Uses of digital video

Before you can look at and really understand the uses of digital video, you need to understand the WHY of going digital.

In comparison to film, the biggest difference of digital is the frames per second. With film recording you shoot at about 24-30 frames per second. With digital video, you get about 60 frames per second, which results in a crisper, cleaner image. So what is being done with this crisper cleaner image?

One of the biggest uses, and one of the first to use, digital video were and are broadcast stations. This would be like your news station, favorite television shows, church broadcasts, etc. Most of what you see on your television was shot using digital video. While this technology is seemingly new, broadcast stations have been using digital video for quite some time. The average consumer didn't not because it is inferior, but because a good product for shooting digital video was not affordable until recently. The format CCIR 601 is what is used for broadcast stations.

Another huge use of digital video is for distributing information of all kinds online. This includes rebroadcasts of what you see on your television, but it also has things like speeches from political candidates, how to clips for everything you can think of, family websites sharing video clips of Christmas, and other events. The uses online are endless and vary significantly. However, these days, almost every site you visit will have an option for watching some sort of digital video. This was made possible by the advances in digital video recorders, but also in the advances in editing software, and the ability for a novice to pick it up and create a quality film. MPEG-4 is a common digital video format, and is good for online distribution of large videos and video recorded to flash memory.

Another great use of digital video is for creating DVDs, this can be a DVD for educational purposes, family videos, wedding videos and more. The truth is that most digital video can be used for anything that film video is used for. Generally if digital video is going to be used for a DVD or Super-VCD you would use an MPEG-2 format.

MPEG-1 is the format used for video CDs, and once again, the content on these video CDs is up to you.

The following are some of the most common uses of digital video:

Broadcasting: This is broadcasting like the news at night. This is any sort of broadcasting from church broadcasts like the General Conferences held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to choir broadcasts and more.

Home: digital video is so easy to shoot, edit, and store that it is quickly becoming the popular choice for home video use. People can download their video right onto their computers, compress the files, and burn them on DVD, it is fast, easy, and convenient, so you will see much more home videos, from baby's first steps, to Christmas.

Fun: digital video is fun, and because of its ease of use people use it to shoot silly clips, short videos, etc. People use it to ask friends to dances, to record sporting events, and all sorts of other things like this.

Education: Many classrooms now use digital video to show students things they can't experience in the classroom. For example, the teacher of a science class may visit a sewage processing plant and record the process, then bring the video back and play it in class to teach students. It is also used to record classes and post them online for those who missed class and do not want to get behind.

Weddings: digital video is easier to edit, and thus the wedding videographers are turning to it as they make video of your special day.

As you can see the uses are many. So, enjoy digital video yourself today!