Saturday, June 5

Total Recall (1990) - 1990 Carolco/Live Home Video Video8 Cassette

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Now here's an obscure analog home video format! Video8 was introduced by Sony in the mid-80s as an 8mm cassette cartridge for their video camcorders. Once several standalone Video8 VCR decks became available; studios like Paramount, MGM/UA, and Warner began releasing pre-recorded movies on Video8 to capture those that also wanted to watch their personally recorded tapes. While the format thrived as a camcorder format until the dawn of digital, by the early '90s, it completely died as a viable home video format to video distributors much like the recent UMD. The cassettes first came in their own "mini-VHS" cardboard slipcases, but later arrived in the exact same plastic cases of traditional audio cassettes just without the two reel spindles.

VHS and Betamax cassettes included to show scale.

1 comment:

Buscemi said...

I have a friend who used to have stuff on this format. Another company who released on Video8 was Embassy (releasing titles such as Blade Runner and Labyrinth).

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?

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