Camcorders Popular
is the VHS-C format still popular for making home videos?
I’ve been using the VHS-C format for years to make home videos, and I love it, it’s easy to use, reliable and cheap! I like to archive my videos and watch them years later. I thought of going to mini-dvd to keep up with the times, but VHS-C still seems to be widely available and Mini DVD cameras are just too expensive, and what good are digital camcorders if you can’t archive the videos? I don’t trust a computer hard drive to last more than 5 years, and I like to watch the videos on my TV. so I wonder, how many out there still use VHS-C?
Hi Daniel:
Some of the other Answers may have missed your main point (VHS-Compact format – not regular VHS tape), but the general idea is if you’re happy with “home movies” and staying with a tape-based collection, there’s no reason for you to switch to the 8cm DVD format.
Besides, much like VHS and the camcorders that record in that format, the “mini DVD” camcorders have also become passé. Before solid-state memory (internal flash and removable flash-card) and small hard drives became more-affordable (as they are now) the 8cm size DVD was the only way camcorder manufacturers could get Gigabyte-range storage inside a small form-factor. “Going to mini-DVD” isn’t exactly keeping up with the times. Last time I shot in VHS-C was 1998, but I still use my Hi-8 & Digital-8 camcorders and editing decks for low-budget and home-project recording. (And like you, I can find 8mm blank tapes VERY cheap as “closeouts” and on eBay!)
I’m glad you can still find VHS-C blanks in your area (and hopefully you have one or more of the VHS-C to VHS tape cassette adapters to play in full-size home players), but even tapes and tape-heads deteriorate over time.
As your equipment ages and as stores’ stock of VHS-C (and even regular VHS) becomes less-available, you might switch over to either mini-DV tape (which is widely used professionally, so will be around quite a while longer – and has better quality than most of the “card/HDD digital” formats) and look for a model that has “one-button” burn-to-DVD capability (some JVC models use an affordable DVD external-drive, or one of your own DVD recorders for archiving). That way you’ll have an archive format that will last without mechanical wear & tear.
hope this helps,
–Dennis C.
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