A digital videotape format from Sony that was introduced in 1999. Digital8 uses the DV/MiniDV encoding technology but not the MiniDV cassettes. The cassettes it does use are the same as the earlier Hi8 analog tapes; however, they run at twice the speed for NTSC recording or 1.5 times for PAL. An LP mode is available so that, for example, a 90-minute Hi8 cassette records 90 minutes.
Using DV encoding with 480 lines of resolution, Digital8 provides more lines than its analog predecessors (270 for Video8; 400 for Hi8). See
Hi8,
DV and
SD formats.