Video8

Video8 was launched in the 1980s, into a market dominated by the VHS-C and Betamax formats. In terms of video quality, Video8, and Beta-II offered similar performance in their standard-play modes. In terms of audio, Video8 generally outperformed its older rivals. Standard VHS and Beta audio was recorded along a narrow linear track at the edge of the tape, where it was 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.