Is DV the same as avi?

[Bartenhagen]

I am trying to understand the whole digital video thing and have a question. Are all .avi files the same as a DV file? Do in understand correctly that DV is the format that my JVC DV camera records in. This is a specific format that is 5 to 1 compresion and all cameras that are DV cameras use this same format? Does my DV camera have a file on it that is a .avi file or is it more complicated than that? Do all .avi files use the DV compresion?

Thanks.

[BJ_M]

avi is a term for a video file that may be compressed or uncompressed MANY different ways .. for example you can have:

divx 3 - 5 avi
mjpeg avi
uncompressed avi
huffyuv avi
indeo avi

and many many more ..

what is further confusing is that some avi many accually be mpeg compressed files (mpeg 4 variation ussually).

DV formats are also a mpeg compression and are lossy (lossy refers to teh fact that each time the file is re-compressed it loses information - vs. Lossless video files which can be re-compressed (or left uncompressed) and dont lose information (except sometimes tape loss)).

there are several types of DV formats - ussually broken down into consumer and pro ... with pro there are a lot of non compatable dv formats withthe usual people involved (sony, panasonic, jvc, etc).

afak all consumer dv is the same ... i know there is a ton of info on the web about it .. and i dont work with the dv format so am not to knowlagable about it .. but i do use beta SP, Digital Beta, and HD beta and now also Beta SX and even still 1" C