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Comment by sneeds | Hacker News Reader

Do you think the video is edited or where was the body guard that you think shot him?

In the car behind him - there's a 1992 book about this theory if you are curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Error

It wasn't a "video", back then they only had ... never mind.

I dont even know what you are trying to say.

The commenter thinks the Zapruder film was a "video" is what I'm saying.

In what way is it not a video?

As a generalization: Video, going back to before the digital era, refers to images recorded on magnetic videotapes, such as VHS or Betamax. This is in contrast with film, which is images recorded using light sensitive silver halide crystals. Video tapes are viewed by scanning the magnetic strips and displaying on a monitor with scan lines. Films are viewed by shining a light through the developed film and displaying the whole image on a reflective screen.

Not quite. Video is generally an electronic medium for moving pictures and can be sent over cables or radio waves from the camera to the TV, without touching a tape. A video signal can be recorded on a tape, but isn't necessarily.

Yes, you are right. Looks like you squeezed in your comment before I was able to put the "as a generalization" disclaimer on it! :)

I was thinking more of the situation where some people might be confused with the Zapruder recording, that it could be on videotape instead of film, which is why I didn't try to cover all the corner cases.

It was film. Video is an electronic signal stored on tape (originally)

I assume all the times I've watched it, it's been from video format. I really doubt they were playing the 8mm every time live and broadcasting. So... I guess it's now a video and not film.

Are you trying to say they didn't have video in 1963?

yes, he's saying they only had film in 1963

What do you think TV is?

TV is a video you can't rewind. Not the real thing.

A quick search (wikipedia) shows videotape existed in 1956, at $300/hr.

Right - something for studios, not the man on the street.

thanks, I wasn't aware, although whether or not they had what vanusa was saying seemed obvious.

Just as an fyi, that's pretty massive tape used in a broadcast studio.

The first consumer video camera (camera that recorded to tape rather than film) wasn't until the BetaMovie in 1983 with VHS coming months later. Heck, _home_ video recorders were still 15-20 years off at the time.

I'm referring to the fact that the "video" in question was an 8mm color film:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapruder_film

Obviously "video" existed then in the sense that there was television -- but consumer video cameras didn't appear until around 1979 or 1980.

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