Re: Hard to find - but worth the effort

"Once cameras for the various tape based video formats like 8mm, Hi 8, digital 8, and mini-DV give up the ghost, that part of RR history will be lost too (those formats never had VCRs)."

Actually, that's not quite true. At one time or another, Sony made either stand-alone recorders or clam shells for these formats. Off the top of my head, I have the following playback decks in my workshop:

miniDV (PAL and NTSC machines)
DVcam (NTSC)
8mm (NTSC)
Digital 8mm (PAL and NTSC machines)
VHS player (PAL)
VHS player (NTSC)
Sony 3/4" U-matic
Betacam (NTSC)

But time is running out for tape-based formats. I have successfully played back and digitized tapes that are 30 years old, but tape is an inherently fragile format, and even DVD's have a finite life.
Ian