D2 (video format)

For other uses of the name D2, see the disambiguation page.

D2 is a professional digital video format, created as a lower-cost alternative to D1. The format still used no digital compression, but saved bandwidth and other costs by sampling a fully encoded NTSC or PAL composite video signal and storing that directly on to tape, rather than sampling component video. This is known as digital composite.

D2 used 19mm (3/4") tape loaded into cassettes. PCM-encoded audio and timecode are also recorded on the tape. The tapes are similar to the more popular D1 format, though they are not interchangeable.

D2 has always had a mild stigma associated with it, and as of 2003 only a handful of broadcasters use it, and even then only to access materials recorded when the format was more popular.

D3 is the equivalent Panasonic format.