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Arch-rivals JVC and Sony have finally struck an agreement that clears the way
for a cheap digital VCR that could record several TV programmes at once or let
you shoot multicamera home movies. JVC’s proposed D-VHS format needs to record
at up to 28 megabits per second on VHS tapes in order to capture data from
digital TV, which runs at 24 megabits per second. But the Universal Serial Bus
used in PCs, which is normally used in set-top boxes for digital TV, is limited
to 12 megabits per second. So Sony and JVC have, after much argument, agreed to
launch D-VHS with a 400-megabit-per-second input format called Firewire, which
will provide more than enough capacity. Firewire is normally used for editing
broadcast-quality TV.