Sony is discontinuing yet another format: after killing the cassette Walkman last year and deciding to stop producing MiniDisc Walkmans just 2 weeks ago, the company today announced [JP] in Japan they won’t be supporting the 8mm video format anymore. Sony was one of the several Japanese and American (i.e. Polaroid) tech powerhouses that established the format back in the 1980s.
To be more specific, Sony will discontinue the production of the GV-D800 (pictured above) and GV-D200 (below), two digital 8mm video cassette recorders, in September. These were the last pieces of 8mm video hardware the company was manufacturing. Sony will continue producing 8mm tapes for the time being.
Below is the first 8mm video camera ever, the “legendary” Sony CCDｰV8 from 1985 (Sony stopped producing 8mm cameras in 2008):
Sony says they decided to pull the plug on 8mm video because of the rise of flash memory formats and the shift in demand among consumers to HD video cameras and recorders. The company sold a total of 57 million 8mm video cameras and recorders through March 2008.
Via AV Watch [JP]
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