Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 (1995)

Thank Sony for introducing digital video editing to the desktop. Before it released the Handycam DCR-VX1000, if you wanted to edit video on a PC you had to invest thousands of dollars in an expansion card to digitize analog footage. The DCR-VX1000 was the first camcorder to capture in the mini-DV format, and the first with a FireWire port for transferring digital video to a PC. The DCR-VX1000 cost nearly $4000, but it offered dramatically better video quality, and less-expensive models soon followed. For more, see Sony's history of the Handycam. Photo courtesy of Sony Electronics.