I'm sure everyone remembers those Camcorders from the 80's, 90's and early 2000's that used some kind of small tape to make movies. 5 different companies invested in the format in 1984 (Panasonic, Sony, JVC, Hitachi, and Philips), and at one point, decided it would be awesome if they would release premium movie releases to the format under the Video8 moniker.
Sony at one point took their portable music series of audio equipment, and even had a Video8 Walkman available for purchase. Overall customers never really got behind the format, being that the VHS could have long recording times of 5+ hours, and the shelves at rental stores were already built for one size. Honestly, I can see a compelling reason to switch over if there is already something in place that works. They did find some success for use on planes for in-flight movies, as they took up less space, and could be handed out easily. The players were portable, small, and lightweight.
With all the different 8mm formats, Video8 had some level of backwards compatibility with other 8mm tapes and devices- depending on encoding and such. This was followed by Hi8, which was marketed towards the home video market, and then later by Digital8. There was enough of a need to have professional editing and audio equipment for the format, which occasionally shows up on eBay.
There were hundreds of movies produced for the format, and for whatever reason, it was not discontinued until 2015. I guess for international flights it was still a popular medium, but now with digital screens and huge storage options that weight mere grams- it's just not needed anymore. It's really a cool little overlooked format, and if you see any out in the wild, you should pick them up.
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