Editing HDCAM (section)

{{short description|Magnetic tape-based videocassette format for HD video}}
{{For|the type of pirated movie release|Pirated movie release types}}
{{Infobox media
| name = HDCAM
| logo = HDCAM logo.svg
| image = Hdcam.jpg
| caption = HDCAM small videotape
| type = [[Magnetic tape]], ½-inch
| encoding = 
| capacity = 
| read = 
| write = 
| standard = 
| owner = 
| use = [[Video production]]
| extended from = 
| extended to = 
| released = {{Start date and age|1997}}
}}

[[File:Sony HDW-F900 of ETTV at Shiow Meei Industrial booth 20201101.jpg|thumb|Sony HDW-F900 CineAlta HDCAM camcorder]]

'''HDCAM''' is a [[high-definition video]] [[digital recording]] [[Videocassette#Cassette_formats|videocassette]] version of [[Betacam|Digital Betacam]] introduced in 1997 that uses an 8-bit [[discrete cosine transform]] (DCT) [[video compression|compressed]] [[Chroma subsampling#3:1:1|3:1:1]] recording, in [[1080i]]-compatible down-sampled resolution of 1440×1080, and adding [[24p]] and 23.976 [[progressive segmented frame]] (PsF) modes to later models. The HDCAM codec uses rectangular pixels and as such the recorded 1440×1080 content is upsampled to 1920×1080 on playback. The recorded video bit rate is 144&nbsp;Mbit/s. Audio is also similar, with four channels of [[AES3]] 20-bit, 48&nbsp;kHz [[digital audio]]. Like Betacam, HDCAM tapes were produced in small and large cassette sizes; the small cassette uses the same form factor as the original [[Betamax]]. The main competitor to HDCAM was the [[DV (video format)#DVCPRO HD|DVCPRO&nbsp;HD]] format offered by Panasonic, which uses a similar compression scheme and bit rates ranging from 40&nbsp;Mbit/s to 100&nbsp;Mbit/s depending on frame rate.

HDCAM is standardized as '''SMPTE 367M''', also known as '''SMPTE D-11'''. Like most videotape formats, HDCAM is no longer in widespread use, having been superseded by memory cards, disk-based recording formats, and SSDs. Despite its decline in usage, Sony still manufactures new HDCAM tape stock as of 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/tape-media/hdcam|title=HDCAM Magnetic Storage Tape}}</ref>