1997-2016

HDCAM, introduced in 1997, is a high-definition digital format of Digital Betacam that uses 8-bit discrete cosine transform (DCT) to produce 3:1:1 compression at 1080i-compatible sampling resolution.

Recording can be done in 1440 × 1080 resolution and with the option of 24p and 23.976 progressive (PsF) modes with later models.

The HDCAM codec uses rectangular pixels, so recorded 1440×1080 content is played back at 1920×1080 resolution in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The recorded video bitrate is 144 Mbit/s. The audio uses four AES3 20-bit, 48 kHz digital audio channels. Like Betacam, HDCAM cassettes are available in small and large cassette sizes. The small cassette is the same size as the original Betamax cassette.

HDCAM's main competitor was the DVCPRO HD format developed by Panasonic, which used similar compression and bitrate (bitrates ranging from 40 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s depending on the frame rate).

The HDCAM system was also used in the production of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, most notably Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. HDCAM is standardized as SMPTE 367M, also known as the SMPTE D-11 system.

Like most videotape formats, HDCAM is no longer in widespread use – in the world of memory cards, disk-based recording formats, and SSDs – but it is still used for archival purposes today.

Sony discontinued HDCAM in 2016.