Digital acquisition codecs compared

illustrated here

Format

Bit depth

Resolution

Chroma sampling

Bitrate

File size

Inter-frame?

Algorithm type

DV

8 bit

720×480 (NTSC) / 720×576 (PAL)

4:1:1 or 4:2:0

25 Mbit/s

217 MB/min.

No

DCT (lossy)

DVCPRO50

8 bit

720×480 (NTSC) / 720×576 (PAL)

4:2:2

50 Mbit/s

423 MB/m.

No

DCT (lossy)

Digital Betacam

10 bit

720×480 (NTSC) / 720×576 (PAL)

4:2:2

90 Mbit/s

675 MB/m.

No

DCT (lossy)

AVCHD

8 bit

1920x1080,1440x1080,1280x720

4:2:0

24 Mbit/s

 

Yes

DCT (lossy)

AVC Intra

10 bit

1920x1080,1440x1080,1280x720

4:2:2

50 or 100 Mbit/s

 

No

DCT (lossy)

HDV

8 bit

1280×720 or 1440×1080

4:2:0

19-25 Mbit/s

142 MB/m. (720p) 190 MB/m. (1080i)

Yes

DCT (lossy)

XDCAM HD422

8 bit

1280x720, 1920×1080

4:2:2

50 Mbit/s

 

Yes

DCT (lossy)

XDCAM EX

8 bit

1280x720, 1920×1080, 1440×1080

4:2:0

25-35 Mbit/s

190 MB/m. (25Mbit/s) 262 MB/m. (35Mbit/s)

Yes

DCT (lossy)

DVCPRO HD

8 bit

960×720, 1280×1080 or 1440×1080

4:2:2

100 Mbit/s

423 MB/m. (720p60) 835 MB/m. (1080i60)

No

DCT (lossy)

HDCAM

8 bit

1440×1080

3:1:1

144 Mbit/s

 

No

DCT (lossy)

HDCAM SR

10 bit

1920×1080

4:2:2 or 4:4:4

440 or 880 Mbit/s

 

No

DCT (lossy)

Panavision SSR

10 bit PanaLog

1920×1080

4:2:2 or 4:4:4

Up to 3 Gbit/s

 

No

Uncompressed

CineForm RAW (SI-2K)

10 bit Log

2048×1152

Raw Bayer

100-140 Mbit/s

900 MB/m.

No

Wavelet (lossy)

REDCODE RAW

12 bit

Up to 4096×2304 or 4480×1920

Raw Bayer

220-330 Mbit/s

1680-2520 MB/m. (RC28-RC42)

No

Wavelet (lossy)

DALSA
RAW

16 bit

4096×2048

Raw Bayer

~ 3.2 Gbit/s

 

No

Uncompressed