Mods please move this post to the preservation section if you think this is the wrong place. 😃
 

Fast Fwd to 22:27 if you want to skip the historical discussion of Video8 and view the ROTJ segments.

‘Video8 - Sony’s forgotten ambitions & the crazy Walkman Compo’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdObeF9VHiA - a 28 minute video from the Techmoan youtube channel
 

Does anyone own this release or know if the other two films also received Video8 releases?

Can’t say that I’ve ever seen SW or ESB on Video 8. ROTJ would have been the most recent release in 1986 when Sony was trying to compete with VHS. CBS/FOX simply may not have bothered with bringing older catalog releases to the format. I think movies came out as long as they did because Sony could afford to keep it afloat.

Curious that http://www.swonvideo.com/ doesn’t seem to have anything on Video 8.

I noticed that too and there’s nothing on the Philips/Grundig Video 2000 either but I suppose it’s a case of what they’re able to track down and obtain.

I know someone who swears The Shining came out on Video 2000. They have found it on Video 8 from Germany though.

It may be worth asking this guy to see if he knows anything about it…

Nathan Butler does some pretty insightful youtube videos on Star Wars; From the Star Wars Home Video Library Timeline 3.2: Star Wars Films & TV Series on Home Video - among them.

^ Though he seems to mainly focus on US and Japan… he may well have some knowledge on European / UK releases too?
 

He also does some fairly thorough reviews on all things Star Wars too - https://www.youtube.com/user/ChronoRadio/videos
 

The Shining with an official release on Video 2000? I’ve seen that somewhere, mate…
 
Edit: http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/display.php?vId=UK10670 - and an advert for it also appeared on a V2000 ‘trailer tape’, here - http://www.pre-cert.co.uk/display.php?vId=UK13403

Nathan Butler and Techmoan are the Shiznit ! been following their videos for years now . Techmoan could make a video about paint drying and it would still be entertaining .His puppet skits at the end of some of his vids are hilarious too.

Yeah, I’m definitely a Techmoan fan. He’s dug up obscure formats I never dreamed existed.

^ yup…the floppy disc boombox blew my mind ! and in response to the OP , I would love to find a copy of that video 8 ROTJ cassettet , if only to have as a display piece.I also noticed the font of the subtitles on the Jabba clip he showed looks different than most releases of the film .

SilverWook said:

I know someone who swears The Shining came out on Video 2000. They have found it on Video 8 from Germany though.

From what I can see, it seems that Video 8 was quite well supported by Warner Bros. It received every James Bond title from Dr No to Licence to Kill. Going beyond WB, I was surprised to discover that MGM released Goldeneye in widescreen for Video 8.

oojason said:

It may be worth asking this guy to see if he knows anything about it…

Nathan Butler does some pretty insightful youtube videos on Star Wars; From the Star Wars Home Video Library Timeline 3.2: Star Wars Films & TV Series on Home Video - among them.

^ Though he seems to mainly focus on US and Japan… he may well have some knowledge on European / UK releases too?
 

He also does some fairly thorough reviews on all things Star Wars too - https://www.youtube.com/user/ChronoRadio/videos
 

I’ve posed the question to Nathan via YouTube. Let’s see what information he has about it. 😃

Here’s the V2000 of Star Wars, taken from this amazing site that I’m shocked that I didn’t know about much sooner: http://www.starwarshomevideo.com/

^awesome find !

Thanks! 😃

An even more awesome find would be a working V2000 deck and the trilogy cassettes (apparently all three films were released on the format) with which we could then undertake a preservation.

Nathan Butler responded to my query:

I’ve never really delved into Video8, mainly because, to my knowledge, didn’t have Star Wars releases in the U.S. The only ones I’ve ever seen (ROTJ is the only one I’ve seen, I believe) have been from markets like the UK. I’m only now dabbling at all in pre-DVD releases from the UK. I will probably look into it at some point. You might ask on the Star Wars Home Video Facebook group. I’m sure someone there is more versed in UK releases and would be able to say for sure.

JayArgonaut said:

Thanks! 😃

An even more awesome find would be a working V2000 deck and the trilogy cassettes (apparently all three films were released on the format) with which we could then undertake a preservation.

Would the masters used be different that what appeared on other formats at the time? The first full frame Laserdisc and CED releases all used the same masters, presumably VHD did the same.

SilverWook said:

Would the masters used be different that what appeared on other formats at the time? The first full frame Laserdisc and CED releases all used the same masters, presumably VHD did the same.

That’s a good question. I’m inclined towards the likelihood that they were also produced from the same source, as a matter of corporate cost-saving. It would be nice to confirm for certain but I anticipate an arduous (and expensive) quest to track down the cassettes.

I can’t even imagine who could service a V2000 deck these days. Beta is enough of cult thing to support repaired and refurbished decks, and even CED had enough parts inventory left over to keep machines working today.

Funnily enough, I used to know a former Philips engineer who definitely could service a V2000 but I’ve lost contact with them.

JayArgonaut said:

Here’s the V2000 of Star Wars, taken from this amazing site that I’m shocked that I didn’t know about much sooner: http://www.starwarshomevideo.com/

Hey… glad you like my site… will be adding loads more titles soon.

Check out www.starwarshomevideo.com

projectcclarke said:

Check out www.starwarshomevideo.com

Already have. 😉

projectcclarke said:

Hey… glad you like my site… will be adding loads more titles soon.

I look forward to seeing them.

Will they include further V2000 releases - and, do you personally own the Star Wars V2000 tapes? 😄

Sorry Ive only just seen this!

I’ve actually just added my second V2000 to the site, I have 2 and a player, although it is a little temperamental

A little more information for the Original Trilogy on Video8 format…

A little more information on the Video8 of Return Of The Jedi (UK release)…

(re the very same Video8 cassette as seen in the Techmoan video mentioned in the OP of this thread)

'From the Star Wars Home Video Library #384​: ROTJ UK Video8:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2eOrR6m1_o - a 17 minute video at the Nathan Butler youtube channel.

and also the whole Original Trilogy on Video8 - released in Japan…
 

‘From the Star Wars Home Video Library #320​: Japanese Video8 Original Trilogy’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ3krmisvRs - a 14 minute video at the Nathan Butler youtube channel.

Cover art for the Japanese Video8 release of the Original Trilogy…

The ‘Star Wars home video releases’ page at Wookieepedia also has some basic information on various releases:-

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_home_video_releases

The obligatory Wikipedia page for Video8:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_mm_video_format

If anyone has a Video8 preservation project of the Original Trilogy please let us know - thank you.
 

Wow, everything gets released in Japan!

@oojason: good research with unearthing the photos for the JPN release. The inevitable insane question has to be posed - will someone track these down and preserve them? 😄

JayArgonaut said:

Wow, everything gets released in Japan!

@oojason: good research with unearthing the photos for the JPN release. The inevitable insane question has to be posed - will someone track these down and preserve them? 😄

I have been hunting a set (from each country) for while now. I’ll be sure to preserve them once I obtain them 😃

RUKUSBUILD3 said:

I have been hunting a set (from each country) for while now. I’ll be sure to preserve them once I obtain them 😃

I love this site! 😃

Thanks so much. Keep us posted with how you get on? 😄