Why wasn't DV (Digital Video Cassette) popular as a home video recording format?

[BijouMan]

I'm not quite sure where this thread belongs, but I have a question about the past. If you bought a digital camcorder between the mid-1990's and the 2000's, it probably used tapes called "MiniDV," since flash storage was not capable enough at that time to record video at high bit rates. Want to know why these were called "MiniDV" and not just "DV?" Because DV cassettes actually came in two different sizes, the small "mini" size and a larger size. The large size was larger than an 8mm (Video8/Hi8/Digital8) cassette but significantly smaller than Betamax and the VHS family of formats. Home DV VCRs were made which could record onto these large cassettes and they even directly accepted the small cassettes (didn't need an adapter!) so you could watch your camcorder videos at home. DV, being digital, had significantly better quality than VHS. Unlike the small tapes which were only available in lengths up to 63 minutes (with some thin-tape 83-minute versions), the large cassettes were available in lengths up to a whopping 276 minutes (that's more data than a BD-50 disc!), and unlike VHS's T-240 cassettes which used thinner tape to achieve 240 minutes of recording time, DV managed to pull off 276 minutes using standard-thickness tape. Even professional-grade DV tapes were (and might still be) available in the 276-minute length. You could even buy DV tapes with a chip inside that could store the locations of recorded programs for easy access to them. So, the question is, with all that being said, why didn't DV become hailed as the gold standard for home video recording?



Professional-grade Sony "Digital Master" small and large DV cassettes.

DISCLAIMER: This photo does not belong to me. All credit goes to Sony.

Here's a video of the Sony DHR-1000 DV VCR playing both small and large cassettes:

https://youtu.be/b2l-hEQl5oE

DISCLAIMER: This video does not belong to me. All credit goes to Eric.