In 1982, five companies - Sony, Matsushita (now Panasonic), JVC, Hitachi, and Philips - created a preliminary draft of a unified format and invited members of the Japan Electronics Industries Association, the Magnetic Tape Manufacturers Association, the Japan Photographic Equipment Manufacturers Association, and other relevant associations to participate. As a result, a consortium of 127 companies endorsed the 8mm video format in April 1984. In January 1984, Eastman Kodak announced the new technology in the United States.
Video8 offers video quality similar to Beta-II and VHS in standard playback modes.
The main drawback of Video8/Hi8 was that recordings made with Video8 camcorders could not be played back on VHS tapes.