Panasonic specifically created the DVCPRO family for electronic news gathering (ENG) purposes. NBC's newsgathering division was a major customer, taking advantage of the improved linear editing capabilities and robust design.
Panasonic Digital Video Cameras
Running on a track width of 18 micrometres, significantly more than is customary, DVCPRO runs on a metal particle tape type rather than metal evaporated. With an audio cue track running on longitudinal analogue, audio is recorded and played back in the 16bit/48 kHz variant and colour subsampling is worked in 4:1:1 format (even in PAL).
Its alias, the DVCPRO25, runs at a similar playback to DV at bitstream level. Panasonic's models have become well renowned for their professional standards of model, while Sony has aimed theirs at entry level videography.
Exceptional Picture Quality
DVCPRO 25/50 is often described as two DV-codecs in parallel. DVCPRO50 standard doubles the coded video bitrate from 25 Mbit/s to 50 Mbit/s, and uses 4:2:2 chroma subsampling instead of 4:1:1. DVCPRO50 was created to provide high-value ENG compatibility. The higher datarate cuts recording time in half (compared to the DVCPRO25), but the resulting picture quality is reputed to rival the Digital Betacam.