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60-519: The CVC format used a cassette similar in size to a 8-mm videocassette and was loaded with magnetic tape 6.5 mm wide. Unlike most other video cassette formats that enclose reels with flanges, the CVC cassette employed tape hubs without flanges similar to compact cassette , which made the design more space-efficient. Initially only V30 tapes were available which ran for 30 minutes, then later V45 (45 minute) and V60 (60 minute) models were introduced. The format

120-418: A helical-scan head drum (it having a small 40mm head) to read from and write to the magnetic tape. The drum rotates at high speed (one or two rotations per picture frame—about 1800 or 3600 rpm for NTSC, and 1500 or 3000 rpm for PAL) while the tape is pulled along the drum's path. Because the tape and drum are oriented at a slight angular offset, the recording tracks are laid down as parallel diagonal stripes on

180-594: A 1 lux low light rating as compared to the 4 lux of the Digital8 models. The Sony DCR-TRV730/828/830 (and the later DCR-TRV740/840), were the only Digital8 camcorders to be built with a 1/4.7-inch (4.5 mm) with advanced HAD ( Hole Accumulation Diode ) CCD. HAD is useful on smaller, high-megapixel-count CCDs and CMOSs. The pixel count for the TRV-730 is 1,070,000 pixels (690,000 in camera mode.) Higher-end Digital8 equipment may minimize analog generation loss by offering

240-499: A computer without needing to record it to Digital8 tape first. Later Digital8 Handycams shared the same chassis, optics, and owner's manual with a range of analog Hi8 Handycams, although the CCD image sensor pixel count varied between the Digital8 (460K) and the Hi8 (320K) models. Although the 1/4" CCD models are fully capable of taking a still photo, that is a secondary function and they lack

300-409: A familiar media format but with digital capabilities. Furthermore, Digital8 was released some time after MiniDV, giving the rival DV format a lead in the professional market. Digital8 is an obsolete format. By 2004 Sony, the format's original backer, was the only company still producing Digital8 equipment, and had no plans to develop new Digital 8 cameras. Hitachi marketed a few Digital8 camcorders at

360-466: A flip-up screen meant for video playback and limited recording. These have been adapted for Digital8 as well as MiniDV formats, even as portable DVD players have become popular in this application. Such players saw use in professional applications, particularly with airlines, which, during the 1980s, adopted 8mm as the format for in-flight movies . They remained in use among some airlines until at least 2015. Among home and amateur videographers, Video8/Hi8

420-533: A hard-shell cassette. These cassettes share similar size and appearance with the audio cassette , but their mechanical operation is far closer to that of VHS or Betamax videocassettes. Standard recording time is up to 90 minutes for PAL and 120 minutes for NTSC. These times are doubled for Long Play (LP) recording mode. (The cassette holds the same length tape; tape consumption is different between PAL and NTSC recorders.) Longer tapes were available, but were less common. Like most other videocassette systems, Video8 uses

480-450: A mode called "PCM Multi Audio Recording". While other 8mm decks support only a single stereo PCM recording, these units provide five additional stereo PCM tracks that are recorded in the video area of the signal. This allows 8mm tapes to hold 6 parallel tracks of audio, each up to 4 hours long (in LP mode). Only one stereo track can be recorded or listened to at a time, and tracks are selected with

540-524: A more recent digital recording format known as Digital8 . Their user base consisted mainly of amateur camcorder users, although they also saw important use in the professional television production field. In 1982, five companies – Sony , Matsushita (now Panasonic) , JVC , Hitachi , and Philips – created a preliminary draft of the unified format and invited members of the Electronic Industries Association of Japan,

600-484: A prosumer level customer. The 1999 TRV-310, for instance, has the 1/4" CCD, a 3.5" LCD screen, an f1.4 lens, variable shutter speed settings, manual focus, and other professional controls. The lens on a typical 1/6" CCD is f1.8, about 60% as fast as an f1.4. The TRV-310, has a 1/4" CCD with a pixel count of 460K and "effective count" of 290K. The larger CCD with fewer pixels allows a smaller depth of field for intentional blurred backgrounds in some situations unattainable with

660-449: A similar dual-deck machine. Ultimately, Video8's main rival in the camcorder market turned out to be VHS-C, with neither dominating the market completely. However, both formats (along with their improved descendants, Hi8 and S-VHS-C) were nevertheless very successful. Collectively, they dominated the camcorder market for almost two decades before they were eventually crowded out by digital formats, such as MiniDV , 8cm DVD . To counter

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720-441: A tape-protecting mechanism built into the shell. Unlike the ones on VHS and VHS-C shells, which consist of only a single piece of plastic that protects the part of the tape that is read by the player/recorder, Hi8's tape-protection mechanism consists of two pieces of plastic at the top of the shell that come together and form a casing that protects both sides of the tape, and a latch that prevents this casing from opening and exposing

780-640: A while; but by 2005 only Sony sold Digital8 consumer equipment. Digital8's main rival is the consumer MiniDV format, which uses narrower tape and a correspondingly smaller cassette shell. Since both technologies share the same logical audio/video format, Digital8 can theoretically equal MiniDV or even DVCAM in A/V performance. But by the year 2005, Digital8 had been relegated to the entry-level camcorder market. Digital8 recordings are not interchangeable with analog recordings , although many models of Digital8 equipment are able to play Hi8/Video8 analog recordings. By 2009,

840-399: Is a consumer digital recording videocassette for camcorders developed by Sony , and introduced in 1999. It is technically identical to DV cassettes, but uses physical Hi8 tapes instead. The Digital8 format is a combination of the earlier analog Hi8 tape transport with the digital DV codec . Digital8 equipment uses the same videocassettes as analog recording Hi8 equipment, but

900-533: Is different too, 8 mm for Digital8 vs. 6.35 mm for DV. The cassettes are not interchangeable, and there is no adapter from one format to another. Digital8 machines run tape at 29 mm per second, faster than baseline DV (19 mm/s) and comparable to professional DV formats like DVCAM (28 mm/s) and DVCPRO (34 mm/s). A 120-minute 8-mm cassette holds 106 m of tape and can store 60 minutes of digital video. A standard DVCPRO cassette holds 137 m of tape, good for 66 minutes of video. Analog Hi8 video enjoyed widespread use in

960-414: Is identical to baseline DV at the bitstream level. A Digital8 camcorder appears and behaves exactly like a DV camcorder when connected via a 1394/iLink/FireWire link. Digital8 cassettes are identical to Video8/Hi8 cassettes and have dimensions of 95 mm × 62.5 mm × 15 mm. They are similar in size to medium-sized DV cassettes known as DVCPRO cassettes, which have dimensions 97.5 × 64.5 × 14.6 mm. Tape size

1020-454: Is in the quality of the tape itself, but the main differences lie in the encoding of the video when it is recorded onto the tape. Video8 was the earliest of the three formats, and is entirely analog. The 8mm tape width was chosen as smaller successor to the 12mm Betamax format, using similar technology (including U-shaped tape loading) but in a smaller configuration in response to the small configuration VHS-C compact camcorders introduced by

1080-402: Is recorded along a narrow linear track at the edge of the tape, where it is vulnerable to damage. Coupled with the slow horizontal tape speed, the sound was comparable with that of a low-quality audio cassette. By contrast, all Video8 machines used audio frequency modulation (AFM) to record sound along the same helical tape path as that of the video signal. This meant that Video8's standard audio

1140-487: The "PCM Multi Audio" selector button. Introduced in 1999, Digital8 is a form of the industry standard DV codec , recorded on Hi8 media. In engineering terms, Digital8 and MiniDV are indistinguishable at the logical format level. To store the digitally encoded audio/video on a standard NTSC Video8 cassette, the tape must be run at double the Hi8 speed. Thus, a 120-minute NTSC Hi8 tape yields 60 minutes of Digital8 video. Most Digital8 units offer an LP mode, which increases

1200-454: The "door" is open and in the "SAVE" position when it is closed. (Not all tape cases have markings for this information.) The tape can only be recorded onto (or recorded over) when this tab is in the "REC" position. This is an improved version of the VHS write-protect tab, which prevents erasure after it has been broken off, requiring covering with adhesive tape or filling with an obstruction to remove

1260-481: The 1/6" CCD. It also has greater light sensitivity, 1 lux vs. 7 lux for the 1/6" CCD (without Night Shot), and less sensor noise in low light conditions. Another example of these capabilities changing with pixel count may be seen in the TRV-150, 250, 350, and 351 Digital8 models and their TRV-118, 318, and 418 Hi8 cousins. Despite having the same size CCD and the same f1.6 lens, the lower pixel count Hi8 models permit

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1320-506: The 212E but smaller. The VP100 weighed only 2.3 kg with battery , and had a separate power pack. Despite some references suggesting otherwise, the VP100 did not support multiple recording speeds, and only recorded at the standard CVC speed. Still-frame and variable speed playback were supported in common with other CVC machines. Model 212 was also available in France as a SECAM recorder,

1380-511: The 60-minute ones. LP is model specific, such as the TRV-30, TRV-40, and others. Digital8 recordings can be made on standard-grade Video8 cassettes, but this practice is discouraged in the Sony user manuals, and Hi8 metal-particle cassettes are the recommended type for Digital8 recording. Most Hi8 tapes sold after the introduction of D8 are marked for both Hi8 and Digital8 usage. The Digital8 format

1440-512: The ATF system was that unlike in the case of a control track, an 8mm camera or player cannot keep track of where the tape is during fast forward and rewind (though it could during shuttle search). This made editing using a linear editing system problematic. Some later cameras and players attempted to derive the tape position from the differential rotation of the spools with limited success. As with many other video cassette formats, 8mm videocassettes have

1500-520: The CCD-M8, which at one kilogram was half the mass of the CCD-V8, though it had no zoom and supported only manual focus with three focus settings. In April 1986 six Japanese electronics companies—Matsushita, Hitachi, Pentax, Minolta, Mitsubishi, Sharp and Toshiba—announced their lack of plans to embrace eight millimeter in the foreseeable future and instead adopted VHS-C format. Yet, several months later at

1560-794: The GV-D200 and GV-D800. In the early years after Digital8's introduction, Sony sold a product line with coverage from entry level to high-end consumer. The more consumer oriented line uses a 1/6" CCD image sensor and the more prosumer line uses a 1/4" one. Both existed from the beginning, but the 1/4" CCD models were discontinued. 1998-1999 models only support Digital8 recording and playback at SP speed. 2000 and newer models added LP speed Digital8 recording (only supported on Hi8 tapes, not Video8 tapes). All models with analog playback can play Video8/Hi8 recordings made at either SP or LP speed. 2000 and newer models with analog playback also support DV Passthrough mode for capturing an analog video source directly into

1620-701: The Magnetic Tape Industry Association, the Japan Camera Industry Association and other related associations to participate. As a result, a consortium of 127 companies endorsed 8-mm video format in April 1984. In January 1984, Eastman Kodak announced the new technology in the U.S. In 1985, Sony of Japan introduced the Handycam , one of the first Video8 cameras with commercial success. Much smaller than

1680-565: The Sony Memory Stick feature to off-load the JPEG images. Most of the entry level and later models focused on features such as better quality still pictures (see below), off-loading the same via Sony Memory Sticks, and more programming selections. The combining of still image and video capture is now common, however a good still image CCD has different qualities from a good video CCD. The cameras also lost features generally appealing to

1740-538: The ability to playback and digitize legacy analog 8 mm Video8/Hi8 format recordings, but none will record in analog. There are limitations, audio playback is limited to the Video8/Hi8 analog FM soundtrack, not any PCM digital audio track. Some models will play both NTSC and PAL recordings, others will only play their own native television standard. Analog recordings also lack timecode, so batch captures will not work. The digitized video signal can be transferred in

1800-487: The amateur home video market, current affairs TV programs, and some professional news organizations. Digital8 remained largely a consumer or amateur product (Among the exceptions was the 2001 film Hall of Mirrors .) This is likely a reflection of Sony's design and market objectives for Digital8 format: to serve as a lower cost upgrade path for current customers (from analog 8 mm), by leveraging existing manufacturing infrastructure of 8 mm video equipment, and offering

1860-515: The audio recording systems of their base formats; VHS HiFi Stereo outperforms Video8/Hi8 AFM, but was rarely available on camcorders. In the late 1980s, digital (PCM) audio was introduced into some higher-grade models of Hi8 recorders. Hi8 PCM audio operates at a sampling rate of 32 kHz with 8-bit samples and DBX dynamic range expansion. This was higher fidelity than the monaural linear dubbing offered by VHS/S-VHS camcorders. PCM-capable Hi8 recorders can simultaneously record PCM stereo in addition to

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1920-518: The competition's VHS and Betamax video cameras, Video8 became very popular in the consumer camcorder market. Video8 was launched in 1984, into a market dominated by the VHS-C and Betamax formats. The first two models were the Kodak Kodavision 2200 and 2400, both over US$ 1,500. The Kodak machines were produced by Matsushita Electric, but Matsushita itself had shown no interest in selling

1980-409: The competition. It was followed by Hi8, a version with improved resolution. Although this was still analog, some professional Hi8 equipment could store additional digital stereo PCM sound on a special reserved track. Digital8 is the most recent 8mm video format. It retains the same physical cassette shell as its predecessors, and can even record onto Video8 (not recommended) or Hi8 cassettes. However,

2040-409: The format in which video is encoded and stored on the tape itself is the entirely digital DV format (and thus very different from the analog Video8 and Hi8). Some Digital8 camcorders support Video8 and Hi8 with analog sound (for playback only), but this is not required by the Digital8 specification. In all three cases, a length of 8mm-wide magnetic tape is wound between two spools and contained within

2100-481: The head mistracked. The system automatically adjusted the tracking such that the two frequencies produced were of equal magnitude. This system was derived from the dynamic track following (DTF) used by the Philips Video 2000 system. Sony rechristened the system as automatic track following (ATF) as the 8mm system lacked the ability of the heads to physically move within the head drum. The main disadvantage of

2160-541: The introduction of the Super-VHS format, Sony introduced Video Hi8 (short for high-band Video8 ). First demonstrated in February 1989, it was initially endorsed by ten other manufacturers — Aiwa, Canon, Fuji, Hitachi, Konica, Matsushita, Maxell, Ricoh, Sanyo and TDK. Like S-VHS, Hi8 uses improved recorder electronics and media formulation to increase the recorded bandwidth of the luminance signal. The luminance carrier

2220-434: The legacy (analog AFM) stereo audio tracks. All Hi8 equipment can record and play in the legacy Video8 format. The reverse is not usually the case though there are a few late-entry Video8 systems that recognize and play Hi8 recordings. Besides the brands listed above, Hi8 equipment was also offered by Nikon, Samsung, Sharp and TEAC. The Sony EV-S900 (Hi8), Sony EV-S800, Sony EV-S700U, and Pioneer VE-D77 (Video8) all support

2280-462: The model 335 Technicolor Video Showcase, which included a colour video monitor , speaker and contained an internal 12V battery. A lightweight television tuner pack was available to enable the 212 to record off-air television programming , but since it contained no timer it was not possible to set it for unattended recordings. Grundig also produced a CVC-format VCR for the PAL market, the VP100, based on

2340-470: The palm of the user's hand. This was impossible with Betamax and full-sized VHS camcorders, with all of them having shoulder-mount form factor. Video8 also has an advantage in terms of recording and playback time over VHS-C – 180 minutes vs 45 minutes in SP mode for standard cassettes for each format. Video8/Hi8's main drawback is that tapes made with Video8 camcorders cannot be played on VHS hardware. Instead it

2400-460: The popularity of the analog 8mm formats had dwindled considerably and new camcorders that support the format were unobtainable, having been superseded by digital formats, mainly MiniDV and 8 cm DVD . These in turn have been largely displaced by high-definition camcorders that record to flash storage cards. Both Video8 and Hi8 blank media remain available and affordable but are increasingly rare. Tape-based camcorders are still readily available in

2460-459: The recording time on an NTSC P6-120 tape to 90 minutes. For PAL, the Digital8 recorder runs 1½ times faster; thus, a 90-minute PAL Hi8 tape yields 60 minutes of Digital8 video. PAL LP mode returns the tape speed to the Hi8 SP speed, so a Hi8 90-minute tape yields 90 minutes of Digital8 video. Sony has licensed Digital8 technology to at least one other firm (Hitachi), which marketed a few models for

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2520-526: The same product under its own name. The first Sony camcorder capable of recording to standard 8mm videotape was the Sony CCD-V8, with 6x zoom but only manual focus, released in 1985 with an MSRP of approximately $ 1,175, ($ 3,329 in 2023) and a mass of 1.97 kg. The same year, Sony released the CCD-V8AF which added autofocus. Also in 1985, Sony released the first of their compact Handycam range:

2580-523: The same way as native digital recordings, through the camcorder's FireWire cable port, thus simplifying video file creation on computers equipped with a FireWire port and video capturing software, or FireWire equipped DVD recorders. The advantage of creating digital files using the camera's digital stream conversion is that the resulting files on the computer can be burned to DVDs as well as facilitating computerized digital editing and storage as video files. Lossless digital editing can be achieved when utilizing

2640-590: The secondhand market. The last Hi8 camcorder (the Sony CCD-TRV238) and the last Digital8 camcorder (the Sony DCR-TRV285) were both discontinued in 2007, ending the 8mm format's 22 years on the market. The three formats are physically very similar, featuring both the same magnetic tape width and near-identical cassette shells, measuring 95 × 62.5 × 15 mm. This gives a measure of backward compatibility in some cases. One difference between them

2700-593: The signal is encoded digitally using the industry-standard DV codec, which means it has identical digital audio and digital video specifications compared with DV. To facilitate digital recording on existing Hi8 video cassettes the helical scan video head drum spins 2.5× faster. For both NTSC and PAL Digital8 equipment, a standard-length 120-minute NTSC/90-minute PAL Hi8 magnetic tape cassette will store 60 minutes of Digital8 video (Standard Play) or 90 minutes (Long Play). There are 90-minute versions marketed specifically for Digital8, but these use thinner tape than

2760-421: The summer 1986 Consumer Electronics Show Olympus introduced an eight-millimeter camcorder manufactured by Matsushita, and Hitachi was reported to be making eight-millimeter machines for Minolta & Pentax. In terms of video quality, Video8 offers similar performance to Beta-II and VHS in their standard-play modes. In terms of audio, Video8 generally outperforms its older rivals. Audio on Standard VHS and Beta

2820-402: The tape. The heads on the drum of a Video8 recorder move across the tape at (a writing speed of) 3.75 meters per second. Unlike preceding systems, 8mm did not use a control track on the tape to facilitate the head following the diagonal tracks. Instead 8mm recorded a sequence of four sine waves on each video track such that adjacent tracks would produce one of two heterodyne frequencies if

2880-403: The tape. The playback/recording unit can depress this latch to open the casing and gain access to the tape. To prevent the recording on the tape from being erased, there is a small write-protect tab that can be moved to one of two positions, labeled "REC" and "SAVE" (sometimes marked as "ERASE ON" and "OFF", respectively). Comparing the sliding tab to a door, the tape is in the "REC" position when

2940-511: The time as well. By 2005, the Digital8 product line catered purely to entry-level consumers. This is most likely because the larger, bulkier Digital8 cassette was perceived as an inferior technology, even though the Digital8 and DV formats offer indistinguishable A/V performance. The larger 8mm format is more robust, laying down wider tracks. Most, though not all, Digital8 camcorders can play back analogue Video8 and Hi8 tapes. As well as camcorders, Sony also released Digital8 Video Walkman portables,

3000-465: The variant letter for this model is unknown. SECAM tapes play in monochrome on PAL players. Around 1990 TEAC produced CVC format machines in both PAL and NTSC for military use. Technicolor hoped that CVC would compete with 8mm film , but the Vidicon tube used for the bundled camera had poor low-light sensitivity, limiting its usefulness for home indoor use. An even worse attribute of the cassettes

3060-412: The write protection. Efforts were made to expand Video8 from only the camcorder market into mainstream home video. But as a replacement for full-size VCRs, Video8 failed. It lacks the long (5+ hours) recording times of both VHS and Betamax, offers no clear audio/video improvement, and cost more than equivalent full-size VCRs. Even with all of the advanced features offered in high-end Video8 machines, there

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3120-510: Was also adapted for professional broadcast and ENG use by Bosch for their "Quartercam" (aka "Lineplex") format in 1982, much like how Betamax was adapted by Sony for the same professional & industrial uses as Betacam , as well as the M format from Panasonic, adapted from VHS . Nippon TV (NTV) in 1981 also had a camcorder developed for them called the "CV-One" that also used CVC videocassettes, but using component video recording instead, much like Betacam, Lineplex, and M. The CV-One

3180-453: Was assumed that the camcorder would be directly plugged into one's TV. Although it is possible to transfer tapes (using the VCR to rerecord the source video as it is played back by the camcorder), the VHS copy would lose some quality compared to the 8mm original. During the 1990s Sony did market a few VHS VCRs that also feature an 8mm deck to allow convenient transfer to VHS. GoldStar also made

3240-577: Was followed by a newer model, developed by Hitachi under contract to NTV in 1982, called the SR-1. Compact Video Cassette (CVC) (1980 – 1983) at the Museum of Obsolete Media 8 mm video format The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats. These are the original Video8 ( analog recording ) format and its improved successor Hi8 ( analog video and analog audio but with provision for digital audio ), as well as

3300-422: Was no compelling reason to switch to Video8 for the home application. Initially, many movies were prerecorded in 8mm format for home and rental use, but the rental market for Video8 never materialized. Sony maintained a line of Video8 home VCRs well into the 1990s, but unlike VHS, 8mm VCRs with timers were very expensive. Sony also produced a line of Video8 Walkman -branded players and recorders, with and without

3360-478: Was of a far higher quality than that of its rivals. Early Video8 camcorders used mono AFM sound, but this was later made stereo. This cost less than including 8mm's optional digital stereo audio track. Linear audio did have the advantage that (unlike either AFM system) it could be re-recorded without disturbing the video, doing this in 8mm required a deck that supported digital audio. The small size of media means that many Video8 camcorders are small enough to hold in

3420-550: Was popular enough for Sony to make equipment for video editing and production. The format also saw some use in professional electronic news gathering and electronic field production . Hi8 tapes were also used for an 8-track professional digital audio format called DTRS , including the Tascam DA-88 and similar models. While the cassettes are physically interchangeable, these recordings are not interchangeable with 8mm video formats. Digital8 Digital8 (or Di8 )

3480-479: Was released for NTSC , PAL and SECAM television systems (with cassettes labelled "VExx") and, like most analogue systems, tapes had to be played on machines using the same TV system as the recording. Funai 212 came with a JVC model GX-44E hand held Vidicon tube camera with a zoom lens . Model 212D was the NTSC version and 212E was PAL for Europe. The deck and electronics from the 212 were also used to build

3540-436: Was shifted from 4.2 MHz for regular 8-mm up to 5.7 MHz for Hi8, and the frequency deviation was increased to 2 MHz from the 1.2 MHz of standard 8-mm. Both Hi8 and S-VHS were officially rated at a luminance resolution of 400 lines , a vast improvement from their respective base formats and are roughly equal to LaserDisc quality. Chrominance resolution for both remain unchanged. Both S-VHS and Hi8 retain

3600-425: Was the low quality of the tape stock which was prone to dropouts (appearing as lines of white snow) during video playback. These dropouts would show much more prominently than on wider tape formats. A drawback of the CVC player resulted in the mechanism's loading ring frequently failing to complete its intended travel as the decks aged. The load ring failure would render the unit unusable. The CVC videocassette format

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