What is TOD ?

TOD and MOD are recording formats for use in digital tapeless camcorders. The formats are comparable to XDCAM EX and AVCHD.

TOD and MOD are informal names of tapeless video formats used by JVC (TOD and MOD), Panasonic (MOD only) and Canon (MOD only) in some models of digital camcorders. Format names correspond to extensions of video files. Neither JVC nor Panasonic, who pioneered the format, explained meaning of the file extensions, and the formats were never given an official name. MOD is used exclusively for standard definition video files, while TOD is used for high definition files.

The first camcorders that used MOD format appeared in 2003. JVC introduced Everio GZ-MG30, which was recording directly to internal hard disk drive. Panasonic unveiled SDR-S100, which recorded to SD cards. Codec type, data rates, frame rate and frame size closely matched parameters of DVD-video.

In January 2007 JVC announced its first high definition tapeless consumer camcorder, Everio GZ-HD7, which could record 1080i MPEG-2 video to either built-in hard disk drive or an SD memory card. Data rates, frame rate and frame size matched or exceeded parameters of HDV 1080i video. This format is known as TOD.

Neither Panasonic nor Canon have ever released a consumer high definition camcorder with TOD recording format. Instead, Panasonic joined Sony to develop AVCHD. The first AVCHD camcorder, Sony Handycam HDR-SR1, went on sale September, 2006. Panasonic followed with release of the HDC-SD1 in November, 2006. Canon supported AVCHD format by releasing its first AVCHD camcorder in 2007.

In January 2008 Canon unveiled a family of tapeless standard definition consumer camcorders: the FS100, FS10 and FS11. All these camcorders record in MOD format.

Both TOD and MOD are file-based formats that are stored on a random-access media. Directory structure and naming convention are identical except for extensions of media files.

Standard definition video is stored in MPEG-2 program stream container files with MOD extension; in most other systems these files have extension MPG or MPEG. High definition video is stored in MPEG-2 transport stream container files with TOD extension; in most other systems these files have M2T extension. Transport stream files can be converted into more common program stream files without recompressing the video itself. For example, FFmpeg, a free software program, performs the conversion on Windows and Linux systems with the following command: ffmpeg -i myclip.TOD -acodec copy -vcodec copy myclip.mpg. Software, included with TOD camcorders, performs this conversion as part of capture process. A similar command is used for MOD files: ffmpeg -i myClip.MOD -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ab 384k myClip.mpg -acodec mp2 -ab 192k -newaudio.

Despite that the file structure is unique to this video recording format, the location for still images follows the standard agreed upon by many still camera manufacturers.

Standard definition video can be recorded in 4:3 and 16:9 formats, but the latter is not correctly identified in media file header, so video may appear squeezed horizontally when viewed. Software that is shipped with camcorders is capable of processing aspect ratio correctly by using metadata stored in MOI files. There are also third-party tools for setting the wide-screen flag in media file header.

MOD video can be viewed on a computer with a player that is capable of reproducing MPEG-2 video. This video can be easily authored for watching on a DVD player without recompression, because it is fully compliant with DVD-video standard.

TOD format is comparable with AVCHD, but cannot be directly played on consumer video equipment. Media files must be packaged into distribution formats like HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc, using authoring software. One of TOD recording modes, "1440CBR", has the same frame size, aspect ratio and frame rate as 1080i HDV, and can be loosely called "HDV on disk".