Hi Stuart.Many thanks for the info.Dare i ask how much he's asking for the DC- DC converter upgrade/repair?I've succesfully opened one up and have orderd an upgraded common failing transistor (Q2) and three new capacitiors.

Thanks.................Kevin

Hi Kevin,

I had two dead dcdc converters, I recently got to know through another betamax collector, a formet tv/video engineer who lives just a few miles away from me. He recently replaced the head disc on my hf100 along with the hall sensor and about 50 bad caps throughout the vcr. Works perfect now. I also gave him the dcdcs and asked if he could repair them, and he said yes. The cost to do this was very reasonable, so reasonable I snapped his hand off!

Hi Stuart

In regards to the refurbished C9 Dc -DC converter .Did you do this yourself or purchase it that way?I'm in the process of upgrading two of these for my machines.Also exactly WHERE do you have to re inforce those cassette carriage gears on the C9 that frequently break.Mine are fine so some pictures or guidance would be appreciated(the ones on this site are a bit vague)..........Thanks....................Kevin

Stuart, thank you so much for sending me the refurbished DC DC for my C9. I now have a working display and tuner. Cheers :)

Just sent you an email mark.

Hi again Stuart, it's obviously not your correct email any longer as it has bounced back. Do you still have my email as I haven't changed it in years?

Hi Stuart, I sent you an email but not sure it's your correct one as it's from three years back. Hope you get it. Thanks

Hi,

A bit of a long shot, I am currently looking for a few 1" either BVH 3100 or BVH 2800 machines and wondered if any one had or new of any that they wanted to sell.

Please let me know,

Kind RegardsChris

Hello NoelThank you for your info regarding the SL-C9 gears. Unfortunately one broke in two and the other one I gave to a well meaning friend who thought that he could match it up with another. He then lost it! So I'm basically at a loss as to where I can obtain them.Excellent suggestion regarding the reinforcement of the gears - I'm sure that it will be useful information to many with this common problem.RegardsIan

Noel:

Thanks for that.What exactly is the reason for these gears getting stressed.I noticed with one of my C9 's when ejecting a tape the silver door which slides down, did'nt make it too the bottom and prevented the tape coming out .Is THIS the start or reason for those tiny gears getting broken or cracked?I will remove the tape loading system on this to see why this is happening, and also get to see where and how those gears are and try to re enforce them with the parts and comments you've suppiled me with.The C9 is indeed an unique and quite interesting vcr.Very complex too as is typical with the Sony breed.

Thanks again Noel.Your comments and assistance is , as always, VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

..................Kevin

Kevin,

If you put shims on the gears before they break too "upgrade" them that would be even better.

They are really fiddly to get on and off.

One thing I forgot to mention was that once the shims are glued on I use a bench grinder to take the overlap of the shim back to the edge of the plastic but slowly so as not to melt the plastic.

regards Noel

Hi Noel

Yes indeedy you did.I was wondering exactly how and where you placed those.MUCH appreciated.Seeing as i now have 2 C9 's both in great order apart from the DC to DC converter failure.Which i'm going to work on with an upgraded component (if i can still get it),that usually fails.I would then be able to help and assist others who experience this common fault.......................Kevin

Ian,

The SONY SLC9 white plastic load gears can be repaired if they have not totally broken is half. The plastic cracks beside the edge of the D section when pressure due a jammed tape exceeds a certain point.

You can make a 4mm inside diameter metal shim out of the right size telescopic antenna section cut into small lengths using a Dremel and small cutting wheel. You can then slip the shim over the round area in the side of the gear to reinforce the gear. Using super glue secure it and the crack making sure not to get glue in the tooth groove or if you do then just cut it out later.

The shim stops the D section from opening up again. The inside diameter of the shim is 4mm. measure the right size with a gauge. I have already sent some "shims" to Kevin.

regards Noel (betaheaven.com)

mark - you gave me a head drum for a c9 a while back. Please email me to my private email, not this hotmail one. Cheers

minty HF100 ebay Item number: 250690558658.

very low starting price...grab while its there..

My cousin lobbed from Newcastle with 2 boxws of Beta tapes,majority.ok total tapes 84

I have a Sony SL-C9 that has the seemingly universal problem of broken plastic gears on the cassette carriage. I have been unable to locate replacements and wondered if anyone can point me in the right direction. Any help would be gratefully received.

If anyone wants head disck for sl-c7 seller has 4 for sale at £5 EACH plus postage, check ebay item 230515728861

Hi there i have a Sony c5 which is in excellent condition,the only problem is when you press play the picture suffers from a wobble effect.Any suggestions or help would be greatly recieved.

To Davyrocket2, I got a call that a friend can get the parts that you've been looking for.

Anywise where in UK exactly are you? or maybe you're not in UK...

Regards,Boby.

i have a betamax sl-2005 in great condition.. the problem is that the video head tip is damaged where can i find a replacementc.. Any suggestions..????

Hi Kevin:

Good to here from you :)

The main concern you'll have with these i believe is TAPE MOULD.You can usually see this from evidence left as a white powdery substance that usually adheres to the inner cassette spool plastic.If you look through the left hand spool window you'll see this.If there is, sometimes it's not as bad as it could be and indeed on the later Sanyo's they don't lace for the FF and REW modes.You can FF the tape, disassemble the cassette and wipe inside the left spool and anywhere else you see this.Then carefully re-assemble and rewind the tape.If you look inside the Sanyo ( if it's a top loader) then you will see evidence of this dried out mold on the first tape guide and full erase head.You should be able to insert a cleaning stick and wipe this off without removing the vcr's cover.Aso if you lift the cassette flap and look at the tape you will see particles of white along the top edge.With a soft small brush you can remove this too.It might take a while finger winding the tape and cleaning, but if you use the procedure i mentioned earlier ,it would've removed most of it.If the tapes look fine, the tape nice and shiny and relatively without any damage,and it's always best to start playing an older taper by winding it forward in the vcr a second or so, then play them at your leisure.IF a tape does dirty the heads and continues to do so.Throw it out.It's obviously past it's best.Hope this helps Kev and enjoy those movies.............

...Kevin

hi everyonenot been on the site for some time but i have just been offered several hundred betamax movie(probably have some doubles) however i have several beta max machines but only one which works(my good friend k. lambert fixed it for me quite some time ago) my question is this, would it be worth it to have my other machines fixed or risk playing some of these movies on my machine, (these movies have been left in a rather damp garage for over 25yrs) thank kevin....

Thanks Homer, makes perfect sense!

Roderick,

Since a PCM adaptor will produce a monochrome (Y-only) signal, there is no need for a dedicated SECAM unit, as both PAL and SECAM share the same specifications for luminance signals. Therefore, a PAL format PCM adaptor should work perfectly with a SECAM format VCR.

I saw SL-C9 brand new power supply on Ebay for 300$ ++

Thanks, Roderick.

Hi Mark:

The reason you have had no assistance yet is probably because knowone here has come across your problem or that issue yet.I believe Noel did state that the loading tray guide shelf can get a split in it too, which may cause a similar probelm.I believe the cog with the split in it may be your problem.I myself and more experienced with the Sanyo vcr's but i am taking more of an interest in the Sony models.Indeed if i do come across that issue and investigate further, as you have done, i would be only too happy to assist you.Let's hope that issue does'nt crop up too often :)

Good luck and please let us know how it goes................Kevin

Bill,

PCM's pop up on Ebay regularly. Expect to pay around 50GBP - 75GBP.I actually have a spare PCM 501ES, but postage from Australia would probably make the costs prohibitive.

Well not much help here on the HF950 tray fault so perhaps I can help someone else out who may get the same problem. After dismantling the motor that drives the skate tray from the machine, I discovered the nylon castle shaped coupler on the motor shaft had a split in it. This was causing it to spin on the shaft rather than turning the nylon worm that works the cog to the tray. I have super glued it to the shaft now but don't expect it to last too long, anyone know of a source for one? Unfortunately it is wider and flatter than one the C9 carriage motor(which I have spares for)

I'm also still after a C9 DC DC - spares to trade.

I have four SL Betmax top-loading video decks, two C5 and two C7. One of them (not sure which) was working a few years ago and all have been stored since.

If anyone would like these decks - free of charge, but must be collected from address in Staffordshire - please let me know at <mike_franklin@usa,net>.

Mike Franklin.

Davyrocket,

Sorry I dont have any information ccts ect on the 750 iu only have the SLHF950 circuit info plus one 750 reel motor board.

Roderick,

As long as the video signal has the drop out compensator turned of the PCM unit shoudl work with any video source. Whether it is 60Hz NTSC or 50Hz PAL is another issue.

regards Noel

Roderick - thanks very much, I now understand how it works. Can you possibly give me any idea of what I might expect to pay for one - GBP or Euros?

Bill

Bill, as owner of several PCM's I can let you know that they will work with any video recorder.The PCM generates a video signal that contains the audio data which is recorded onto the tape. Playback reverses that. Only thing to look out for is the difference between PAL and NTSC. I don't think there are any SECAM PCM's for some reason.

hi to noel I forgot to ask do you have the circuit board that the display is on I could buy off you ? ,I am also looking for photocopy of SL-HF 750 power supply and servo boards and a list of componets that fail in 950 power supplies and the part number for the video heads thanks david .

No reponses to earlier request, my HF950 having problems with tray movement in and out and also on ejecting tapes. Motor can be heard struggling a bit. I have lubricated worm and cogs and tray track. This helped a little at first but now hopeless again. Any advice much appreciated. Thanks

From an original advertisement reproduced on this site: "We designed the PCM -F1 as a separate processor to give it true operational flexibility. As for recording you can use this unit with ANY videocassette recorder, including Betamax, VHS. U-matic, and 1/4" types. So, if you already own a videocassette recorder. you are in luck. Simply connect the PCM -F1 to your recorder and the system is complete."

Anyone know if the "ANY" in this document is actually true?

Bill

I have a SL2000 that I am unable to get the cassette basket to lock. I have removed items and have nothing broken. Anyone have a suggestion?Thanks

Hi Noel

No problem Noel

I have yet to hear back from him though.By the way would you be able to send me some of those pre cut spacers for the bushing on the reel motor.(it would svae me having to go out and buy the cutters and suitable material).I have just obtained a C20 with not much torque on any function ,especially the fast wind modes.

Cheers my friend................KevI would be happy to pay

Kevin,

Thanks for offering to help Peter John with the hall effect sensor. You are a lot closer than me. Those sensors also appear as parts on the Sony SLC30 series machine capstan and reel motor boards.

To DavyRocket. I am sure you could adapt the 750 board to a 950 by changing the connector and wiring.

regards Noel

I love to dismantle the Head Motor...((gig))

Hi Peter.

I have so far successfully changed out three of those on Sony head motors and it does usually cure it.The resistance you said you feel is good because if that was'nt there the motor drive chip is usually the culprit.I currently have a SLHF950 with exactly that issue.Send your address details to my e-mail address and i'll send you one.Two of the legs will be extended as the origional sensor from an old Sanyo capstan motor have two legs long and two short......Kev

betamax sl hf 100. Bought new and stored for long time. Worked fine a month ago then head motor on play fluctuates. Reading about glue and hall sensor stripped unit and carefully de soldered hall sensor. It seems it will have to stay stripped for a long time to come, because I cant find a replacement sensor to try as a first step to rectify fault. Please can any person help. PS the fast forward and reverse works dragging tape along but then cuts out as head motor just quivering. A lot of pull on the magnet when power is first applied with play button. Peter

Hi everyone. I am looking for a working video head motor, idler and pinch roller for a SONY SL-F30UB Can anyone please help?Regards.Richard :)

Hi to noel I recently sent a email but sent it to betaheaven I am interested in your 750 reel motor I presume that I could change the wiring to fit to a 950 can you let me know if the message did not come through reguards David

Hi Capt Jack:

A very nice find too.The best place to offer those would be E-Bay.You could always seperate the packs and sell them in boxes of 10.It would make more money for you that way.I would be interest in the Fuji L500's X 10 but postage and price would be the deciding factor for me:)Good luck whatever you do.............Kevin

Hi!

I inherited from my Dad several cases of Betamax cassettes. All cassettes are still factory sealed, even in the original box. Most boxes were never opened,so also factory sealed.

I can offer the following cassettes

* FUJI videocassette L-370 6 Original-cases with each 10 cassettec and one case with 7 cassettes (opened and three cassettes missing)

* FUJI Videocassette L-500 2Pack x 5, so also a total of 10 cassettes, case never opened, factory sealed

Who would you be interested in buying the whole lot? And if so, what would be your best price? Where would be the best site to offer such cassettes?

I would appreciate a good offer. The cassettes were stored appropriate and are located in Germany.

Sincerely,

Jack

James, I looked at my service manual and my own SL-HF-750 and I see no forward reel adjustment on any of the boards. It's kinda interesting that the Sony beta 300 and 400 series both have pots to adjust some of this out but the 750 doesn't. My 750 reel has so far never failed. Believe it or not the SL-HF-300 and 400 reel adjustment is on the TUNER board not the servo board which makes it real nice to adjust and monitor the results.

Charlie

Noel. I see the magnet just now, yes it have 2 point placed. I haven't got much of an attention. Cheers...

James,

As luck would have it if you get into real trouble, I have a new in the box reel motor board for an HF750. The circuit is the same but the wiring to the connector is slightly different which is why I have not used it in an SLHF950.

regards Noel

James,

This is PALSITE not NTSC site however the 750 model is very similar to the SLHF950 PAL machine which has an issue with the reel motor bearing wearing out and the magnet touches then rubs through the insulation on the coils wires eventually shorting them out causing loss of torque then failure of the electronics. See http://www.palsite.com/950tech.html

You can check to see if this is the problem by observing if the magnet is touching the coils.

cheers Noel (Betaheaven.com) Australia

Hi...need help with an SL-HF750 that has low take-up reel torque. I used to be a serviceman for these but don't have a service manual anymore. Reel torque adjustment in the servo circuit? Mechanically it is fine. Surely this problem is known in the fleet!

Thank you

I have a Sony SL-HF750 Super Beta Hi-Fi that exhibits tape spillage into the machine (after the pinch roller) causing automatic shutdown. It appears to be due to lack of proper take-up torque on the take-up reel during Play. Fast Forward, X2, Scan work fine. Also, the supply reel only operates for a brief moment during unloading/eject, and actually stops reeling tape before all the tape is back in the cassette, causing the cassette to be ejected with about four inches of tape still hanging outside, although it does not jam the mechanism and the casettes can be removed normally and the tape wound back inside.

I once was a bench technician in a Sony authorized service center in the 80's and used to perform service on the 750 (and lots of other models) when they were relatively new. I am the original owner of this one and have made some minor repairs over the years. But I do not have a service manual for the 750 and would like to know if anyone here recognizes this problem and it's cause and can give me a little help.

I have already checked all the obvious stuff....the brakes and reel tables are clean, and there is nothing broken in the reel mechanism or brake actuators, clutches, etc. It appears as if the reel motor itself is unable to deliver the correct torque in the Play and Unload modes. If I remember correctly there were adjustments that could be made to the reel servo system to set torques and tape tensions...perhaps I am thinking of another model. But it certainly appears as if the problem is electronic in nature. If I had a service manual I could probe further, but as I said I am hoping someone here knows the issue or knows the correct pot to tweak in the reel servo circuit...or at least, maybe someone has a service manual? Any and all help is appreciated.

Thank You

i have a betamax sl-2005 in great condition.. the problem is that when i play a betamax videocassete i have only sound but picture seems to be very very dark. When i put forward it shows lines on screen...and the tuner has picture.. Any suggestions..????

Boby,

The SLHF150 head has two magnets to produce timing pulses which are used to control heads drum speed. The SLHF100 only has one. Therefore you must remove the additional magnet which is in the position that is vacant on the SLHF100 head assembly.

Obviously if the SLHF100 circuit sees twice as many pulses then that affects how it operates.

regards Noel

sorry for the multiple posts anyhow let me revise my post on 6 july regarding GEARS;

What I meant is a threadhing gear (loading Ring), a friend in europe call that ring a threading gear. (quite large RING with 2 chromed jack-stick that guides the tape path)

Friends misunderstood as loading ring that stick on loading tray of C9, (the one that SONY later replace with metallic composed gears).

PS; as I know in general practise, magnet is the sensing(that trigger) where the cycle stop (takes place).

quote Noel; (If you don't it throws out the head servo timing)

You meant : if the magnet is pull out the head timing is working.

or : if the magnet is on the head, the head servo timing is ticking

wich one is the right thing?

regards,Boby.

hi boby I tried leaving a message on your email did it get through I am interested in carriage gears for a C9 , I am also looking for the circuit board thats on a SL-HF950 that has the display on it I have just bought a 950 and the board is there but its broken the rest of the machine works fine any help very much appreciated thanks I am also looking for the sony uhg tapes .david

hi to everone (1,stuart on video machines the colour processing boards there are adjustment pots for,Dark clip/white clip ,if you have got a service manuel the electrical adjustments section will explain how to do this and also if you need an alignment tape to do this also it may need to be done with an oscillilscope best of luck David

Stuart,

Did you remove one of the magnets on the new ( SLHF150 ) head to make it the same as HF100 head you were replacing. If you don't it throws out the head servo timing. When I did one and forgot it caused flag waving effects on the screen.

cheers Noel

Hi all, well, I have had head disk replaced on my hf100, and it now has a full tracking range on hifi sound, but have a lot of white flashing trails on bright parts of the picture. It cant be the heads as they are brand new! Any ideas? Could the head amp have been adjusted to give better performance with the worn head and now it has new heads the gain is too much and causing this white flashing and ghosting? If so how do I adjust? Cheers!

Stuart I got 1 950Beta with no Hifi lamp lit on, it would be great if we can share know how on this.

Regards, Boby.

I'm searching for old TV ads/commercials for VHS, Betamax, V2000 etc and anything about the format war / early video rental shops / pictures and people who worked in them who has good stories and who would like to be interviewed as part of a documentary we're producing about the video nasties era circa 1982/3.

I hope can have 1 (LOL).

Hi Boby,

I have one of those in my collection. As far as I can tell, all the differences are mentioned on the webpage. Mine is hooked up to an edit controller which makes transfers much easier. Lovingly restored by Noel, it works great!

Does anyone have this kind of lovely beta;

http://www.palsite.com/slo420ovi.html

I just wonder what's more differences it have compare to the home version.

Hi,my prevoius name was colin judd,@iprimus.com.au,changed to big pond ,now doc juddm100A owner

My HF950 tray was a bit flakey on eject but ok when closing. The motor was whirring but no movement in the tray.

I had the motor out and all seems well. The cogs also all look fine. I lubricated the runners and cogs with nylon/rubber lubricant and it is now working but I'm a little concerned over what was wrong. Any ideas?

Stuart:

As for your 950 's tracking of the Hi-Fi.Consider yourself lucky, those heads must be in SUPERB shape.The brand new Sanyo M40 i won two years ago, has the same result.As the Hi-Fi audio heads wear down the tracking range for recordings on THAT machine, being played back on it, will get shallower and shallower with the tracking at the extremes , ending up with it just in the center and then the Hi-Fi tracks disappear if you move the control left or right.Nice one.One to cherish..............Kev

Hi Stuart:

I think you'll find 'stereo' on the case means just that Sony ( C9 , C40 ) linear stereo edgetrack.I too have a MGM film with stereo on it and there's definetley no Hi-Fi.Normally for the Beta Hi-Fi recordings you will se BETA and then Hi-Fi in a little block on the cassette spine.Mind you not ALL distributors mentioned this , especially on the Beta rentals.Some Beta Hi-Fi pre recorded tapes are Hi-Fi MONO too, plus the usual mono edgetrack. ( this is usually mentioned as well).Hope this helps Stu and good luck with the head replacement, something i've never had to do..........as yet..........

.......Kevin

Will be having new heads fitted to my hf100 on sunday thanks to set of 150 heads bought from boby on ebay well over a year ago lol. I havent owned an hf100 for over a year but i knew they would be used at some point :)Question about star wars empire strikes back betamax pre recorded tape I own, it is marked stereo on the cassette shell but the hifi light on my 950 does not illuminate, whereas all my other hifi tapes are fine. Could it be a linear stereo ( c9 and c40 ) stereo tape and not hifi? Is this rare?My 950 has no hifi dropouts whatsoever no matter where the tracking control is set, even on recordings made on the machine itself. Would you say this is rare?

Thought so Kevin. I have new heads I am able to have fitted, just wanted to make sure first. Cheers Kevin!

Hi Sturat.

You've just described perfectly the first sign that those heads are wearing down.I have just seen Sanyo VTC M40 with exactly the same results that i was asked to overhaul for someone recently.The picture was superb!The Hi-Fi will always drop out before the picture deteriorates as the Hi-Fi signal goes deeper ont the tape.The picture will be great for a while and then you will notice deterioration there too.It should be fine for quite some time though.

The ultimate sin of a vcr(apart from tape chewing).

........Kevin

Hi, have an hf100 with lovely clear picture, but hi fi sound is suffering with dropouts and is only present with tracking at dead centre. Move the tracking just slightly and hifi sound vanishes. Heads worn? Cheers!

MY HS 100 a soldiers on playing old favoutes like The Life of Brian etc

If anyone is interested I have several 100 used Beta tapes for sale in Illinos. Most of them I got from friends who know I still have a Betamax deck or were included with a second hand Betamax I bought. There are a few prerecorded ones, NTSC the rest have a variety of things taped off of TV on them. I have not gone and catalogued them, I know some have no labels, some have wrong labels and some have proper labels. Most are Sony L-750s althought there are other brands and some shorter lengths. I am guessing almost all of them are NTSC..

Depending on how manyyou wantStart off at $1 US each, if you want a few, 5c each if you want more than 30, 3/$1 if you want 90 or more and a quarter each if you want tham all guessing someweere around 300 right now, might ben more, might be less. All prices will be plus shipping.

If interested contact me at [email protected]

I've got a Sony Betamax VO-68000PS for sale. Good condition, but no power cable. Any takers?

About twenty Betacam tapes (as new) going down skip this weekend unless somebody wants them. London area E4

Gday Beta lovers I have 3 ntsc videos to give awayi,tHE HONEYMOONERS,2FUNNY LADY,3 THE MUSIC MAN

PS:brand new in box...mail at [email protected]

I have 'replacement' Threading gears for C9,. .might be someone interested in..

Hi roderick.

As i understand it Sony made a brass or copper alternative to those breakable plastic gears.You may be able to find somone with some.Also i believe Noel said in certain cases they CAN be repaired if the damage is minimal.

As for the U matic page, the best thing to do with timewasting idiots like this it to ignore and not even mention the issues.THAT is exactly what they want to achieve.Ignore , make no comments about it and one day they will go away.......

Good luck with the gears..............Kevin

Has anybody found a solution for broken loading gears on a C9? Just got another one with broken gears.....

And in relation to the U-Matic chat page, why not just close it? Ever since this nonsense started nobody has actually posted anything related to U-matics. Why these people bother posting irrelevant cr*p is beyond me but it seems the board is unable to stop it.

Hi, I have recently bought a Sony SL 3000 portable betamax recorder, but when testing it it will play fine for about an hour or so then the picture starts to wobble.

If anyone can suggest a cure i would be grateful. Nigel.

I have a in box New AG-500 which is a changer for betamax VCR's for sale. It allows one to play or record 5 cassets automaticly.

Take another look, Noel, it's up s**t creek again. To the administrators: can't you prevent this stuff getting on a page in the first place? Your excellent guidelines are useless if they don't prevent something like this. Is deleting everything the ONLY way you can clear it after the event? Presumably making the site username and password protected would help, but I for one would HATE to see it go down that road, where you spend fifteen minutes dreaming up usernames and passwords and answering a questionnaire in order to ask one small question. There must be some other way.

Regards,Bill

Roderick,

That problems is not so simple to fix permanently but its done again now thanks to Martin.

cheers Noel

Hi Kevin (& any board administrator....)Firstly if you click U-matic from the home page, it takes you to the Betamax page, confusing if you are new to this board.Secondly, have you had a look at the U-matic page? It has been like that for the last few months but nobody seems to care enough to sort it out.

Sad.

Hi Anthony.

If you look to the top left of this page you'll se one listed for U matic.That is where you need to post that message.This is purley Betamax (PAL).

Good luck with your endeavours too...............

...........Kevin

I have a National Panasonic Umatic edit suite which was originally in the office of the financial times in the 1970 s, it is in excellent condition and I have owned it since 1984.The set consists of an A960 CONTROLLER, AN NV9240 PLAYER/RECORDER & AN NV9600 RECORDER, it really is pristine but needs a good home now that I am moving house.

hi there. i have 2 beta max video players we need to get rid of due to the fact we are moving soon. the first is a sony c7 machine complete with instruction manual and original box. i managed to get this to play a tape recently but then when i tried another tape it wouldnt work. the only way i can describe this is when you put a tape in and there,s an initial winding, well it just does not stop winding! also i have a sony c5 machine which for some reason has no power to it. im sure this could be used for spare parts. they have been up in my attic for the past 25 years! hopefully they will of some use to someone. lastly i live in derby. thanks

G'day Noel, I meant the Beta TENSIONER TAPE (sorry I forget). Thanks for the revison.

Cheers,Boby.

Boby,

Sorry to contradict you but the tension tape cassette and alignment test tapes are two entirely different beasts but I do agree, too much tensions wears the heads out too quickly.

Regarding the SLC6 tape non-load issue it is a belt and drive wheel issue on the right hand side of the machine. You need to change those parts at least

cheers Noel

Hi Guys Im from the U.K. I have 2 Sony SL C6 UB mark 2one machine doesnt load the tape just keeps returning out after 5- 10 secsthe other loads and plays fine but picture is unwatchable I know it could heads issue but there is also a whine coming from the drum itself. Does anybody repair betas in uk? distance no object I have about 150 tapes in my collection so Im upset to say the least please help!

PS: Yes, Metal Audio casette fastly wear your audio head but that's just an assumption, yet we haven't made any further test on Beta. It's best not to use Metal tapes so often to avoid wear on DRUM/head tip for precaution. >>>

(((aren't these METAL tapes is good for SL-800ME ?? since the Hi8 use metal tapes as the 800ME nearly the same property to DIGITAL8 )))

...on second tought ,I'd say Flux density play important role on PRO mode so 'metal tapes' gives better reading on heads.

What affect the wear is that how much pressure that we give to heads not the tape composition...so that's why we need alignment tapes ( casette that has pressure indicator inside )

maybe someone has better idea..?

Cheers,Boby

Beyond ferric tapesBASF were the first on the market with a non-ferric tape which was intended for use on the standard Betamax machine. This was a chrome dioxide formulation which was claimed to give improved picture reproduction.

As Sony developed and improved the Betamax format by giving us Super Betamax (Super-BETA) and Extended Definition Betamax (ED-BETA) a higher performance tape formulation was also required. The traditional ferric tape formulation was superseded by a metal oxide formulations.

The first of these tapes was the Pro-X tape which worked with the Super Beta Pro mode found on the SL-HF750 and SL-HF950. After this came tapes for the ED-BETA format. Sadly there are very few PAL ED-BETA machines available, in the NTSC market lots of models were produced and some are still available. Although Pro-X tapes were intended for use in Super Betamax format, they were often found by many as a high grade tape for the standard beta. One particularly good use was for PCM audio recordings.

Mark - I already have several Sony HGs, and I do think they are about the best I have tried for standard Beta, but I can't see much improvement on Pro.

Boby - can you check your 950 's heads fairly minutely before and after you run the metal tapes? It would be nice to get a definitive answer to "metal yes or no" at least as far as head wear or damage is concerned, but of course I take Noel's point about bias. In the audio cassette era I sometimes got strange results from metal tapes on my car player even when they had been recorded using the "metal" setting on my recorder.

Bill

I hate to post again but I should say that it's the Image processor that writes on the tapes thru the Heads, it if it writes 1000 lines per inch, then its 1000 lines no matter what paper it is,so what's that got to do with the paper??? .Let's just say the Beta tapes is 1 inch height then it's capable to handle 1000 lines OR maybe someone have half inch so that tape is only capable to hancle 500 lines??? awh come on....be serious...