There are many types of video formats that has come out in the past 50 years. I will explain the most popular formats during the past 50 years as we get many people bringing in tapes they can’t identify.
The most common one is the VHS tape. It came out around 1980s and is slowly phasing out today. Despite of this, we still see VHS tapes being sold at stores. The magnetic tape is half inch in width. Image from http://en.wikipedia.org
Betamax looks similar to BetaSP, but they are not. Betamax is an older type of tape, it came out during the same period as VHS tapes. There was a format war during this time as people were deciding on which format to choose from. Ultimately, VHS won out despite that Betamax had better picture quality. Image from http://www.atticlightstudios.com/
Hi8, regular 8 & digital 8 all look the same. However, regular 8 video tape, and hi8 are analogue formats. Digital 8 is digital, hence the name. Hi8 & regular 8 tapes can hold up to 2 hours of video content. Where as Digital 8 can hold up to 1 hour. This format came out during the early 1990s to around 2000s. Later period digital 8 tapes can be recorded on analogue camcorders. Image from http://en.wikipedia.org
MiniDV SD & HD tape look a like, but the data in them are different. HD (high definition) is better quality by 2X than its predecessor SD (standard definition). These tapes came out around 1998 and lasted till about 2008. Today, some people still use MiniDVs to film their home movies. Image from http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDV
VHS-C is a magnetic tape cassette that came out during the 1980s to around 1995 period. This is a tape that needs to be placed into a cartridge system in order to play it onto a VCR. The tape is the same width as a VHS tape. AKA compact VHS. Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS-C
8mm film & 16mm film were popular after the second world war until late 1970s. We even see a few films that were filmed back in the mid 1980s using film. 8mm comes in two different sizes, super 8 and regular 8. You can tell by looking at its sprocket size. Some 8mm and 16mm has sound as well. You can see this by looking for a brown magnetic strip next to the frame running vertically. Image from http://www.cdscvideo.com/film.html
There are other formats we can transfer as well, such as open audio reel to reel, even the old 1″ open reel magetic tape, as well as the 3/4″ Umatic broadcast tapes that were used in television stations during the 1970s.
There you have it. Those are the most popular home video formats that people bring in to our location. If you have any questions on what your format is, give us a call and describe it to us. We can transfer almost anything!