Page 34 - 2015-12

Both of these system were relatively popular, quality - but many didn't care, it like my friend
as the tape could be played in the regular home said ... "if it moves ...".
player. Home video movies had arrived!
Compact Cameras
Therein lies a problem! Until around this time, in 1986, Panasonic and others produced cam-
home movies were on film, 8 mm film costing eras which utilised a smaller, but still compat-
around $3.00 per minute, it was used sparingly ible tape called the VHS-C ("C" for compact).
and individual shots were kept short and rele- The tape measuring only 90 mm wide, made a
vant to the subject. smaller, more portable camera possible. These
were very popular, the main draw card being
the fact that the small VHS-C tape could be
inserted into an adaptor, with the same dimen-
sions as a regular VHS tape. As the recording
standards were the same between the “C” type
and the regular size tape, it was possible to
play it in a standard home VHS player.
Super VHS versions became available, offer-
ing improved image quality and Hi-Fi sound.
“C” type tapes were at first limited to 30 min-
utes run time, a 45 minute version eventually
became available. As well, long play was in-
corporated into many of the cameras, running
the tape at half speed for twice the run time -
Sony Hi8 analogue camera - one of the first cam-
eras to use digital signal processing. and half the image quality.

Now, with a three hour tape costing less than
$10.00, there was a whole three hours of tape
to play with, or at least until the battery went
flat. Movie nights were now filled with three
hour extravaganzas, family home movie nights
were to be avoided as much as possible. Most
of these would be C.B. De Milles did not
think about editing, and if they did, copying to
a second and third generation tape was the
only way, with the resultant loss in image
JVC MiniDV tape camera. The tape is loaded into
Below: “C” type to regular VHS adaptor the underside of the camera.

In 1986, Sony introduced their 8 mm tape
format. It was called Video8, and was an ana-
logue recording format. This was followed by
its improved successor Hi8 , also analogue, but
with improved definition. Sony then went one
step further and redesigned their system, still
using the same 8mm tape format, this time it
was Digital8.

34 REEL DEALS December 2015