It looks like Sony is on a roll with discontinuing legacy recording formats. First it killed the cassette Walkman last year, a few weeks ago it stopped producing MiniDisc Walkmans and now the company announced that it will no longer support the 8mm video format. The video cassette format that was popular way back in the 1980s will no longer get any new Sony hardware to run on.
The GV-D800, and the GV-D200, the last two 8mm video cassette recorders that Sony has been making will no longer be manufactured come September. However Sony will still continue producing 8mm tapes, though for how long more – we don’t know.
In today’s world where video and audio is all digital and stored in mediums like memory cards and flash drives – there really isn’t a need for traditional mediums like cassette tapes anymore. We won’t be surprised if other manufacturers follow in Sony’s footsteps in the future as well. Any of you with fond memories of the 8mm video cassette sad to see the format go?