The book “Under Pressure ,” by Thomas Keller came out in 2008. There is a chapter on different sealers and the chamber machines are detailed. The book was compiled in 2007 and the machine pictured in the beginning of the book was a couple years old at the time.
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Thomas-Library/dp/1579653510
Not sure if you can preview the book, but you can achieve different textures with sous vide that would be unachievable through other methods. https://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Thomas-Library/dp/1579653510
Crème brûlée is amazing in a sous vide, as are cheap cuts of meat that benefit from low and slow without drying out. There is still an element of searing that improves the outside colour and texture tk make it more appetizing, but it’s my favourite way to do Korean bbq ribs and finish on the grill.
If you're curious, Under Pressure is also a good resource on sous-vide cooking. It's perfectly safe.
There's a great sous vide cook book called Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide that has a bunch of stuff at the back about cooking times and temperatures. The book is pretty expensive, but alot of those charts are available in the preview on amazon.
My boss at work used to work for a guy named Thomas Keller - he wrote a book on sous vide called "Under Pressure"
This is a good website we use a lot in the restaurant too. http://recipes.anovaculinary.com/
If someone is really into sous-vide technique, these guys are amateurs compared with Thomas Keller.
https://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Thomas-Library/dp/1579653510
Worth the read if you're into this kind of thing.