You may be confusing 'video cassette' with VHS. VHS is a specific form factor and encoding standard of tape. 'Video cassette' can refer to MiniDV or Digital8.
(it's similar, although not entirely like, referring to a DDS tape as a DAT -- they're the same form factor, and the earlier versions could be read in both types of readers, but they're no longer compatible)
Oh ... and I bought a MiniDV camcorder three weeks ago. (the video's fine, but they've gotten these things so damned small that the mic is too close to the tape mechanism, and the audio is just foul) ... and I moved 'out on my own' many, many years ago.