The History Of The Modern Day Camcorder


by Victor Epand - Date: 2008-08-15 - Word Count: 398 Share This!

The use of video camera started as television cameras.The original ones were large and heavy and very expensive.They were only television broadcast studios. As technology grew, the size of the camera shrunk until they became portable size.

The first video recorders were actually two machines.One machine was the camera that took the pictures and then there was a VCR that had to be attached to record and replay the images.The VCR units were usually attached to a television viewing unit.

Even though the size of the camera has diminished, there was a lot of equipment still involved. These new units still were a giant step of technology even if it took two people to operate them. In the case of television, the recordings were ready to go instantly rather than waiting for the development of film. There were now detachable video cassettes.

There were some major events that occurred in 1982 that made the camcorder more available for home use. First JVC introduced the VHS-C format. The second was that Sony released the first professional camcorder named Betacam. The new VHS-C tapes were small cassettes that were being used in VCR's. The Betacam allowed for more professional grade video recording. Now there did not need to be two units, the recording could be done in the camera and the portable Camcorder was born.

By 1983 both companies were competing and making the units easier to use and added more bells and whistles. Now you could record from 40 to 120 on one cassette that could be played on and VCR.

The Beta or 8mm and the VHS models both have advantages and disadvantages. The greatest problem with betamax and what eventually ended the completion was that it could not be played on the common VCR.

Eventually in the 1990's the camcorder was transformed once more and became part of the digital era. Now instead of tape based cassette, the DV and miniDV were introduced. This leap made the recording media smaller and the quality of recording better. Recording could not be done on small disks and DVD's and to even smaller compact disks.

Even with the improvement of the camcorders, the price of them actually dropped. The original heavy units were priced around $1500 and now a palm sized unit costs about $100. The size keeps shrinking and now many cell phones have video capturing abilities that a light years beyond the first tape models.


Related Tags: beta vcr vhs camcorder

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about used cameras, used camcorders, and used electronics. You will find the best marketplace at these sites for used vhs cameras, used beta max camcorders, and used digital electronics.

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