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Now if you're working on a feature film, for example, you're going to be getting scans from the negative at 16 bit with 4:4:4 RGB color sampling native. 4:2:2 YUV is a compromise in videoland of data rates vs the inherant inability of tape to hold that much data.
Not only does DV sample at 4:1:1, but's it's also compressed about 5:1. So you're already losing cirtical detail and color if that's your initial mastering format (blockiness in even colors like walls or the blacks). Mpeg is 4:2:0 and VERY compressed - so it's only good as a delivery format.
Now in terms of why digitize to 10 bit from an analog source: It's pretty much the same argument as vinyl vs. CD. That analog source is likely to contain subtle picture information that you risk clipping off with a DV codec or even 8bit. You want to overcompensate to make sure nothing gets away from you. In terms of immediate picture, you might not see any difference whatsoever (First generation DV from a Digibeta master looks incredibly good) - but if you're going to be apply filters and color work to that source, every generation of that digital video file will start to degrade quickly. And the same argument for a high end laserdisc player - it's an analog signal on disc and you want fidelity.
