Sony Video8 Camcorders

Sony Video8 camcorder

Sony introduced the Video8 Handycam camcorder in the 1980s. It was smaller than VHS or Betamax video cameras that had previously been popular.

Video8 was the first of three formats and is entirely analogue. Using an 8mm tape and similar technology to the Betamax format and U-shaped tape loading but in a more compact configuration, the later Hi8 had improved resolution.

Sony Digital8 is the most recent 8mm video format but still keeps the same physical cassette shell, and can record on Video8 or Hi8 cassettes.

Features of the Sony video 8 camcorder

The Sony Video8 camcorder has an 8mm-wide magnetic tape that is wound between two spools within a hard case. The camcorder uses a helical scan 40mm head drum to read and write to the magnetic tape. The drum rotates at high speed as the tape is pulled along the drum's path.

Performance in standard play is similar to that of the Beta-II but the Video8 camcorder had better sound quality than its rivals. It used audio frequency modulation (AFM) to record sound along the same video signal path. Later versions of Video8 included true stereo.

A major advantage for the Sony Video8 camcorder was that it was far more compact and could be held in one hand, plus it had a longer recording time. However, recordings on a Video8 or Hi8 tape couldn't be played back directly onto VHS hardware. They had to be transferred to tapes using the VCR to re-record the source video, which resulted in degradation of the analog signal.

Sony later introduced the Hi8 (high-band Video8) version that incorporated improved recorder electronics and media formulation. It also had increasing recorded bandwidth of the luminance signal. In the late 1980s, digital (PCM) audio was included in some of the higher models of the Hi8 and in 1998 the Video8 was upgraded to introduce XR (extended resolution) capability that replayed non-XR recordings as well as XR recordings that were fully playable on non-XR equipment.