What format/application are consumer videos produced in?  Are there a
number of standards as with music (mp3,wav?) or images (jpg,gif)? 
What are the most commonly applications and formats used for video in
the US?  In Asia?  In Europe?  What about mobile video: like cameras
that do motion clips (do any cameraphones do this?)  What formats are
these sent in?

MPEG is popular. I recommend you have a look at the list of playable
format on Windows Media Player or RealPlayer as these are usually the
most popular formats. On Media Player 10 choose Tools, Options, File
Type.

The most common format is mpeg .(mpg). Mobile phones normally use 3gpp
or 3gpp2. Avi is common, too. The ipod and the psp plays MPEG4(.mp4).
Quick Times video formats have the ending .mov In europe the mpeg or
avi format is most common. I think this is everywhere in the world
like in europe. The newest one is MPEG4. More and more mobile video
are using MPEG4. But normally they record MPEG2 or MPEG3. The DVDs are
encrypted, they have VOB.