Brenda Ann, don't mean to intrude on your business, but do you REALLY want to sell that precious SL-HF1000 of yours? These machines are getting rare, and a good well-functioning 1000 is a precious difficult-to-replace asset that when sold may lead to much regret later on. I know that being overseas and all, space may be at a premium, but you should be able to find a couple cubic feet of space to store that 1000 of yours so that you can continue to use it for many more years to come. Good luck with whatever decision you make. Howard

I am selling a good working Betamax SL-30 VCR, together with 13 still wrapped blank Fuji L-750 Videocassettes, 1 Scotch head cleaning cassette, and 24 tapes with some older movies (aka Logan's Run, Dr Zhivago, Ben Hur, etc). I live in the US. If anyone interested, or wanting more details, please email me at [email protected] Thank you.

Why do you all blame JVC for beta's demise?What about RCA? They didn't make a beta unit!And it's the consumers fault beta didn't make it!I know for a fact Edward's not a JVC man, he's my boyfriend.He's been on vacation for a long time. He went to Utah.For a Cowboy Bebop Convention that's not going to happen. He dreampt the whole thing up. He took his SL-2300 with him,and he'll be back soon.

I have a BMC 110 Betamovie w/battery and manual, an AC-M110 ac power adapter and a Solidex 829 Beta rewinder, all in working order. Have no idea what they're worth, but I'm willing to sell.

John Bishop

Mad Beta Collector; don't feel bad, today is my birthday and I don't see getting another SuperBeta for a present. So, I'll have to make do with my SLHF 750 and GCS 1 camera.

Franny, I definately would like one of those as well as a battery belt.

Later. Pepse.

Yes, RCA is at fault for the demise of Beta! They killed beta by advertising an inferior format and they even killed there own superior-to-VHS selectavision disc system! The disc had great special effects and could do random-access tricks like a computer game, almost. Later they added stereo and other tricks like dual-audio. More versatile than tape but not a nice as say, Superbeta or LaserDisc. It had its own faults but it was better than VHS, about as good as regular Beta, all things considered.

Sean.

Brenda

As to your 1000, I agree with those who say you should keep it. Although I would love nothing more than to get my hands on a working 1000, I must sympathize more with you because of the fact that I was convinced (By someone else!) my 1000 was worthless and threw it away when it developed a minor fault! NEVER get rid of these if you can help it!

Sean.

375€+postage is a good price for a PCM -F1? (Also if PCM-701ES are easy to obtain)

Hey guys! Saw the messages regarding holes on the bottoms of betacam tapes. The palsite "tapes" page shows what all the knockouts are for (at least pertaining to betacam decks). But it lead me to a couple of questions: I've just gotten a large lot of Maxell B-20BQ's and some of them are a bit weird. Probably 98% of them are the standard oxide layout w/ the sliding record tab on the right edge (when oriented as it would load in a deck). The remaining few cassettes have a sliding tab on the left side and a knockout tab on the right. The pages here say that the left-side tab is for metal (SP) tapes. But all of these tapes look exactly the same from the top and all say just "betacam" on the tape cover, which would me to believe they're oxide. Is it possible they might've been mislabeled or a manufacturing error? I'd like to know for sure before I find that I have a mislabeled metal tape that destroyed my video heads. Can I tell the difference between oxide and metal by the color or texture of the actual tape, itself? Just a bit of advice here, please. :)

This link shows scans of the cassette bottoms: http://members.verizon.net/~madness2/tapes.gif

A beta moment!I was watching a tape I bought a the video store, an ex-rental od some America's Funniest Home videos" Welll, someone did a sketch of a mockery of indiana Jones. He fought off villains and got out of unlikely perril for a little box. Well, he ends up in a house, and takes out from the box, a Sony Betamax remote! He uses it to turn on the VCR and play a tape. Anyway, we never see the VCR but the remote is easily recognizable!

Sean

Got hold of a nice Sanyo Betamovie VRC-500. Not bad even though one pixel is burnt - I think all my CCD cameras have at least one burnt pixel. It came with a Sony hardshell carry case - with the set of keys to lock it! Sweet!

By the way I also have an extra Sony Betamovie hardshell carry case that's good for the BMC-550, 660 and I think it will fit the BMC-1000 and GCS-1. I don't need it and for $50 US (shipping included in for the lower 48 states and lower Quebec and Ontario - extra elsewhere) it can be yours. Sorry, but no keys with the one I have to sell. it is unlocked though.

Olive, My GCS-1 came with an aftermarket case that is a dream! Foam lined, with cutouts for all the goodies! Even came wiht one key, which I will have copied before I lock it! I don't know who made it though, but it is quite strong. I think they wanted it because they had lots os accessories including three batteris.

Sean.

You always think of something when you hit "Post". Didn't the sanyos have a case like mine, a hardshell with foam, square, and not rounded with molded plastic the way sony did?

Sean.

Sanyo made these pretty sweet aluminum suitcases for their lot of Betamovies parceled to them by Sony's Betamovie division. It had a slot for the AC-M110 adapter a cassette and two batteries and a mystery slot that's a little too big for a battery (but I've got one in there anyway) but not shaped for say a battery with the belt clip holder (I've got on of them) so I can't say what it's 'officially for'...

It doesn't have a carry strap or a place to stick one though...

Oddly enough I'd bought a BMC-220 that came with the Sanyo carry case - leaving me an Sony Betamovie with a Sanyo case and a Sanyo Betamovie with a Sony case...

Whoa! Bootlegger's dream deck!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1365942935

SONY SLO-420 Videocasette Recorder.Serial# 13103A great Beta II/Beta III Video Recorder, this deck was primarily used in conjunction with an Amiga editing/toast system for light video production use. Includes the add-on loader. In good condition, it would be a great machine to add to your video operation and/or collection.

SLO-420 with a tape changer - All your macrovisioned DVDs are belong to us...

Hey guys, this is the PAL site after all, so here's this, on american Ebay, no less!http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1364776220well, enjoy!Sean.

Wow! Two at once:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1364851125Did this guy mistype or is this really an HFR-73?

Sean

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1365778640Here's another NIB betamax, but this one is not priced too insanely. The guy who is selling it doesn't know anything, though, JVC wouldn't touch a betamax...

Sean.

Sean, the Sears unit that was listed by this ignoramous is a clone or variant of theSanyo VCR-3900/4000/etc. The SL-HFR73 has to be a SL-HFR70. Looks like a SL-HFR70 to me.Kinda tacky with the missing flip down door too. The SLO-420 is fricking cool, only becauseit comes with the Betastack changer. It offered stereo audio, but alas- only Linear Stereo audio. No HIFI audio. It would be a great unit to team up with a PCM audio encoder. 7 tapesworth of PCM digital audio playback!! Timeshifting heaven!! and so on. Andy

Yeah, Sanyo and sears made some of the worst betas I can think of. I had a Sears and it went in the trash. Made room for a Toshiba. Anyhow, I might try for the SLO-420, I've always wanted one and here is one with a betastack, too! Looks like fun; it is just what I would have needed to do a good job taping the concert in NYC for the WTC. Instead I have a VHS copy at SLP EP or ELP or VHS-3 or whatever they're calling it this week. Beta had confusing tape lenghts but useful speeds while the VHS tape lenghts were useful but the speeds confusing acronyms... You'd think SUPER Long play would be better... THe only thin I can compare the result too are this: I bought a 40-year-old polaroid camera that still had film in it. Took some photos. Looked like SLP... At least the HiFi audio didn't suffer too much, that's what's really important...

Sean.

I'm surprised that at $75 Buy it Now price, that it isn't already gone.. I know if I weren't in my present predicament, I would have snagged it as soon as I saw that price.

Pardon me for my ignorance! What is NIB! New in the Box?!!!

Anyway regarding the record tabs! I have read somewhere that those tabs that you can push up and down and are on the same side as the Old Betamax Cassettes = Good! You can use them! The Tabs save you a lot of expense from Buying Sticky Tape.

Hello friends. Well, my theory on making standard Betacam oxide tapes into Betacam SP (ED Beta) worked, as in it made my EDV-9500 (which is finally back from the shop, I missed it!) record in ED mode on a standard cassette, but the recording was unviewable. It was worth a try, and knocking the tabs out in the middle of the cassette did make the machine believe it was SP (ED). I also tried a direct line in from my XBOX of a DVD to the 9500, but macrovision strikes again, with small red lines all through the picture. Someday I'll get the right device to copy DVD's.

~Scott

Has anyone got a answer to why the clock displays on the SL-HF300 --400 series Betas go dim?I've got 2-400 and 3-300's and they all seem to have the same degree of problem.The last 300 I obtained wasn't plugged in for at least 15 years but yet it's display is just as dim as the others.This tells me that the problem is not the display itself but rather a pc component.I also have a Toshiba VM-411 that I bought when it was a year old. It's display is nice and bright as is the one on my Sony SL-5400. These machines are just as old or older than the 300-400's! By the way, the VM-411 is one of my favorites.It has a very nice picture and other then changin the idler tire and belts once I haven't had a lick of trouble with it.The Toshiba Betas in my opinion are right up there in reliability with the Sony's.

As to the ED-beta tape tricks, I think they do not work because the tape has to be metal. However, the difference between the VHS and SVHS tape is not so big as between the Oxide and metal particle tapes that you can drill out the VHS tapes and fool a recorder into recording SVHS on them and get results about as good as suprebeta, believe it or not. BUT you need an expensice SVHS machine that is good to begin with, like my JVC-HR-S5500U. I bought it Used, I NEVER by NEw JVC gear, I refuse to give them my money (Not just because of VHS, have you ever tried to deal with them on a customer-support level?)

Sean.

Clocks... Hmmm, I've had a few beta with clock problems, for instance, my dearly departed 1000, you could not set the clock, because the front panel wasn't screwed down tightly. You had to put the screw in the middle front, which someone took out. On my 900, currently awaiting repair, the clock did not light up all parts of the numbers on the panel. I do not know what kind of display technology these use, but I think it could be Gas-discharge, "panaplex" or vacuum flourescent. If anyone knows, please set me straight. Anyhow, The problem on the 900 was that the contacts on top of the display pannel were loose, and you could press them down and the thing worked OK over time. All I can think of is there might be a pot' to adjust the voltage to the display, but I do not know if there is one. Also Pioneer Laserdisc player suffer from dim displays

Sean

Displays... I think they are LED, Light Emiting Diodes, but I am not sure.

Sean.

My SL-HF550 has the latest in technology.... smoke emitting diodes.. :P (Close lightning strike a few weeks ago.. took out the 550 and what was left of my SL-HF860D) :(

Two dead Betas in one strike - sux2bu Brenda.

At least you ought to have space for that SL-HF 1000 now...

Actually, I don't. As it stands, there are three rooms in this apartment that have to be navigated by sonar.. the dining room, the guest bedroom, and the computer/video room. A lot of stuff has to go.. including a lot of my amateur radio equipment, Shortwave listening equipment, and video stuff. I must have close to 250 Beta tapes alone.. the two dead machines were going on dead for a long time already. The 860D was one I bought off ebay, and the capstan assy. didn't work. The 550 is my oldest machine, bought a couple years before the 1000.. it's had the heads replaced on it once already..... and was on it's last legs. I was going to send them to Andy and get them fixed.. but I just can't afford to keep the stuff any longer. :(

Well it looks like somebody snapped up that Sears Beta VCR (Betavision?) for the $75 'buy it now price'. Imagine a 'new' VCR coming out of it's box after all these years (I would've been maybe 2 or 3 at the time it was made...). Like opening a time capsule or something like that.

Hopefully the rubber bits are OK...

There is hope in the world for me yet!A woman my age who likes beta!Never thought I would see it!It's nice to have you on this page, Franny!

Sean.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1547551254This is the sears I had...Piece of sh*t if ever there was one. NO redeaming qualities, it had a RUSTY head drum and ate the only tape I put in it, just to see if it worked and I could get a few $$$ on Ebay for it, well, it's gone now! (In case you were wondering it came with a lot of 200 tapes that I paid 40 for, so who cares.) But every tape it made won't track right on anything, all I can say is just avoid these...

Sean.

Way to make ME feel old.. :P I was 22 when the first Beta machine came out.. as part of a Sony television (model number escapes me), I was part of the team that installed the very first one of them in Salt Lake City.. to say the least, I was impressed.. I didn't even know that home video technology yet existed in 1977.. :)

Brenda, that would be an LV-1901 if memory serves, and, like so many others, it was indead a console model and they all had mediocre sales. The Ampex Signature V comes to mind, sold for, I think, $ 30, 000 (IT also had a home stereo...) in 1963, the first home video recorder, I think a whopping total of 1 was sold... Then there was Cartrivision, a marketing disaster and also a TV-console only, decks are VERY rare, they never got to market. Todays combo recorders are a serviceman's nightmare, I think this whole thing proves it, TV/VCR combos are bad ideas...

Sean.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1365229822HEY! Where are the wood sides to match my CDP-C8ESD!!! This would look cool on top of it, with the wood sides, though. (Sadly, no $$$)

Sean.

Allright, I;ve allready got a zillion things up here, but just one more, this is too cool.http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1365967838A BMC-660!Case, tripple charge, etc,for just $90!Sean.

I think that Sears Betavision ought to qualify as one of the ugliest VCRs short of those smiley-molded plastic Penisonic blobs...

That Betamovie looks so cute lying there in the grass like it was just released in the wild...

Run Betamovie! You're free now!

<LOL>!Yeah, the Sears was ugly, and I've used one of the smiley pana's and they do have one virtue, they record LP, so, if you have to make a VHS tape for someone who isn't lucky (Or smart...) enough to have Beta, and it goes over two hours, you don't have to give them an SLP tape. It think I posted a message last night about SLP...

Sean.

Sean, yeah it was the LV-1901; a friend of mine bought one back then ('76) for around $2200. Mind you it came with a fancy cabinet as well as a 19 inch Sony Trinitron TV. And back then the clock/timer was seperate from the VTR. Oh yeah, a blank 1 hour tape was around $14.95; and you could only get 30 minute or 60 minute tapes.

Gee, Brenda you're only about a year older than me; far out.

Later. Pepse.

Does anybody has the 950 service manual?

I went directly to Sony Spain headquarters on Barcelona and the service manual, of course unavalable, was been sold for 192€!

The only good think I got was that they still have L-25CLn cassettes!

Hey,anyone have a TOSHIBA V.33a sevice manual or insructions manual,having trouble tuning vcr to tv,any suggestions gratefully accepted.

My trusty C7 has finally let me down with total loss of power. I have checked the fuses and all seems fine, it looks like the switched mode PSU needs some attention. Can anyone offer any advice other than find the nearest skip ?

To Brenda, Pepse, and Sean: About a year ago somebody in Virginia had a working LV-1901 TV/VCR console up for auction on ebay. I went for it and ended up losing out by only a couple of bucks (Unit went for 251 bucks, my max bid was 249...shucks!). It would have been fun to play with that sucker had I won it. As a consolation prize, I later on picked up a working SL-7200 B1 VCR at a second hand dealer for only 49 bucks, a real vintage piece from the beginning days of Betamax.

On another topic, I recently picked up a used but working Sears Beta hi-fi VCR for only 12 bucks. This Sears beta hi-fi was OEM'd by Toshiba, instead of the usual suspect Sanyo. This model is an exact clone of the Toshiba VS-36; and as far as I know was the only Sears Beta model that was OEM'd by Toshiba, instead of Sanyo. Anyone know if any other Sears Beta model was OEM'd by Toshiba? Howard

Actually Sears seems to have split it's orders for Beta OEMs between Sanyo and Toshiba almost down the middle or at least 2/3rds Sanyo 1/3rd Toshiba.

Here are some Toshiba OEM models I know about...

#42350#5306#53121#5322#5344The portable #53560and a couple more that I don't have model numbers to

Ah, that's good to know. Now I won't fear the Sears portables I see. I know nothing of sanyos except they are terrible and eat tapes for lunch and ask for more.

Sean.

Regarding Sanyo machines. I have had good , actually results using the Sanyo VCR-7250 Superbeta HIFI unit. It is the only Sanyo unit that has a picture quality rivaling the Sony units. Its BIII performance is most to be noted- it looks about as good as the SL-HF1000! It is a sleeper beta. The VCR-7200 is also a good machine, has a good solid picture but will show tape dropouts like no tomorrow on worn out/old tapes. There was also another Sanyo Beta HIFI unit, with MTS stereo tuner, I think it was VCR-7500. Also a good unit. The final unit made by Sanyo to mention is the VCR-7300. The boombox portable Beta HIFI. The most complex unit out of the lot mentioned, as it used alot of belts, idlers, etc. Difficult to repair. But once restored its a great Beta HIFI unit too. The main rule with Sanyo Beta units is to just change the idler tires every few years, along with the threading belt and these units solder on. Just about every Sanyo Beta VCR I Have worked on (and that is well over 100) just had bad belts, and needed cleaning. Even the lesser Sanyo Beta models can trudge on if you keep fresh belts/idlers on them. There were just some Beta mono Sanyo models that happened to have horrible picture quality. The VCR3900/4000 series comes to mind.. Andy

Not being a real technical betamax person, I thought that maybe one of you "experts" might be able to help me determine what is wrong with my machine. I have a SL-100 that I purchased via ebay. (may be my problem right there). No manual with it.

It worked fine for 5-6 months, but recently when I hit play, I see the picture but then it goes black, still running. If I hit fast forward or reverse I see the picture. If I hit pause I see the picture, but when I hit play I see the picture just briefly, then goes black. The real strange thing is that it doesn't happen on all my tapes. But I'd say it happens on at least 50%.

If no suggestions, does anyone know of a good and reasonable repair shop in the Dallas Fort Worth Texas area?

Thanks for any advise! L Beth Eiler

As for Sanyo machines?? I owned 2. The first was the VCR 6400 4 head. In the 3+ years I had it I played it to death; literally. I wish I had an idea how many hundreds of hours it played or recorded or copied or whatever. The picture quality was very good for the time (pre-superBeta). When it died it was so totally worn out that it was not worth the cost as everthing mechanical as well as the heads were gone. The second deck was the Sanyo VCR 7200 HIFI, bought new in '87 and used it regularly until I got my first Sony about 6 years ago. Sam might be able to tell us if it still lives. The 7200 was in the shop once in '90 for belts, and the 6400 never went to the shop until its death in '87. So, I would have to say that except for the 3900 II/4000 they are very good units. And if anything Sanyos were belt driven decks and not many Sonys were. So with Sanyos a person had to deal with belt and idler replacement; a small cost for a lower priced unit.

Later. Pepse.

Beth:

He's not in your area, but he works through the mail, and his work is the very best. Contact Andy Sanchez at [email protected] His terms are extremely reasonable, and he won't try to sell you something you don't need. One of the two or three best Beta techs in the country. :)

Another recorder of that pre-betamax family:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1366442910

Use this to translate:http://world.altavista.com/

I have the american Version of that. AV-3600 Records B&W for an hour, full field as opposed to skip field. very common machine, most are from schools. Mine has RJHS on it in several places and appears to never have been used, although time has not been kind to its rubber bits, which need roughing up or maybe replacement. I also have the portable and camera, its probable about the size of an SLO-340 but I have never handled one.

Sean.

Olive,Are you sure about the Sears model#5306 being a Toshiba?I have two of them in my collection and they look identical to a Sanyo model 5050. I saw one on E-bay about a year ago (the 5050) and haven't seen one since! The 5306's are also very hard to find (even on E-Bay).They load the tape like true Beta's--wrapped around the heads when tape is inserted. They are a very nice looking units and have a nice picture. The 5306 has soft touch function buttons that are identical to ones found on Sanyo 6400 and 4500's. The Sanyo's I've just mentioned did not wrap the tape around the heads upon loading. I've bought new pinch rollers for my 5306 and the ones for the Sanyo's match perfectly.I've got a old Union Electronis catalog from 1993 and they show the 5050 and 5306 using the same heads but my newer catalog lists two different numbers so I don't know.Thanks, Charlie

If somebody can help me again with the 950. The 950 VU meter has turned crazy. when I switch it on for sound all segm,ents lit and (of course, HiFi sound is on auto) when I turn all the REC volume down they still lit up, even when there is no sound!!!!! (They work well for BETA-hifi tracking)Is it an internal problem of the 950 or it is a VU meter malfunction(all that little PCB in the front panel where the VU meters are)? (I asked Sony by if they had them and the man said that they still have them available, but they're 100€ and it's quite expensive)

Any help would be appreciated and Thank you in advance. Regards to all,

Casimir.

PS: This failure isn't another one about different channel volume ( it was solved ) because there is the same volume between L/R. It was produced (maybe) because the Audio cable was plugged into the rear phono connectors (I can't remind if was out or in) and wasn't connected to another device.

I'm not absolutely sure that that Sears 5303 is a Toshiba OEM. I'd found one of those a while ago anf tried to get it to work to no avail - motors dead and/or rubber shagged out. It was a heavy mofo and looks more like a Toshiba than anything else. I've never seen a Sanyo 5050 (never even heard of that aniimal) so I can make any judgements there.

It would seem though that if it laces a tape upon loading it's more likely than not to be a Toshiba.

As for Sanyos, well they're not that bad a VCR...

FOR ME TO POOP ON!

To Beth: Your post regarding your SL-100 reminds me an SL-HF500 unit I had not too long ago that had a similar problem. In my case, the unit would play for a few minutes and then the picture blacked out (like the tape was blank) and then the counter stopped advancing forward. But this would happen ONLY on factory prerecorded tapes. Any homemade tapes, regardless of which of my machines they were originally made on, would play thru w/ no trouble (even tapes I got from others or from thrift stores). You mention that it doesn't happen on all your tapes. Is it prerecorded one's only? Does the counter stop when the picture dies?

I got suggestions for my unit that the audio/control head might be either be out of alignment or worn. This head syncronizes the audio/video (i.e. dialog w/ lip movements, etc.) and reads the soundtrack off the tapes. If it's messed up, it could be causing the problems. But it doesn't really explain why only homemade tapes work (in my case).

As for service, I'd suggest talking to Andy Sanchez, who is the resident beta expert and repair person. Finding local repair places is tricky and Sony itself, if you want to bring it to one of their service centers, will quote you an exorbitant price just to bring it in (believe me, I know)! You can reach Andy: [email protected] .

Boy, poor Andy will be swamped! I better send my 900 to him for mods and fixes before all you other people get to him! ;) HA! Well, anyway, I was going to suggest cleaning the Audio/CTL head also. You did a good job explaining it, Madness.

Sean.

FYI For those on the East Coast they might want to try this fellow...

Karl Kosower Electronic Services

575 East Line Road Ballston Spa, NY 12020 518-885-7606

or check Ray Glasser's page for a Beta repair shop near your region.

Pre-Recorded tapes that stop the counter and lose video? Don't open the VCR just yet-- Remember most linear counters [Hr-Min-Sec] require a decent signal from the control/sync head. It is part of the linear audio head assembly reading very thin tracks along opposite edges of the tape. If the edges get damaged either sync or audio will disappear. If sync disappears so does the video, because the recorder will go way off track within a few frames. These pre-recorded tapes may have lived a hard rental life before you bought them "viewed once" on e-bay. In fact just sitting flat undisturbed for ten years can do this. Gravity will actually pull the tape downwards and crinkle the edge track enough. Pop the tape guard flap up and examine the edges at the bad part (really bad crinkles up the entire height of the tape indicate the tape was unloaded once upon a time by a machine that was way overdue for belts -- not pretty).

Further to last message -- never store tapes flat for long periods. Stand them up. Also run each tape entirely thru once a year (FF-REW) if it has not been viewed that year. If your tape collection weighs more than you, use a good rewinder to save wear on your loading mechanism (and heads).

Never thought of that. Makes sense now, you could always find a machine that will play them back and copy them onto another machine using fresh tape stock. Better still use a TBC if you can get one to make brand new sync.

Sean.

Now Sean, don't be so rough on Sanyo. I inherited a VCR-4030 from my grandparents and it worked flawlessly for almost a year (keep in mind it's over 16 years old and had sat around my grandparent's house unused for a year)and is only now starting to show signs of belt and idler tire wear (it squeaks loudly in forward and reverse search mode)As for its picture, its just as good as that of my Sony SL-HF600. And I can order the rubber parts for it from Studio Sound Electronics, which carries tune-up kits for Sanyo betas, but NOT Sony betas. The only thing the Sony does better than the Sanyo is pause/slow/search picture, which are crystal-clear on the Sony but almost unrecongnizable with the Sanyo.

OK, OK, some of them are allrihgt. Its just most of the ones I have seen are in poor repair, and VERY worn, not worth fixing. I imagine a NIB Sanyo, especially the nicer ones, sich as the Superbeta/HiFi one, would be a nice VCR. They just have a reputation and you have to admit, some of the sanyos were really awful, but this reuptation seems to have spoiled it for the good sanyos.

Sean.

Hi everyone,This is a great chat page! I live over here in the US, but am trying to find out how much my parents' Sony Betamovie BMC-220 is worth. It was only used a few times and is in very good condition, though there is no battery, and the operating instructions are slightly wrinkled but otherwise fine. I'd appreciate any help that anyone wants to give me! I will convert a quote in british pounds on x-rates.com to US dollars if someone does happen to have an estimate. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!Jen [email protected]

Jen, The value of your betamovie depends on several things. 1: is it operable? If you have a powera adapter, will it power up and record?2: What accessories do you have? The tripple battery charger, or just the single? If the tripple, did someone bother to get an additional power adapter? A hard case (Sony or aftermarket) will increase value greatly, as the cases are valuable on their own. Soft cases hold little value. Other accessories include a shoulder strap, a top carry handle, batteries (These are in the handle, check there if you haven't, it's not obvious) various remotes, an external mike, and a much-sought after battery belt, which if you have, I will make a nice offer for... :) a viewfinder extender for "Left-eyed" people and even an old movie-camera type hi-intensity light, more useful on these older cameras.

Sean.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1365166472This is definiteyl NOT a mark-1 mod-0 machine! I wonder what they mean by some other little used features... Hmm, Does anyone remember seeing SL-HF-860Ds with D-9-pin Subminiature connectors? (These are the small computer serial ports and also for VERy old displays, XGA, I think...) what was this for? ALso I have seen them converted to Black and White, for who knows why!!!

Sean.

To Jen; I hate to be the Antiques Roadshow 'buzzkiller' but you won't be able to put yourself through school on that Betamovie of your parent's. $20 to $50 bux seems to be the going rate on E-bay-ta. Given their place in camcorder history (they're the first one-piece camcorders) and the prices obtained for even broken down Beta HiFi units, they would seem amazingly undervalued. When you consider their design deficiencies (they're record-only units with no playback capability or even a video out port to allow their use as cameras for another VCR and the fact that even a basic VHS camera of the era could be hooked up to Beta VCR if you wanted to) only somebody with a working Beta VCR should even consider buying one. And THEY are getting way too expensive for someone looking for a cheap alternative to buying a new camcorder it seems.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1365337962RED ALERT! RARE BETA ACCESSORY! We do not see these too often. The last one was paired with an an SL-2700 I saw up once.

Sean.

I saw that listing (if you set your e-bay search to list the newest items first you'dve seen that days ago). How could they do that to a perfectly good Betamax? Has anybody here ever even heard of Rowe Video Jukeboxes? I wonder if they have any of their 'jukebox' videos available for sale? For that matter how did the system work? Any ideas?

The modded unit:Are those VACUUM TUBES on the externa board? Who knows! Anyway, if it were cheaper I might get it to play around with and see what it does... So, does anyone know why certain SL-HF-860Ds had the port on the back?

Sean.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1365536592Some of you Sanyo fans might enjoy this little item...

Sean.

In the technical sense, how does the Betamax determine whether the tape being played was recorded in, ie: BetaI, BetaII or BetaIII? I am having trouble with a used SL 100 player playing previously recorded tapes on a different Betamax model.

The tape speed would presumably be determined by the spacing of the control track pulses wouldn't it?

A big thanks to you ALL, Brenda, Madness, Sean for your responses. As I just told Madness in a rather long email (not posted so I don't BORE all of you, I have submitted questions on many a chat page and you guys and gals are WAY ABOVE them all.

Just one more little question, what and where would I find this audio component. As I told Madness, I can't even figure out when the heads are much less anything else inside that box. Now landscape plants I can tell you alot about, electronics NOT. Just feel driven to figure this #$&**# thing out.

Thanks again to you all.

To Franny: What is a control track pulse?

OK a video tape has three distinct elements to it an Audio Track which contains the sound element of a video signal and is located on a thin strip on the top, the Video Track which takes up most of the middle of the tape and shares space with a HiFi track if one is recorded.

The Control Track is located on the bottom and consists of a series of magnetic pulses one for each complete TV frame 25 in PAL/SECAM 30 in NTSC. In multi-speed VCRs the control track occupies a smaller space on the tape at the lower speed. When the control track head reads the tighter or looser spacing it changes the drive speed accordingly...

OK, I have one quick question. Does anyone have an SL-HF-900 in absolute dead condition? I need a few things from it: First, I need the bottom door, secondly, I need one of the teeny tiny buttons on the jog shuttle wheel inside panel, hey are for editing and such, I lost one when I had it open... I wil pay a few $$$ for these parts OR trade both of the following: Sony remote for 8mm camcorders, has Zoom control, record stop and start, play, ff, rew, and stop. Will work with anything remote code 2. Also, I have the full set of cable channel numbers for a sears of Sanyo Beta, including the UHF numbers, the cable letters, and the asteriscks... New in PLastic. Also I could stand for a manual, but one is orth more than either of those parts, so I would pay cash for him. So much for one "quick" question...

Sean.

Sean:

That DB-9 plug is actually used for video and audio out in institutional systems. Most of the units that have that plug have been modified to B/W with increased bandwidth for medical or security use.

Thanks!I will remember that. Does anyone know the pinout? It would be nice, as an extra video/audio out can be very useful. To be honest I wish all my machines had 3 of each kind... (in and out) but, hey, you can get things at radio shack to do that, but it's pricey to do that ofr each one!

Sean.

Is it possible to remove Beta tape from the case and play it successfully in a VHS deck?

To Dave

NO YOU CANNOT!

Regards

Paul:)

ooh I twought I twsaw a Betamax.....I did, I did I am going to buy it...

:)

BUt you can spool the VHS tape out of the shell and put it in beta tapes and record over the crummy VHS recordings with beautiful Beta!No, seriously, are you sure you have beta? A friend of mine asked me about copying a beta tape, well, turns out it wasn't a beta after all but a PAL VHS tape! So of course I couldn't help him! There are many other systems not VHS, lots of people today hold anything not VHS and think its beta. Some people even mistake any top-load vcr, even VHS, for beta! There are V-cord tapes, VX, VK, Omnivision, U-matic, betacam and derivatives, CVC, VCR and others. I have even seen Polavision instant movies mistaken for Video tapes!

Sean.

Yes, this is certainly a Beta tape. It's a pre-recorded movie from a company called MEDA. A friend asked if I could dub it to VHS, as that is what he has (we're in the States), but I have no deck and only access to pro Beta SP. I guess I am now looking for an actual old BetaMax deck to dub straight to VHS or DVD for him.

Thanks for the comments folks.

Dave.

Hi! If somebody could help... I need a TT -F1E tuner unit for my F1 (with remote unit if possible). European version needed. HELP!!!

Regarding that 860D: Did you buy it off that guy on eBay that had a bunch of them? I remember seeing those decks he had that looked like they had a serial port installed in the back. When I inquired, he told me they were once used in a duplicating setup and that those ports were used to control all the machines in tandem from a external controller. Like I think he could put all the machines into record mode simultaneously once they were all loaded w/ tapes and the source material was ready. Just 2¢. ;)

To Dave Oxenreider: Yes, you'd need to have a betamax deck to dupe to VHS. I have several tapes from Meda and most of them are B-movies. Pro beta(cam) machines take the same-sized cassettes, but their recording method and tape speed is dramatically different from betamax, so a no-go there, either. If you want, you could send me the tape and I'd be happy to dupe it for you for just the cost of a blank and return shipping (prolly about $5 total). Email me if interested.

Hey guys!Was doing some cleaning and found some more beta-realated stuff for anyone who wants to drop a few dollars. I have the battery charging apparatus for the Sears portable VCR. It's the box thing that you plug into the VCR and then put a battery in and it will charge it. $5, anyone want it? Well, I had mentioned some punch-out numbers for the tuners on Sanyo VCRs, well, I figure, WTH, I'll give 'em away. Anyone want em? I'll pay the shipping, whatever, it won't be much, so if you need these, speak up! They're yours now!

Sean.

Don't everybody jump at once...

What battery does that sears thingie charge? NP-1's?

Hard to say. I will take a picture and email it to you. Could be NP-1s, but it has to attatch to a VCR to be any good, the connector on it is a sort-of in-between DIN plug, not a DIN but not a Mini-din either... I'll send a picture of that too.Sean.

oops that one link for the SL-200D should be...

http://www.ecat.sony.co.jp/visual/video/products/index.cfm?PD=117

Olive:

Can you say Oops? Both of your links are the same, and go to the ED Beta. I would love to get my hands on one of those (either of them actually), but what am I talking about, I don't have room for what I have.. :(

Cheapest I could find the SL-200D for, on a Japanese retail website, was 71,000 Yen, about US$620. The ED Beta was 202,000 Yen, about US$1,740.......

Well I was transfering the links from my bookmark list and must've double listed...

anyway here's a funny link for us 'bootleggers' out there...

http://www.stoppoliceware.org/rip_mix_burn_jail.php

...about what the Government wants to put in your computer.

Approx 100 branded beta tapes with films on (untested) £20 the lot. Buyer collects 9London E4 Tel 07712737976

Wow, there was a lot of chatter on this page while I was away during the weekend. Here are some thoughts on a few of the posts:

Sanyo Betas: I currently own two of them, a mono 4650 and a beta hi-fi 7500. Sanyos are good hardy machines that, as Andy Sanchez stated, can pretty much operate indefinitely as long as the belts and idlers are periodically replaced. Strong points are their hardiness, simplicity, reliability (as long as the belts and idelers are maintained), and their cheaper prices back in the '80s, which introduced many folks to the beta format who otherwise would have gone straight to VHS horrorvision. For that, Sanyos deserve some applause and a measure of respect from those of us in the beta community. On the other hand, their weak points are ones we are all familiar with, a softer and grainier picture than Sonys, a lower-quality drop-out compensator, the infamous Sanyo VHS-like tape-threading mechanism, lousy betascan features, and a general dearth of high-end beta features and functions we expect from Sony units. Neverthless, you get what you pay for, and Sanyo betas were pretty decent and reliable units for the cheaper prices paid for them by those who could not afford the higher-priced Sony models back then.

The Sony MTS Decoder Unit on EBay: Darn! If I had known that unit was being auctioned, I would have gone for that little beauty! The winner of that auction stole that one for only nine dollars! The last Sony MTS decoder I saw on ebay went for over seventy bucks! Gee, if only I had known...

VHS Poetic Justice: One good turn deserves another, especially one filled with luscious irony...On Friday, I got rid of a VCR I really didn't want to keep around my house. This VCR was a JVC VHS-HQ HR-VP34U (or something like that) mono unit that I bought in 1998 while on TDY Army duties in Fort Bliss, TX, as a temporary stop-gap VCR for my military quarters until I got back home. I used it for a month while stationed at Fort Bliss, then brought it home with me and let it collect dust in my closet, as I had no need for a VHS horrorvision piece-of-junk in my A/V or editing set-ups at home. I was able to sell this thing to a friend from work on Friday, who needed a VHS unit to replace a broken one in his home. I got fifty bucks out of this deal, and in turn was able to utilize the fifty bucks to swing a deal on Saturday for a used but working NEC VC-N70EU Beta Hi-Fi VCR that I was purchasing from a guy across town. The sweet irony of selling a VHS piece-of-junk and in turn using the proceeds to purchase a betamax unit is very delicious indeed, and one I have to share with all on this forum; life can sometimes indeed be filled with a lusciously sweet irony...:)Howard

IF it absolutely has to be VHS, for any reason, (Say, friends don't have Beta) Sony made a VHS machine called the SVO-140. IT's a commercial grade machine so its a little better than the junk they try to pass off to us poor consumers. It comes with a terrific tripple-mode remote and the unit itself can be used in one of the three modes. The still and special effects are second to none, not even my silly JVC SVHS machine can produce a better still. IT also has ontinuous repeat and prgrammed operation like the old SLo-325 and its kin. Also, tape-remaining meter, and other nicities. It has the REAL HQ cicuits, as opposed to the few you need to say "HQ" on the machine that do nothing... Generally a good machine for a VHS machine. Of course once my 900 is working it will probably blow this out of the water... Only problem is its mono. They're rare on Ebay, so if it has to be VHS... Sean.

At least Snaling didn't get that decoder thingie...

Franny, FYI I'd guess that it's the same as a NICAM decoder, it decodes the American Stereo Television channels. Of course I;m guessing you;re in the UK. If not let me know! This all comes from the fact you had ou had an SL-F1.

Sean.