The last VHS camcorder

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by DVtyro

M was from 1981 to about 1986. Then there was M2 until about 1992. Then D3. There were also W-VHS and D-VHS. I don't consider any of these formats to be some variant of VHS, just like I don't consider Betacam to be a variant of Betamax, or HDV to be a variant of DV just because they use the same cassettes and transport.



OTOH, I consider SVHS to be a variant of VHS. They are similar enough, despite that SVHS tapes would not play correctly on a regular VHS VCR. They would play on an SQPB VCR, and it looks like there are more compatible VCRs than I thought: it seems that only Panasonic used "SQPB" label, other brands simply specified somewhere in the specs that this or that VCR is capable to play SVHS tapes albeit at VHS quality.

Could have sworn I heard about a broadcast format based on the VHS shell that could do HD.
I probably haven't seen any of your videos....I almost never watch any videos posted on the forums because usually I don't have enough time to watch a video while reading on here.

I've seen SQPB badging on a number of other brands of deck other than Panasonic. I own a mid 90s sharp that boldly says on the tape door S-VHS Quasi-Playback. The others I've seen I didn't buy because back then the thrifts were flooded with decks to the point I only grabbed S-VHS and Betamax machines as I didn't have room to be less picky.

[DVtyro]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

I probably haven't seen any of your videos....I almost never watch any videos posted on the forums because usually I don't have enough time to watch a video while reading on here.

I think I've already posted a link to it, but just in case here it is: The format war that Beta has won. It describes the origins and the competition between M / MII on the one side, and Betacam / Betacam SP on the other side, with a couple of other contemporary formats mentioned.

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Could have sworn I heard about a broadcast format based on the VHS shell that could do HD.

Only the original M used real VHS cassette and tape. MII introduced a smaller cassette - so two cassettes total, small and medium - and switched to metal tape, and added extra grooves on the shell, so no VHS anymore. D3 introduced a third cassette size, so small, medium and large. D5 and D5 HD were the development of D3. JVC had D9 and Digital-S, I think their cassette was closer to the original VHS, fewer extra grooves, and I think their machines accepted standard VHS cassettes to play standard VHS off of them, but I don't know for sure.