My VERY cool experience with Beta

Nick Dalzell

E-mail: LuvFAX2084*aol.com
Web URL: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/picture/5918/index.html
Current Beta Machines: Realistic BETA-Hi-Fi Model 10, Sanyo Betacord

When I was little, say, 1983, I have never heard of Beta -- our family believed in VHS. My first VHS system (which went on new for 10 months!) was some TEKnika model. All my life I had VHS, and HATED the way that Inspector gadget always had lines and "fog" after about 2 recordings! Now, I have two Beta machines, which have NO FOG!!! No LINES!!! and NO Hissssssssssss! I do believe that Beta is the BETTER format!

When I got these two machines, free of charge, and had notes of "VARIOUS MECHANICAL PROBLEMS," (One that was missing an idler tire and a belt, and Both with tape unthreading problems.) I proudly took them home and wondered what I would get out of them. Prepare to be suprised! The picture was sharper than VHS, and after about 5+ recordings, they still are! I put the idler tire from a parts SONY BETAMAX, and I got the belts from my electronics teacher. The Realistic Model 10 Hi-Fi now had the winding problem perfected, and it plays fine! As for the other, which has a fine play system and new tire, does everything, BUT the motor that winds the take-up reel is weak I could only wind it enough in stop mode that the tape was partly spilled but I can press FFWD and get it into the tape with no damage. All I could do is fix a worn tire, but it is making my two machines a "Double deck," my hifi model 10 VCR has dirty heads after every recording, so when my dad wants to see the wonder of beta when I tape one of his movies, we use the Sanyo with the winding problem, but the tape is usually fine! BETA ISSSS BETTER!!!

UPDATE!! Realistic BETA-HiFi MODEL 20! Sanyo betacord VTC-M20
E-mail: ncdalz0*pop.uky.edu

I now have the winding problem PERFECTED!!! (on my SANYO) The motor was NOT weak!!! My bottom idler TIRE WAS!!! Also my pinch roller was dirty, making the tape adhere to its sticky surface! My realistic was not a model 10, I made an error! it is a model 20! And the heads on it are now clean and play fine-But it has a RF modulator bad, and I worked around it by hooking it up to VHS crap and can watch BETA over a GE VHS system that I put a video head on! Does anyone know why they DON'T put "HQ" on beta and only on VHS??? It's VHS's DESPERATE attempt to make people think it's better! But it'll never be better in the hearts of us betaphiles!

Beta will never die!!!! DVD or can I say, Dead Video Disc, when this world finds out that tapes, especially Beta, will last much longer!

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Submitted Tue, 23 Mar 1999 17:49:01 GMT. Updated Tue, 18 May 1999 17:38 GMT