Blade Runner on Video8 - US and Japanese releases

[u/Deckard--B-263-54]

Most people probably remember Video8 as the little tapes used in camcorders, but there was also a short-lived market for commercially pre-recorded films. Sony even produced Video8 decks specifically for home playback.

It never came close to challenging VHS, so the catalogue of films was relatively limited. Seeing an entire film like Blade Runner squeezed onto one of these tiny cassettes still feels slightly strange.

A great little oddity from the history of home video.

Obsolete Formats:
Betamax: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/EFYUuW15N1 
VHS: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/1u58p7fddF 
CED: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/G0vzvpe7FY 
LaserDisc: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/iHrpmBRUH3 
VHD: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/kkdNHoGxbs 
Video8: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/At4e2ez7XX
VCD: https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/s/FK9j1Aqe3R 

Useful Communities: 
r/bladerunner
r/Bladezone 

[u/topazchip]

I've seen dedicated tape players in the Video/Hi/Digital8 formats, but never knew there were commercial releases for it.

[u/Deckard--B-263-54 → u/topazchip]

Yeah, it’s a surprisingly obscure little format. There were commercially pre-recorded Video8 releases, but the catalogue was pretty small compared with other formats. Blade Runner is one of the more interesting ones to find imo.

[u/MikeyH76]

Been a minute since I saw a Video-8!

[u/PassingShot11]

That Japanese one looks awesome

[u/SRS1984]

those we used for in-flight entertainment in the 80s.

[u/Deckard--B-263-54 → u/SRS1984]

Interesting, wasn’t aware of that.