29-09-2025, 08:58 AM
I saw the maddest Akai colour reel to reel in the BBC in the 1970s (just before I moved to the place mentioned above). Someone suggested it for news instead of 16mm film. It used 1/4″ tape and was "toy quality", no good for news. Amazingly later someone did make a toy video recorder that used regular audio cassettes. It was staggeringly low resolution mono video played back in a window that made the Akai 1/4" look good.
The last blast of VHS was a digital version. Unlike digital version of 8mm tape it never took off. I've never seen one. The last analogue 8mm is amazingly good, better than early VHS-C camcorders, and Sony's Digital 8 is surprisingly good. I still have one that for many years was not just good to digitise analogue 8mm via Firewire, but was better than any ordinary retail analogue video capture for PC via the external input. My first home movies in 1980 used a S/H portable EIAJ and camera. Maybe a JVC. I had it till 1989 and had one spool of ex-computer tape as well as official tape. Some content was copied to VHS in 1983.
The last blast of VHS was a digital version. Unlike digital version of 8mm tape it never took off. I've never seen one. The last analogue 8mm is amazingly good, better than early VHS-C camcorders, and Sony's Digital 8 is surprisingly good. I still have one that for many years was not just good to digitise analogue 8mm via Firewire, but was better than any ordinary retail analogue video capture for PC via the external input. My first home movies in 1980 used a S/H portable EIAJ and camera. Maybe a JVC. I had it till 1989 and had one spool of ex-computer tape as well as official tape. Some content was copied to VHS in 1983.
