-5 HD mode.

U-matic was introduced in 1971 and was one of the first videotapes that used a self contained cartridge or "cassette" instead of open reels of videotape. The tape was 0.748" wide, so the format is often known as "three-quarter-inch" or simply "three-quarter" tape.

One inch tape is a professional reel-to-reel analog recording tape format introduced by Ampex and Sony in 1976. It replaced 2 inch tape in the professional video and broadcast television industries, due to the smaller size, comparative ease of operation, and slightly higher video quality.

DVCPRO25, also known as DVCPRO, is a variation of DV developed by Panasonic and introduced in 1995 for use in electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment.

DVCPRO HD, also known as DVCPRO100 is a high-definition video format that uses multiple DV codecs working in parallel. The video data rate changes with frame rate and can be as low as 40 Mbit/s for 24 frame/s mode and as high as 100 Mbit/s for 50/60 frame/s modes. Like DVCPRO50, DVCPRO HD employs 4:2:2 color sampling.

EIAJ-1 is a 5 or 7 inch diameter open reel with 1/2" magnetic tape. It was developed in 1969 by the Electronic Industries Association of Japan and several Japanese electronics manufacturers. It was widely used in the early 1970s.

The XDCAM Disc was chosen by Sony as its medium for professional non-linear video acquisition. This disc is similar to Blu-ray Disc and holds either 23 GB of data (PFD23, single-layer, rewritable), 50 GB (PFD50, dual-layer, rewritable), 100GB (triple-layer, rewritable) or 128 GB (PFD128QLW, quad-layer, write-once).

The XDCAM Disc was chosen by Sony as its medium for professional non-linear video acquisition. This disc is similar to Blu-ray Disc and holds either 23 GB of data (PFD23, single-layer, rewritable), 50 GB (PFD50, dual-layer, rewritable), 100GB (triple-layer, rewritable) or 128 GB (PFD128QLW, quad-layer, write-once).

The Video Home System (better known by its abbreviation VHS) is a consumer-level analog recording videotape-based cassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan (JVC). Several improved versions of VHS exist, most notably Super-VHS (S-VHS), an analog video standard with improved video bandwidth. S-VHS improved the horizontal luminance resolution to 400 lines (versus 250 for VHS/Beta and 500 for DVD). The audio-system (both linear and AFM) is the same. S-VHS made little impact on the home market, but gained dominance in the camcorder market due to its superior picture quality.

Betamax, also known simply as "Beta" is a consumer grade video cassette released by Sony in 1975. This format was soon replaced by the Betacam series of tapes.

To counter the introduction of the Super-VHS format, Sony introduced Video Hi8 (short for high-band Video8). Both Hi8 and S-VHS were officially rated at a luminance resolution of 400 lines, a vast improvement from their respective base formats and are roughly equal to laserdisc quality. Chroma resolution for both remain unchanged. The final upgrade to the Video8 format came in 1998, when Sony introduced XR capability (extended resolution). Video8-XR and Hi8-XR offered a modest 10% improvement in luminance detail.

DV is a digital video tape format launched in 1995. Tape is enclosed into videocassettes of four different sizes: small, medium, large and extra-large. All DV cassettes use tape that is 1/4 inch (6.35 mm) wide. Small cassettes, also known as S-size or MiniDV cassettes, had been intended for amateur use, but have become accepted in professional productions as well.

DVCAM is Sony's professional version of DV. Like DVCPRO, DVCAM uses locked audio, preventing synchronization drift on DV if several generations of copies are made. DVCAM uses a 50% wider track pitch and the tape is transported 50% faster, which reduces recording time by one third compared to DV.

Digital8 (or D8) is a consumer digital recording videocassette for camcorders based on the 8 mm video format developed by Sony, and introduced in 1999. The Digital8 format is a combination of the older Hi8 tape transport with the DV codec. Digital8 equipment uses the same videocassettes as analog recording Hi8 equipment, but differs in that the signal is not analog audio/analog video, but is encoded digitally (using the industry-standard DV codec.) Since Digital8 uses the DV codec, it has identical digital audio and digital video specifications.

During the 1980s, Video8 was launched into a market dominated by the VHS-C and Betamax formats. In terms of video quality, Video8, and Beta-II offered similar performance in their standard-play modes. In terms of audio, Video8 generally outperformed its older rivals. All Video8 machines used audio frequency modulation (AFM) to record sound along the same helical tape path as that of the video signal.

3 inch inch reels generally contain 50 feet of 8mm or Super 8mm film, which is roughly 3 minutes of footage.

5 inch inch reels generally contain 200 feet of 8mm or Super 8mm film, which is 12 to 14 minutes of footage.

5 inch inch reels generally contain 400 feet of 8mm or Super 8mm film, which is 25 to 29 minutes of footage.