Ever hear of D-VHS? Originally it stood for DATA-VHS, then later it was DIGITAL-VHS. 1 ST-240 S-VHS tape (mostly marketed as a DF-480) could hold 50GB of data and 4 hours of 1080i (JVC was planning to include 1080p) HD video. 1080i on a VHS tape and it gives Blu-Ray, DVD and Broadcast a very good run for their money (D-VHS used a 28.8 Mbps CBR MPEG-2 encode for 1080i/720p and 480p and 480i could also be recorded at that, or the “LP” and main SD mode could record 480p and 480i material at 14.4 Mbps CBR for 8 hours on a ST-240. And depending on machine, D-VHS could also record 24 hours of 480i video at 2.8 Mbps CBR on a ST-240: 24 hours on 1 VHS TAPE!).Tape can also be used as a digital recording and storage medium. I loved working with MiniDV in video production classes in college.
And, bizarrely, optical discs can store analog material. Enter the LaserDisc.
Kor
