Return to Video Formats
To counter the introduction of the Super-VHS format, Sony introduced Video Hi8 (short for high-band Video8). Both Hi8 and S-VHS were officially rated at a luminance resolution of 400 lines, a vast improvement from their respective base formats and are roughly equal to laserdisc quality. Chroma resolution for both remain unchanged. The final upgrade to the Video8 format came in 1998, when Sony introduced XR capability (extended resolution). Video8-XR and Hi8-XR offered a modest 10% improvement in luminance detail.