Curious question: Sony Acronims at DVinfo.net

Robert Mitteg · July 10th, 2004, 07:45 AM

Hello,

Maybe sounds stupid, but anyone know what do Sony camcorder names mean ?

Sony PD-170 (what does "PD" mean)
Sony TRV-900 ("TRV" means Travel ??)
Sony PC-100 ("PC" means "pocket" camera ??)
Sony DSR-390 ("DSR"...)
Sony DSR-2000 (that's the high end DVCAM VTR)

What about Sony Betacam decks ?

UVW for industrial and BVW for broadcast equipment, but what does this acronims mean ??

Just curiosity anyone knows the answer.

Regards,

Robert.

Mike Rehmus · July 10th, 2004, 01:54 PM

TRV means Traveler

Not certain of the others

Michael Tan · July 10th, 2004, 09:04 PM

I thought PD stood for "portable DVCam"

always wondered about DSR and the rest though...

Tom Hardwick · July 11th, 2004, 01:23 AM

I thought the letters were just chosen to sound nice, look impressive and not offend anyone bu meaning things in different languages. Canon (and now Minolta) have cosen A1 which has obvious connotations of superiority. X seems to be chosen fairly regularily. PDX, DVX, MX and so on.

tom.

Steve McDonald · July 13th, 2004, 07:22 AM

"T" means travel, "R" probably means recorder and "V" means viewscreen. The "R" was significant back in the days when recent models had separate recorder units. BetaCam "BVW" means broadcast video something, "PVW" means professional video and "UVW" means utility video. "PD" stands for professional digital. "VX" is for video extrordinaire. "EDV" is for extended definition video. "EDP" is for extended definition professional. "DCR" is for digital cassette recorder.

I understand that "Beta" came from the fact that the first home recorder prototype, the "Alpha" format, that Sony made was much better, but was more expensive to make than the dumbed-down Beta format. So, the bean-counters in the budget office made them produce the Beta. Seeing how relatively good the Beta format was for its time, the Alpha must have been something. It ended up where all over-achievers are concealed, so they won't make people realize how mediocre the things are that we actually get to use. Many over-achieving people also find themselves banished to obscurity, so they won't show up the jealous drudges that pulled dirty tricks to give them the 8-ball. I'm tired of this now and someone else needs to fill the gaps.

Steve McDonald

Nick Reed · July 14th, 2004, 12:34 AM

Tidbit: I don't know if this is true but I once heard that there was a Japanese law that made it illegal for Japanese manufacturers to use the same model number on two different products -- ever.

Makes me wonder though if both Canon and Minolta have an A1.

Steve McDonald · July 14th, 2004, 02:06 AM

Nick, Canon has made an A-1 videocamera and an A-1 film camera. Sony comes close to using model numbers twice. They've made a V99 and a TRV99. I have a TR700 Hi-8 and the first DV camcorder was the VX700, said to have almost identical camera sections. There's several other duplicate model numbers they've used, with just a different prefix letter or two. This has caused some confusion amongst customers. I'm sure other companies have done this, as well.

Steve McDonald

Nick Reed · July 14th, 2004, 10:23 AM

What I meant was that they cannot use the exact same letters and numbers twice. So, if they use abc123, they cannot use it again, it must be changed to abd123. That is why they may start with letters that make sense, like DVC for digital video cam and later use DVW. They can't use DVD because that would be confused with the disc, so they use an odd letter.

A V99 and a TRV99 may be confusing to a customer but they are different!

Anyway, just wanted to clarify what I was saying.

July 10th, 2004, 07:45 AM	#1
Robert Mitteg New Boot Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Spain Posts: 23	Curious question: Sony Acronims Hello, Maybe sounds stupid, but anyone know what do Sony camcorder names mean ? Sony PD-170 (what does "PD" mean) Sony TRV-900 ("TRV" means Travel ??) Sony PC-100 ("PC" means "pocket" camera ??) Sony DSR-390 ("DSR"...) Sony DSR-2000 (that's the high end DVCAM VTR) What about Sony Betacam decks ? UVW for industrial and BVW for broadcast equipment, but what does this acronims mean ?? Just curiosity anyone knows the answer. Regards, Robert.

July 10th, 2004, 01:54 PM	#2
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	TRV means Traveler Not certain of the others __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 10th, 2004, 09:04 PM	#3
Michael Tan New Boot Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Singapore Posts: 12	I thought PD stood for "portable DVCam" always wondered about DSR and the rest though...

July 11th, 2004, 01:23 AM	#4
Tom Hardwick Inner Circle Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Billericay, England UK Posts: 4,711	I thought the letters were just chosen to sound nice, look impressive and not offend anyone bu meaning things in different languages. Canon (and now Minolta) have cosen A1 which has obvious connotations of superiority. X seems to be chosen fairly regularily. PDX, DVX, MX and so on. tom.

July 13th, 2004, 07:22 AM	#5
Steve McDonald Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Eugene, Oregon Posts: 366	"T" means travel, "R" probably means recorder and "V" means viewscreen. The "R" was significant back in the days when recent models had separate recorder units. BetaCam "BVW" means broadcast video something, "PVW" means professional video and "UVW" means utility video. "PD" stands for professional digital. "VX" is for video extrordinaire. "EDV" is for extended definition video. "EDP" is for extended definition professional. "DCR" is for digital cassette recorder. I understand that "Beta" came from the fact that the first home recorder prototype, the "Alpha" format, that Sony made was much better, but was more expensive to make than the dumbed-down Beta format. So, the bean-counters in the budget office made them produce the Beta. Seeing how relatively good the Beta format was for its time, the Alpha must have been something. It ended up where all over-achievers are concealed, so they won't make people realize how mediocre the things are that we actually get to use. Many over-achieving people also find themselves banished to obscurity, so they won't show up the jealous drudges that pulled dirty tricks to give them the 8-ball. I'm tired of this now and someone else needs to fill the gaps. Steve McDonald

July 14th, 2004, 12:34 AM	#6
Nick Reed Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Posts: 78	Tidbit: I don't know if this is true but I once heard that there was a Japanese law that made it illegal for Japanese manufacturers to use the same model number on two different products -- ever. Makes me wonder though if both Canon and Minolta have an A1.

July 14th, 2004, 02:06 AM	#7
Steve McDonald Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Eugene, Oregon Posts: 366	Nick, Canon has made an A-1 videocamera and an A-1 film camera. Sony comes close to using model numbers twice. They've made a V99 and a TRV99. I have a TR700 Hi-8 and the first DV camcorder was the VX700, said to have almost identical camera sections. There's several other duplicate model numbers they've used, with just a different prefix letter or two. This has caused some confusion amongst customers. I'm sure other companies have done this, as well. Steve McDonald

July 14th, 2004, 10:23 AM	#8
Nick Reed Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Posts: 78	What I meant was that they cannot use the exact same letters and numbers twice. So, if they use abc123, they cannot use it again, it must be changed to abd123. That is why they may start with letters that make sense, like DVC for digital video cam and later use DVW. They can't use DVD because that would be confused with the disc, so they use an odd letter. A V99 and a TRV99 may be confusing to a customer but they are different! Anyway, just wanted to clarify what I was saying.