AUSTIN, Texas — Today, we take it very much for granted: To shoot a video, we simply grab our cell phone and press a button to record amazingly clear pictures and sound.
But long before digital video, FaceTime and Zoom meetings, non-professional video production was a rare and expensive endeavor.
The first home video cameras began appearing in the late 1970s. By the 1980’s, small video cameras – often with built-in recorders in the VHS or Beta formats – became widely advertised, though still considered a luxury.
During the 1990 holiday season, Sears ran commercials that encouraged consumers to buy a new video camera/recorder combination for $ 949.99. That’s about $ 2,300 in today’s dollars.
Because home video technology was new and expensive, shoppers at Austin’s Highland Mall in 1986 lined up during the holiday season to have a short movie made of themselves sending greetings to family members who lived far away. Others who wouldn’t be able to come home for Christmas recorded messages that were mailed to loved ones. For the grandparents, kids were filmed in short plays.
The owners of the Highland Mall video business back then said that videotaped messages were more personal than the traditional holiday greeting cards. The taping service was very popular.
It cost $15 for a five-minute videotaping. That’s around $43 in today’s dollar value – not cheap. But at the time, it was a unique, trendy and high-tech way to send “Merry Christmas” wishes across the country.