When it comes to the media we create or consume, the formats we utilize to do so are just as important as the content itself. As the decades have passed we’ve seen video technology evolve time and time again to better suit the needs of the current consumer. This does mean that, as time passes, formats that were once thought to be cutting edge have become defunct and thrust into the scrap heap of history. These are some examples of video formats that, for one reason or another, are now obsolete. 

10. VHS (Video Home System)

When you think of antiquated video formats, among the first that people immediately think of are VHS tapes. When the format first hit the scene in the 1970s, few could’ve imagined how it would change people’s media consumption and even filmmaking. At one time, the concept of watching a full movie in your own home, let alone a copy you could own, was unthinkable but it was now a concrete reality. 

In the 1980s, the home video market exploded, with video stores of all types and sizes springing up all over the place. This only continued into the 1990s, with many films seeing a second wind of revenue from their home video release on VHS. The format also allowed many filmmakers on the independent level to circumvent major studios and self-distribute their work. 

However, as is the case for all the formats on this list, the reign of VHS would eventually come to an end. It wasn’t long before Digital Compact Discs, AKA DVDs, and On-Demand streaming replaced VHS tapes as the dominant home media format. Nowadays, VHS is remembered fondly by those nostalgic for a simpler time when all you had to worry about was rewinding your video rental before returning it.

9. Betamax

Whenever something becomes popular, there will usually be something hot on its heels with the intent of dethroning it. Apple has Samsung, Coca-Cola has Pepsi, and for a decent window of time, VHS tapes and Betamax were lunging for each other’s throats. 

Launching in 1975 by Sony, Betamax hit the market just a year before VHS did, even boasting superior video and audio quality. By the early 1980s, Betamax had carved out a sizable market share for itself, dominating an impressive percentage of the then-booming videocassette market. However, before too long it became clear that, despite their superior audio-visual quality, there was one area in which VHS soundly defeated Betamax. That was the ability to record more content on a single videotape, making it more desirable for home consumers and amateur filmmakers. 

Additionally, while Betamax was solely owned by Sony, VHS had a more open licensing model, meaning that other companies to make their own VHS tapes and players. Compounding matters was the fact that major film studios were shifting their focus to solely distributing their movies on VHS. This all eventually led to Sony shuttering the Betamax format in 1993, officially waving the white flag in their war against VHS. 

8. Video8/Hi8

Keeping with Sony for another entry, let’s talk about another one of their defunct video formats, specifically Video8, later known as Hi8. Over the last few decades, the advent of home movies has only developed in terms of their technology and user convenience. However, long before you could record your child’s first day of school or a family reunion on your iPhone, you needed a consumer-grade camcorder. 

This is where Video8 enters the picture, billed as a compact and affordable option for the average consumer to capture life events on video. Video8 was promoted for having a convenient size, as well as its impressive video quality, both of which were superior to other formats at the time. The format stuck around for a good while following its introduction in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but eventually began a steady decline. Sadly, Video8, as well as its successor Hi8, just couldn’t keep up with the rise of MiniDV and other digital recording formats. 

The switch from analog to digital simply made things easier for video consumers, offering far more convenience and overall quality. Unsurprisingly, by the early 2000s, Sony had discontinued the production of Video8/Hi8 camcorders, making the format officially defunct.

7. LaserDisc

When it comes to disc-based video formats, the first ones people think of are DVDs with many forgetting their original predecessor. That would be LaserDisc, originally released in 1978 and advertised as the next leap forward in home media technology. 

The format resembled a DVD but was the size of a vinyl record and required a special LaserDisc player for people to watch them. This larger size allowed for not only immensely superior video and audio quality when compared to VHS but also additional bonus features and director’s commentary tracks. These factors made LaserDisc a favorite of avid collectors and cinephiles of the 1990s who wanted the best possible version of their favorite films. However, while the format had many advantages, its shortcomings were simply too great to ignore, resulting in its downfall. 

Unlike VHS tapes, the cumbersome size of the LaserDiscs made them rather awkward to store and easy to damage. Additionally, much like a vinyl record, if you were watching a particularly long movie, you’d need to take the disc out and flip it. All of this, plus the heftier price tag attached to them, resulted in the LaserDisc remaining as a niche product, never able to replace VHS. Nowadays, LaserDiscs are remembered only by hardcore video format collectors and by those entranced by the oddities of past decades. 

6. MiniDV

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the video market was dominated by home camcorders that made use of MiniDV tapes. They were the compact tapes that one would load into a camcorder to record footage, making the video equivalent of audio cassette tapes. A favorite of amateur videographers, filmmakers, and journalists, MiniDV was popular due to its image quality and affordability. 

The early 2000s was by far the peak of MiniDV, with the format being the go-to choice for independent filmmakers and filming family events. It was also one of the first formats that allowed for easy footage transfer to most home computers, making digital editing a breeze. If you dig through your attic or basement long enough, you’re bound to find a couple of dusty MiniDV tapes lying around. 

However, technological progression eventually came for MiniDV, with their major death blow being camera capabilities being built into modern phones. With the like of the iPhone hitting the scene, spending additional money on tapes to film a family event was no longer necessary. Additionally, more modern cameras were pivoting over to using SD cards which could store far more footage than MiniDV. By the mid-2000s, the format’s popularity had declined immensely with the format going fully obsolete by the 2010s. 

5. VCD (Video CD)

It should be clear by now that the 1990s was a pivotal time for the home video market, especially with digital formats quickly replacing analog ones. Various companies were racing to develop the format that would eventually unseat VHS tapes as the dominant format, resulting in some fascinating developments. We already mentioned the rise and fall of LaserDiscs, but around the same time, there was another disc-based format looking to break through known as VCD.

Video CD AKA VCD debuted in the early 1990s and could hold up to 74 minutes of video and audio. The format attained solid success in Asia mostly due to its affordability and compatibility with most CD players. The VCD format also proved to be a perfect way to distribute the music videos of various solo and group performers. 

Sadly, when DVDs made their debut, the days of the VCD quickly became numbers for a litany of reasons. Whereas VCDs could only fit 74 minutes of content, DVDs could hold far more content, as well as boasting vastly superior audio-visual quality. While the format stuck around for a while, particularly in Asia, the advent of DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and online streaming proved to be the final nail in the coffin of VCDs.

4. D-VHS (Digital VHS)

A big trend on this list has been formats that failed in the pursuit of defeating and dethroning VHS tapes as the dominant video format. Another example of one of these failed formats was Digital VHS AKA D-VHS, which was built to capitalize on the growing HDTV market. The product was predicated on its ability to record HDTV broadcasts, as well as showcase movies, in their desired high quality. Unfortunately, this trait proved insufficient as soon as DVDs, and later Blu-rays, hit the scene and revolutionized the home video market.

Despite the best efforts of those behind it, D-VHS wasn’t able to keep up with the trajectory of the business and the ever-evolving tastes of consumers. DVDs simply offered better video and sound quality, as well as the ability to store more content like commentary tracks and special bonus features. 

Add to that, the lack of movies available on D-VHS greatly limited the format’s appeal to consumers. There was also the high cost of the D-VHS tapes, as well as the video player itself, which made it difficult for the format to break through. Had DVDs not emerged at the end of the 90s, then the format might’ve had more of a fighting chance for prolonged mainstream success. 

3. U-matic

We now turn our attention to professional and broadcast venues to discuss an oft-forgotten video format known as U-Matic. U-Matic tapes were introduced by Sony in the early 1970s and served as the next major step forward in professional video production. Due to its high video quality and portable size, the format quickly became the standard for the television industry. It also helps that the format was extremely user-friendly, as well as compatible with the editing systems of the time which greatly assisted production workflow. U-Matic tapes were also used for dallies on various films, including the first rough cut of Apocalypse Now, with the film’s raw version surviving on U-Matic tapes.

Unfortunately, once Betacam and VHS came around during the mid-1980s, U-matic tapes began their rapid descent into obsoletion. Between Betacam’s superior picture quality, as well as the affordability of VHS, the writing was pretty much on the wall for U-Matic. By the time the 1990s came around, the format had finally fizzled out, no longer the industry standard regarding television production. The U-Matic stands as yet another prime example of a video format that was eventually phased out in favor of a then-superior technology. 

2. DVCPRO

Panasonic, best known for its various electronic consumer products, unleashed DVCPRO back in the mid-1990s. The format offered both high-quality video and audio recording in a sturdy tape format, making it a desirable format for those in professional video production. 

Following its debut, broadcasters, filmmakers, and many others quickly adopted DVCPRO, making it the industry standard for quite a while. A major advantage of the format was how when recording audio it would prevent audio drifting, meaning the sound and viduals would be perfectly synced. Additionally, its durable quality made it perfect for outdoor filming, especially field production when it came to sports like football. 

However, DVCPRO soon had competition in the form of digital recording technologies like P2 and XDCAM, both of which offered very enticing features of their own. They both benefitted from the advent of solid-state media, which is a type of computer storage media that stores data electronically and has no moving parts. This technological leap forward led to both formats boasting faster workflows, and higher capacities, making them perfect for fast-paced video production. By the time the mid-2000s came around, countless broadcasters and video production outlets had pivoted away from tape-based formats like DVCPRO, cementing its obsolete status. 

1. 8mm Film

Our dive into the realm of obsolete video formats concludes by going back to the 1930s and the creation of 8mm film. Introduced by Eastman Kodak, the format’s compact size and user-friendly quality made it the definitive choice for small productions and capturing family events on film. From there, 8mm film became the gold standard, even developing new and improved versions along the way, like Super 8mm.

Subsequent updates like this offered improved sound quality and enhanced image quality, promising only the best for capturing birthdays, vacations, and everyday moments. Bear in mind, this was long before the average person had a camera phone or even a disposable camera in their pocket. However, as we’ve learned throughout the list, no format can remain on top forever, especially as technology evolves and consumer demands change. 

Case in point, when VHS and consumer camcorders came around in the 1980s and 1990s, formats like 8mm were quickly becoming obsolete. It’s not hard to see why, as VHS and other formats simply offered more convenience for users and higher audio-visual quality. When the early 2000s arrived, 8mm was largely defunct, only utilized in niche markets by filmmakers and artists looking to capture an old-school aesthetic.

Mental disorders reflect the anxieties of the era. A study of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) reflects a constantly shifting view, where once commonly accepted mental disorders are relegated to the dustbin of history. If the past is any indicator, our picture of the mind and its illnesses will soon too become obsolete.

10Male Hysteria

Hysteria has a slew of nervous symptoms that cannot be attributed to a physical cause. Despite men being just as prone to breakdowns as women, societal and political pressures stood in the way of diagnosis. However, in 18th- and 19th-century Britain, it became fashionable for men to develop “nervous” issues. It was an issue of class, where sensitivity was seen as sophistication that elevated the bourgeois above the working people.

In the early 20th century, male hysteria morphed into “shell shock.” This reflected a changing perception of the disease, losing its feminine connotations. This new form of male hysteria was made honorable. In the 1980s, “shell shock” gave way to PTSD—post-traumatic stress disorder. The progression has been a slow shift from the feminine stigma associated with the disease.

9Dysaesthesia Aethiopica

In the mid-1800s, mental health professionals fabricated disorders to justify slavery. Dysaesthesia aethiopica was defined by mischief caused by “stupidness of mind and insensibility of the nerves.” The afflicted were believed to wander about at night, sleep all day, raise disturbances, and “break, waste, and destroy everything they handle.” Doctors also claimed this “disease peculiar to negroes” came with physical symptoms in the form of lesions, which were always present in the afflicted.

Sociologists and psychologists manufactured this disease to scientifically prove that black men were incapable of handling freedom. The cure for dysaesthesia aethiopica was slavery. These quacks claimed the disorder was more common among free blacks than those in bondage. The only slaves afflicted were ones who lived lifestyle—with diet, drinks, and exercise—like their free brethren, or those “that have not got some white person to direct and take care of them.”

8The Vapors

In the Victorian era, psychologists claimed one-quarter of women suffered from “the vapors.” The term derived from ancient Greek medical theories based on the four humors of the body. The vapors were caused by an imbalance. Humors in the spleen rose through the body to affect the mind. Women were more likely to catch the disease based on “irregularities” in their anatomy. Symptoms include anxiety, depression, fainting, tremors, and bloating.

Women of independent mind were often diagnosed with the vapors. Suffragettes were particularly vulnerable. Given the wide range of symptoms, vapors diagnosis often impeded the identification of more serious medical conditions like depression, infections, and cancer. In the modern day, the folksy term is used as a joke. For example, it has been used by Colin Powell and journalists Peggy Noonan and Claire Berlinski to cast opponents in a foolish light.

7Homosexuality

Until the mid-1980s, homosexuality was considered a mental disorder. By the end of the 19th century, homosexuality shifted from sin and crime to the territory of mental health professionals. However, experts were never in agreement about its classification. Some viewed homosexuality as a degenerative sickness. Others thought it was inborn and not a disease. Freud even considered bisexuality to be humans’ innate state. None of these assessments were based on empirical testing but rather on observations of homosexual patients.

Beginning in the 1970s, mental health experts shifted their views on homosexuality due to the mounting evidence and shifting cultural views. In 1974, a vote was held to amend homosexuality’s place in the DSM. By 1980, the only entry was for “ego-dystonic homosexuality.” This meant the homosexual tendencies were not in line with the person’s self-perception. Many criticized this decision. By 1986, homosexuality was completely removed from the DSM.

6Dementia Praecox

In 1893, Emil Kraepelin launched the first attempt to develop a categorization system for mental illness. He divided psychological disorders into just two categories: circular insanity and dementia praecox. Circular insanity was marked by a host of mood disturbances but could be treated. Dementia praecox was an incurable, irreversible mental deterioration beginning during youth. Some of the symptoms included “atrophy of the emotions” and “shun of the will.” The prognosis was hopeless.

Professionals likely gave this label to all “bad prognosis madness.” In the late 1920s, dementia praecox fell out of favor. Eugene Bleuler’s “schizophrenia” became the preferred diagnosis for inexplicable madness. Schizophrenia had hope. Bleuler viewed dementia, hallucinations, delusions, and flat affect as secondary symptoms. By 1952, dementia praecox officially vanished from the psychological lexicon when the first edition of the DSM was published.

5Lunacy

For millennia, people thought full moons made people crazy. Aristotle claimed the brain was the “moistest” organ, and therefore most susceptible to the tidal influences. This “lunar lunacy effect” remained popular in the Western world throughout the Middle Ages. Many still cling to the belief that full moons cause an increase in hospital visits, homicides, suicides, and traffic accidents. In 2007, UK police introduced full moon units to deal with the associated increase in crime.

Little evidence shows a connection between moon phases and madness. The gravitational influence of the Moon the same across moon phases, and it only affects open water. However, there may have once been a kernel of truth to lunar lunacy. Before modern illumination, moonlight would have had a more significant effect on sleep patterns. Full moons may have led to sleep deprivation, which is known to trigger erratic behavior in bipolar sufferers.

4Neurasthenia

In 1869, physician George Miller Beard developed a diagnostic profile for a mental disorder that appeared custom designed for America’s leading families. The symptoms of neurasthenia—or nervous exhaustion—included migraines, fatigue, depression, and digestive problems. Beard saw “American nervousness” as a result of fast-paced urban life. The cure was to flee the city. Women were encouraged to rest, while men were encouraged to engage in vigorous activity in the outdoors.

By the early 20th century, this mental disorder became a status symbol. It spread from the elite downward, penetrating every level of society. “American nervousness” even spread to Europe, China, and Japan. The stigma of the disorder was removed by reassurance that it was physical in origin and not the result of mental weakness. By 1930, neurasthenia virtually disappeared from psychology. However, many of the symptoms are still present in modern illnesses like clinical depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.

3Moral Insanity

First described in 1835 by physician J.C. Prichard, moral insanity is a disease of the conscience. This mental disorder is defined by a “morbid perversion” of the emotions, habits, and impulses without any defect of intellect or reasoning.

Moral insanity continued to be diagnosed until 1881, when it was used in the trial of Charles Guiteau, who assassinated President James Garfield. One physician claimed the assassin suffered from this bygone disorder. Another labeled Guiteau an “imbecile.” In 1888, “psychopathic inferiority” began being used in place of moral insanity. Many consider moral insanity the forerunner of the modern psychopathic and anti-social personality disorders. However, experts are not even in agreement about that.

2Inadequate Personality Disorder

Inadequate personality disorder sufferers exhibit poor judgment, social instability, and lack of physical and emotional stamina. They appear poorly adapted for their environment without any real physical or intellectual defects. Patients have dim or nonexistent views of themselves in the world. Some sufferers cannot maintain minimal self-sufficiency and are often dependent on family members. The disorder was dropped from the DSM III in 1980.

There is strong evidence to link inadequate personality disorder with frontal lobe syndrome. In 1848, railroad foreman Phineas Gage took a spike to the front of his skull. His personality rapidly changed, becoming childish, erratic, and irresponsible. He ended his days as a circus sideshow performer. Frontal lobotomies, once used to treat violent psychiatric patients, also resulted in reduced creativity, spontaneity, and social effectiveness.

1Gender Identity Disorder

In 2012, the DSM removed “gender identity disorder.” This obsolete diagnosis meant that transgender people were considered mentally ill. This had long been considered stigmatizing by gender rights activists. By removing the categorization, there is no longer anything pathological about having a transgender identity.

Gender identity disorder was replaced with “gender dysphoria.” This new categorization only focuses on those who are distressed with their gender identity. While some consider this to be a significant change, others are less impressed. Supporters claim that gender dysphoria was left in the DSM in case transgender people need access to health care. Some do not think enough headway has been made. However, it is hard to argue that things are not progressing. In the 1990s, transgender people with grouped with pedophiles by the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Abraham Rinquist is the executive director of the Winooski, Vermont, branch of the Helen Hartness Flanders Folklore Society. He is the coauthor of Codex Exotica and Song-Catcher: The Adventures of Blackwater Jukebox.