The BMC-100 was the first combined camera and recorder to go on sale, in 1983.

The first thing you notice about it is that it is clearly a rectangular recorder, with a camera bolted on one end, and a handle at the bottom. What is less obvious from the photos is how small it is, for its age -- the recorder unit is about 15cm square, barely wider than the standard Betamax cassette which goes inside.

This miniaturisation is truly remarkable, considering the size of the Betamax VCRs of the day, and it took a very creative design to achieve it... The head drum is 45mm, compared to the normal Betamax size of 75mm, and spins at 2500 rpm rather than 1500. The tape is wrapped nearly all the way around, 300 degrees, but most unusually of all, there is only one head on the drum. This arrangement meant that the head does not pass the tape at the normal speed, so the signal has to be electronically "time-compressed", before it is written: