What is 8mm & Hi-8?
Video-8, Hi-8 and Digital-8 are three formats physically very similar, featuring both the same tape-width and near-identical cassette-shells. This gives a measure of backward-compatibility in some cases. One difference between them is in the quality of the tape itself, but the main differences lie in the encoding of the video when it is recorded onto the tape.
Video-8 was the earliest of the three formats, and is entirely analog. It was followed by a version with improved resolution, Hi8. Although this was still analog, some professional Hi8 equipment could store additional digital-stereo PCM sound on a special reserved track.
Digital-8 is the most recent 8 mm video format. It retains the same physical cassette shell as its predecessors, and can even record onto Hi8 cassettes. However, the format in which video is encoded and stored on the tape itself is the entirely digital DV format (and thus very different from the analog Video8 and Hi8.) Some Digital8 camcorders support Video8 and Hi8 with analog sound (for playback only), but this is not required by the Digital8 specification.
In all three cases, a length of 8 mm-wide magnetic tape is wound between two spools and held within a hard-shelled cassette. These cassettes share similar size and appearance with the audio cassette, but their mechanical operation is far closer to that of VHS or Betamax videocassettes. Standard recording time is up to 90 minutes for PAL and 120 minutes for NTSC. (The cassette holds the same length tape -- tape-consumption is different between PAL and NTSC recorders.)
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