In 1983, Sony released the first camcorder, the Betacam system, for professional use.
A key component was a single camera-recorder unit,
eliminating a cable between the camera and recorder
and increasing the camera operator's freedom.
The Betacam became standard equipment for broadcast news
Now Tapeless camcorders record video as digital computer files onto data storage devices
such as optical discs, hard disk drives and solid-state flash memory cards.