Are you sure it's an SL-2000, or maybe an SL-HF-2000. either way, it's probably worht abour $150 as a package. Does the SL-2000 have the tuner/timer module or jsut the power supply? Anything else with them?

_@_¼¼-uhh actually it's only like worth a dollar or so - yeah that's the ticket!

Just send it to...

The SnailVinelandstrasse 49Berlin -GrŸnwald DE14193

I'll give a dollar each piece. Besides, Franny's using Euros and the shipping wauld kill you.

Sean,

The 1000's linear track is mono.

anybody know of any electronic fix for the 15 year calendar problem? i think my 2100 may be headed for it real soon. also,anyone familiar with the fix for the clock power backup for the 2100?

Well, as to the "Callender problem" as far as I know the years repeat on a cycle, so one year will have a callender identicle to one long past. I'll work on a conversion table.

To to the guy w/ the C9, is the gear that broke one of those ¼" plastic one's on that rotating axel across the top of the cassette carriage? See, I have a broken SLO-420 (pro deck; same design as C9 /2500) that has the same problem and have been unable to find a replacement for those gears. One of those gears split in half rendering it unable to load.

Also, as far as I know, the SL-2500 doesn't do linear stereo; whereas the SLO-420 does. IMO, it was an interim effort to improve sound until beta-hifi came out. They took the mono track and split it into two half-tracks, further degrading the sound quality. So, they added a noise-reduction system to improve that; Dolby C on the Marantz deck and BetaNR on the SLO-420 ( C9 too?). A few tapes I made on it (before it broke) where OK as long as they were made w/ BNR, but still didn't hold a candle to hifi. Also, if BNR was switched off, there was a loud "SSSSSSSSSSSS" just like an audio cassette.

Don't ask me where I got the idea that it was Linear stereo. I thought I got it from the InfoGuide, but Ichecked and I didn't. Silly me.

Yeah, Madness, I'm pretty sure the C9 had BNR. Actually the PALsite will tell you. (Yes, there is a whole page attached to this Chat! who'd a thunk it!

Thanks for the advice guys. It is the niylon gear thats broken on the cassette cart, which has stopted it loading/unloading. Franny will the sl2400 do the same for replacement parts on the cart.If any 1 else knows ware i can get these niylon gears from plese let me know.

ooh christmas. A perfect excuse to use my hvc2000p :)

thanks sean.since the 900 got along quite well wihout the self limiting internal callendar,one can only wonder what in the name of GOD sony was thinking! also,any convenience in programming gained thru accuracy is easily offset by the increased inconvenience in resetting the 2100's clock[remote]!

To John Lucas;

Only The SL-C9, SL-2500, SL-2700 and the Japanese SL-F7, SL-F11, SL-HF 66 and SL-HF77 used the 'guillotine' type tape loader (where a 'blade' with the words "cassetrte inside comes up to block you from loading a tape when there's already one loaded).

THANKS FRANNY , DO THESE UNIT TAPE CARTS JUST SWOP OVER LIKE FOR LIKE OR IS IT JUST SOME OF THE BITS? IN THE MODELS YOU HAVE SAID?

WEll since you guys were probably wondering, my Still video player came. It works GREAT. I can now upload pictures from my MVC-2000 to my PC. it's better than a lousy digital camera but not as good as a good one, if that makes any sense.

I'm guessing that they should , given the similarity of design.

If you are in North America just be tahnkful that not many of our Betamax's had the dreaded linear stereo on it. I at one time had a c9 for my PAL tapes and a friend in the UK had one also so when I got tapes from him they played OK. After ahile we both wound upgrading equipment to SL HF-100s and then SL HF 950s and after getting rid of my C9 I discovered that any of the tapes made on the thing have very POOR audio when played back on either a 100 or 950 since they do not have the linear stereo with BNR. I am expecting that the same is also true for regular non stereo machines since a tape I made here on my c9 for a friend in Australia had bad audio hiss in it. Although to be fair the tapes can still be listened to it is rather annoying.

Recently came across TV listing for Montreal in 1976 and saw that there was an advert for a Betamax deck that was saying you could do the things with it that TIVO is claiming you need one of their units for now. (although VCRs dont need subscriptions to work). A frined of mine told me his parents saw a TiVo in the store and asked him why they should get one since they had a perfectly good VCR-- which you can just put new tapes in when they fill up!

Hi there,

I know I may sound like I just came out of a time warp, but having seen that Sony is done making Beta VCRs I realized that I'd like to buy a new one before they're all gone. Can you point me in the right direction to get one of these last 2000? Yes, I'm looking for NTSC, I'm in the US. What is the model number of the current production unit?

Thanks,

tardon

Sony actually stopped making Betamax VCRs for the US market a couple years ago. The recent announcment by Sony was that they were giving up on Beta's last bastion - the Japan home market. While Japanese Betas were NTSC compatible, they have a US incompatible RF modulator and their stereo reception conforms to Japanese not US broadcast standards. They're also power-rated for the Japanese 100 volt system and not the US 110/120 volt systems.

The last US Beta model was the SL-HF 2000. Sony is currently in the process of phasing out the SL-200D (Japanese version of the SL-HF 2000) and the EDV-9000 ED Beta VCR.

As for TiVo personal video recorders, I guess their selling point is their menu driven programming ease, the ability to playback the front half of a show while still in the process of recording the back half as well as the 'if you like this show you might like these too' feature. Because they're hard drive based, you can also skip commercial breaks instantaniously. And they record digitally so if you wanted to dump them to tape you'll get no picture degradation. Also there is the capability of 'Napstering' what you've recorded with other TiVo users.

They are a legitimate innovation providing you're willing to pay that extra subscription fee on top of whatever you're paying for cable or satellite. I almost never time shift anything so I wouldn't need one.

With older Panasonic (or Panasonic OEM) VCR there was a convenient Standby/OTR record feature which was considerably easier to work than the timer feature. You tuned a channel hit the Standby button to pick a start time then the OTR (one touch record) button for amount of record time(in 15/ 30 min blocks). Or if you wanted to record now you just used the OTR alone. Some Sony Betamaxes (like the SL-HF 300) had a 'quick timer' OTR feature but you couldn't delay the record start like with the Panasonics.

Admittedly a far cry from the TiVo PVR concept but you could also rent movies and dupe them if you had two VCRs. TiVo has built in copy protection feature that don't let you do any bootlegging

No way is a tape rewinder/eraser worth $50!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15099&item=1946173255

a tape rewinder!

Franny dear, I wonder what color the trees are in Howiecat's world... I've seen those go for more, sadly. The erasing function is cool but tape erasers scare me... really, I'd keep it in a completely different room from my tapes and things!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1945464776

Finally! A reasonable price! these are good little machines, I'd reccomend one to anyone. mine has NEVER needed service even though it was abused in its previous life.

Guys, I've seen that Sony rewinder before; erases a tape as it's rewound. Great novelty I 'spose. My equipment consists of a Kinyo rewinder and a RadioShack (Tandy) bulk eraser ("bulker"), both of which I got for much less then 50 bucks (and work just as well I'm sure)!

The bulker comes in handy to wipe used betacam tapes recorded in that format. Attempting to play one of those in a betamax is a very unpleasent experience! Snow for picture, but this awful almost subaudible whine eminates from the speakers and makes my ears ring after a few seconds! And yes, I keep the bulker far away from finished tapes!

Side note: A few months back, on eBay, I saw a RadioShack VHS/Beta *combo* rewinder. Now that's funny!

Yes, the combo rewinder was created by the guy who created a prototype or design for a VHS/Beta combo player. You now know as much as I do. I have NO details about it, if it did anything beyond strap a VHS deck to a beta deck or what. but, suffice it to say, the idea was not a new one...

hmmmmmmm to the guy with the Betamie 550 and the SL-200mie, send it to the Wards Home for Wayward Millenia S-es and Outcast Professional Video Equipment.. Email me and I'll give ya yer address. eeeeee.....

O Ya speaking of Wards.. The signs inside the mall were on today, on upper and lower levels. This is a mall that should be qualified for deadmalls.com because NO ONE is around the Wards wing, and the Muzak sounds BLARING, that's how quiet it is. Neways, when u stand a certain distance away from the Wards, you can see the upper and lower level signs lit, with the store dark. It made a really nice picture, although I had to hide from the mall-cops. Went outside and took a bunch of pix of the Auto Express and merchandise pick up areas. It brought back so many memories to see the signs softly glowing, and beckoning customers to a store that isn't open. :( :( Eeee... Stupid mall-teens were watching me... So I only got a piccy or three of the top level sign. I felt like they were going to tattle on me, because I was takin pix. What're the legal consequences of doing this if I get caught? When I did it at the Wards near my house before it closed the manager got all hissy and told me he could get me arrested for trespassing. Oh well. Heheheh if ne1 wants to see the pix when I develop them, tell me. Now, to bring my post on topic... How much do SL-HF300 heads cost?

Somewhere I have an OLD monkey Wards photo supply catalogue. it's gotta be 100 pages easy, Jesse, but I'll scan a few of the more interresting pages and send them to you as soon as I get my scanner back up and running. Stupid Windows ME ate the drivers for lunch. No biggy.

My CCD-TRV87 Hi-8 cam came with an RMT-708 camcorder remote that can operate the tape transport operations play, stop, rew, ff, pause, slow and record start/stop. On a hunch, I set the RMT-V5A that came with my SLV-R5UC to VTR2 command mode and sure enough, all the jog/shuttle, variable-speed slow motion, forward/reverse frame x frame etc worked on the camcorder. Why does Sony make equipment capable of extra features and then limit the controls so you can't excess them without experimentation? It would be nice to have camcorders come with jog/shuttle remotes.I set the RMT-V5A to VTR1 and tried the same thing on my SL-HF600, unfortunately those features didn't work on that one. The only thing that worked besides the normal transport buttons was turning the jog wheel forward, which had the same effect as pressing the FRAME button on the HF600's original RMT-133.

Sorry, that should be "access", not "excess".

Sony wasn't the only firm to do that. Pioneer did it with a lot of there LD players, so if you get a Pioneer player, be sure to get the best remote you can for it. I have a big remote that came with my SVO-140 and it can access some nifty features on my 900, including locking scan (Yay!) and others. JVC makes the locking scan work if you press the scan button for only a brief time while if you press it for a while it works like a Betascan. I like Sony's way better of having seperate buttons.

"No off-topic posts"

Down with the man!

Would one of these be great to go with your Beta portable?

http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/product.CFM?BaseItem=55SH

1950's style microphone

Ribbon mikes are the greatest. I want one but they're incredibly expensive because of the warm, rich tones they lend to your voice. Very good things.

I don't think even a ribbon mic. would make me sound good... my voice sounds like Redd Foxx after a cigarette.. :P

This hasn't been my week.. missed out on that SLO-325.. would have been a nice compliment to my 323.. not that I have a lot of tapes that would play on it, other than my original Star Trek series stuff.. I'm pretty sure that's in standard ßeta II format.. most everything else is done in Superßeta, much of it in ßIs.

About that calender thingie with the SL-HF 2100...

There are, in fact, 14 separate calender variables that go through a 28 year rotation cycle. Right now we have the same calender going as that of 1957, 1963,1974,1985, 1991 and 2013. Next year's calender will match up with 1958, 1969, 1975, 1986, 1997 and 2014.

If you have a World Almanac there's a perpetual calender with the full table from about 1821 to 2080...

So maybe we WON'T be able to make our machines work after 2005. Disturbing. I wonder if there's a fix?

I don't own a 2100 (boy, I wish!), but what would happen if you, say, set the calender ahead to 12/31/2005, 11:59pm and then let it click over? Would the deck go nuts like a non-y2k computer? Or would it just go back to 1/1/90 (or whatever)?

I'm scared to try. Maybe I should've bought a couple of those old SVO-140s to experiment with. I suppose the worst that could happen is I'd need to unplug it to reset is completely, since it goes back to a set state every time it looses power.

thanks olive! madness- don't feel deprived.while the 2100's features and styling may make it convenient and cute,easily available 750's and 900's produce a much better recording.will try tricking timer as soon as unit returns from shop.asked them about electronic calendar remedy.still awaiting response as they fix servo section.

if jan.1,2006 is sunday,the 2100 remote's calendar is tracking corectly.let me see how far i can push it.

OK, everyone, I've done the dreaded 2005 test and the results are in.The callender simply ticks back to January 1, 1990, from a Saturday to a Monday. Sure to mess up a few people who will undoubtedly rush off to work or similar apointments because the VCR has no year indication on the front. My handheld computer, a Handspring Visor, has a build in callender that stops at the year 2031, and my Go-video dual VCR cuts out at something like 2096. But by then maybe only Franny and I will still be alive and we can laugh at it on the porch of the old-age home when it goes haywire and how pitiful it was that the rest of the lousy VHS mechanism was dead.

If Santa happens to stop by this board: Please let me find a 2100 under my tree this year? I've been a very good boy! ;)

But seriously: I'd love one, but I'd think those who own 'em would be unwilling to part w/ 'em! My curiosity does have the best of me: The calendar data must be stored on a rom chip inside the deck. And if so, I wonder if it could be removed, dumped to a computer, and reprogrammed (i.e. updating the year-cycle, say, from 1990-2005 to 2006-2020); then burned to eprom, which is then loaded back into the deck. Also wonder if the folks on betamax.to would have a similar problem w/ the SL-2100 (Japanese version)? Wish I had a 2100, I'd check it out. ;)

if jan1,2058 is tuesday, remote calendar is still right.that means i will by that time have spent about $4,600 on replacement heads.

Well assuming on 2096 that GoVideo deck hasn't biodegraded we could tape it's 'clocking over' with my SL-F1 and camera...

Do you think there will be an analog TV available then?

as long as we have a monitor. I'd hang onto a generator too since who knows if we'd still be using out current power standards. Surprisingly the Go-Video is well-built compared to todays decks, it is made of metal and weighs what you'd expect it to, no packing it about with one hand, and it's tough stuff, too. I pulled it from a skip and left it in the trunk of my car for several days. It fired right up and played like a champ and hasn't quit since. However it interperits one code from my cable TV remote as a "Power up" signal which is annoying. Given the number of surfaces in my room that reflect IR beams I can use a remote at almost any angle and have it work. that's fun but a little odd when the VCR respods to a Remote held 180 degrees from it.

calendar data is stored in remote.it remains to be seen if 2100 deck can keep pace.the auto tracking function allows me to keep my butt parked on couch while unit plays tapes made on any previous machine.recordings on 2100 look soft,even softer when played back on other units.this means rec contrast lacks sufficient boost.even though playback has superior enhancement it doesn't adequately compensate . playback of tapes made on other units look good to the critical eye and is the saving grace of the2100.the 900's playback is on par but offers superior recording quality.

My satellite TV receiver and Pioneer stereo system have several codes in common (of course, none of them are the same function), and it gets very annoying at times..

As much as I love Sony's VTR 1/2/3 setup it DOES mean that I can't have two Sony VHS decks and two Sony Beta decks. BAck when I had two non-selectable betas on code 1, I taped over the sensor on one and let it be that way since I hardly used it.

I have three betas stacked on top of each other but I don't really have to worry about putting tape on the remote sensor. The SL-2000/TT-2000 lets you turn off it's remote sensor which leaves me the SL-HF 300 and 360 to be dealt. I just use nearly dead batteries and finagle the angle a bit to turn one on or the other. They have a different enough response time so that with a few tries you can turn one on and have the other stay off. Or I can just get up and turn them off. I just can't operate both of them at the same time which is not an issue with me anyway.

Since I'm presumably the youngest member of this board at 17... I'd creak by the old age home with Sean and Olive... with a U-matic portable and a DXC-1600 or whatever to tape hte GO-Video's clicking over. lol... drive over in a decades-old Millenia S that I just FINALLY got at age 60. Well, if the 2100 messes up you always know where to send it. :)

And Sean's U-mies will be taping happily along... :) I wonder if the Betamies will last that long, since they have belts and stuff. Will the tube keep like 50 years and stay sharp like it is now if it isn't burned or anything? Wonder how a 1980 HVC-2200 will fare in 2080.. connected to a SL-2000mie with decades old NP-11s.

Nope, tubes have a limited life, period. after so long they're just GONE. Chip cameras have the possibilt to last indefinitely, however, so my GCS-1 will still be chugging along happily as long as I can keep its expendables suppleid.

However given that the trinicons were some of the pinacle of tube development and te were some of the last mass-market tube cameras produced, by 2080 they may still be decent. I forgot about you, Jesse. You, me and Franny can reminis (sp) about the good old days when video was huge machines that sat on your shelf and not a piece of software installed in your head... (Yeah, I've been reading too much ScFi Lately. Brenda will have a guess at what but the rest of you are probably clueless... Anyway, it'll be fun. See you all there!

yeah,if i make it to 131 years old!

anyone know for sure whether tracking on 9500 is auto or manual?

Well since the Infoguide says thatthe 2100 is the only Beta to have autotracking, I'd be inclined to say it doesn't. Since every Beta I've owned seemed to have the ability to do something like auto-track, however, I've rarely had to adjust the tracking, while the auto-track on my VHS machines tends to adjust every time a tape is played that wasn't made on it. Another point for Beta.

HF2000 is auto also, I think.

beta playback does display more compatibilty between machines. some of my earliest svhs ep tapes are almost unplayable on my newer decks.auto tracking, while not essential on beta,does provide just the right amount of tweaking when needed.

kinda anologous to auto-climate control on your car.

Yeah, Imperials had that. Called it Auto-Temp II. Anyway, do you mean S-VHS EP meaning the longest speed, or S-VHS ET, meaning the machines that can record S-VHS on a regular tape? The S-VHS ET machines are useless. Resist the Temptation to buy one. The best are the "Old School" S-VHS machines like the Sony SLV-R5UC and the JVC HR-S5500U. I've found S-VHS to be on par with BIs, even though the scan line numbers say otherwise. you get half an hour more on S-VHS but cheap Beta Media is more common. The same store where you fin Hi-grade Betas for $9 you find the S-VHS for I think $14. And of course ED-beta Beats all.

Of course by that time there will likely be a not so many carbon-based human lifeforms around - everyone having converted over to a silicon-based 'Bio Replacement Units' years earilier...

A sort of high-tech version of the old Jewish 'Golem' - a creature formed out of dirt (silica?) to protect the Jews of Prague during the time of persecutions after the black death. That Golem eventually rose up against his masters and had to be put down but I imagine if a computer should ever develope the 'critical mass' to harbour a soul, what's to say that it would not want to strive for morality and perfection and not merely go on a wanton killing spree?( Malcolm OS-X?) I also imagine in the future that Beta VCRs will be 'conjured up' with nanobotic or single-unit production technology by university students as a mid-term diversion or for their oral presentation assignment. (find a technology of the ancients and produce a working example of it)

_@_v - eeee! The Sanyo OEM of Betaphile's old Sear Beta VCR!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1946977726

A Sanyo VCR-5050. Big-ass mofo! Never seen one of those before...

Ever read Heinlein, Franny? maybe we'll find the secret to immortality and be able to take our beta with us where disturbingly intelligent machines will be able to synthesize any parts neccessary for there maintenance on a rapid prototyper. And of course we'll all live so long we'll be bored with it and have to go tearing off to found new worlds and bring the Joy of Betamax to them all. Yep, ready to pioneer. With my Laser gun and GCS-1.

i mean svhs ep.the machines are jvc hrs8000,hrs7200, and hrs9500.they were all flagship models when they were introduced.vhs hi- fi had all kinds of compatibility problems at first.they were resolved in time for svhs.my problems are with only a few tapes.sean,if you're paying $12 for a svhs tape ,maybe you shouldn't be parking your rolls-royce right in front of the store.they're now selling for as low as $3.99 at circuit city.

Well as you know I drive a Buick. Nice enough to be the sofa on wheels I want it to be but still unnasuming enough that you have to look for the CB radio antenna and irrevernt bumper stickers (Support Search and Rescue! GET LOST) to recognize it. I've gotta go to CC. THANKS!!! Looks like I'll be blowing the dust off of the old HR-S5500U sometime soon!

if prices are up at c.c.,try http://www.smilephotovideo.com

I read somewhere on the 'net about people pulling the "floppy-disk-routine"* on standard vhs tapes so they could be used to record svhs. I guess shvs cassettes have an additional hole at the bottom of the shell so the svhs deck can tell them apart. So there was an article about people taking ordinary vhs tapes and drilling (I think) a 1/8" hole in bottom exactly where it would be on an svhs tape. Just a drop of 2¢ for you svhs owners.

*The "floppy-disk-routine" refers to a practice back in the 80's of stamping an extra hole in 3½" low-density floppys so they could be used as high-density; also cutting a notch in dual-sided 5¼" floppies so they could be used in single-sided drives (by flipping them over). They made stampers especially for those purposes. :)

Hi,

I just obtained an NEC Betamovie Cam (pretty rare I'd say! model BM-11 similar to first Sony/Sanyo)Although it looks like new and works OK the battery packs supplied are long dead. Has anyone had success rebuilding these or having them rebuilt? Any instructions around on how to open the battery pack? I presume it comes apart under one of the stickers?

Also anyone repaired the internals of the microphone? The foam rubber supporting the rod that leads to the mic is dead and the mike actually comes off but still works OK.

Thanks guys for any leads...

But I fixxed mine... Yes, I agree that the Betas have an "auto-track" ability, because I haven't had to adjust tracking unless its a really nasty old tape like an abused TDK or something...

1) I have a BMC-550 and I rebuilt the two NP-11's I got w/ it, myself. I had used these "replace-a-cell" Sub-C's they sold at the RatShack. Of course, that was a few years ago and they've long since discontinued 'em! >:

2) THe only reason I'd buy VHS tapes today is to cannibalize 'em to revitalize old worn betas. Most usually to make L-1000's for use on ßIs. Always look for cheap packs of SHG T-160's for the latter use! ;)

Madness, what tape makes an L-1000? The longest I've seen tapes are ST-210s from JVCs website, being S-VHS tapes they must make a marvelous picture at BIs.

Sorry Jesse, you're not the youngest member of this chat. I'm 16, but I turn 17 next month. I agree that S-VHS ET is pretty much useless, on my PV-VS4821 EP recordings in S-VHS ET contain so much noise they are almost unwatchable, and SP recordings are OK but I turn off ET mode since they won't play on regular VHS decks. I find I get better results from drilling the extra hole in a VHS tape and recording it in true S-VHS mode rather than using ET mode. The few ET recordings I did make on the Panasonic play fine on my R5, even though I've heard some older S-VHS decks can't play them. Where is this Circut City that sells S-VHS blanks for $3.99? Where I live the prices are: $12 for a 2-pack of Fujifilm ST-120s at Circut City, $12 for a 2-pack of either Maxells or TDKs at Best Buy, $12 for a single RadioShack "MLC" ST-120 at Radio Shack, or $7 for a single JVC ST-120 at either American or Sears. Due to these prices I use the S-VHS mode ONLY for mastering home videos, for time-shifing "Survivor", "The Simpsons", "That 70's Show", football games etc to watch once and tape over I use VHS, for recording shows for my permanent library like movies off TV and "Junkyard Wars" (a.k.a "Scrap Heap Challenge" in the UK) I use Beta, and for buying prerecorded movies I now use DVD.

T-160's for L-1000 (or close enough); T-120's give about an L-810.

madness:was quite happy with the floppy disk trick for many years.then i upgraded my tv from a sony 27"hfr to a sony 32"xbr200.the bigger,clearer set easily revealed the drawbacks of using reg.vhs tape in svhs mode.while better than reg vhs mode,the drilled tapes were obviosly more grainy than the proper svhs tapes.all these years i had convinced myself svhs tapes were nothing but a scam!drilled tapes were a viable alternative to $9-$12 tapes,but now that svhs prices are $4-$6,proper tapes can be worth it.consider them especially if you're thinking of a bigger,clearer tv,if you're copying dvd's,or if you're archiving your favorite material.

I wonder if you could get an entire ST-210 into a beta shell. The tape is expensive, though, but the Beta would record for a LONG time.

going back down to my c.c.to see if they have indeed raised prices from $3.99[fuji last year].could have rose due to more cheap svhs units on market.once again,svhs 120's start at 3.99 as of last week at http://www.smilephotovideo.com and tape world on the net should be eager to match prices.

Grrrr now I feel old. :) Yuck, I went to Sear(s) today and saw a JVC Stupor-Vehos ET for the astronomical price of $99... I could pick the damned thing up with ONE HAND, thats how plasticky and flimsy it was. I tried it with all the other decks they had, and same thing. I got some weird looks from salespeople... Olive said I probably gave it shaken baby syndrome without even meaning to. Heads all snapped off.... :) :) Stupid Sear(s),, wish Wards was still around...

Whaaaat?! I'd only upwards of $3 a tape for Beta only! Stupid S-VHS tapes at Rat Shack here are like $14. I really hate the way Rat Shack beta tapes look. How can I make a L-1000 with a Vehos tape?

Anyone check out Betamax.To lately? I've notice they replacing some of the pictures in their archive section with better ones here and there. Sleeched a really nice piccy of that SL-MV1 TV/VCR combo and the SL-B5 portable as well as some new piccys of their Vidimagic FP-61 and some changer units. you'll want to keep checking in as they seem to be upgrading every so often...

Yannow, I just back from doing a bit of last-minute shopping. I stopped in our new Goodwill store again. I found, sitting on the electrics shelf, a Sanyo VCR4400! So, I examine it and see a little taped package tucked *inside* the cassette well. The package is the corded remote (musta been done before it was donated). I strolled over to the video tape bin (where I found some betacams & gov't surplus tapes on prior visit) and found two Polaroid L-750's, loaded one, and I could hear the deck load the tape and start playing; tested all other transport controls, all positive (no TV's tho). Took it home for $10; works fine; not hifi, but it's a ßeta. *shrug*

andy w.- fuji single svhs 120 for $4.99 at circuit city,store700,bustleton ave.,phila.,pa. phone2153330412.bought one hour ago---still a reasonable price!

So that's why my SVHS looks so great at EP (slowest speed) going thru my 25 year old Sony 9" with rotary tuner. Are you guys saying if I move the SuperBeta HiFi over and plug the SVHS deck into that empty S-connector on the living room telly, I might be disappointed in JVC? Heh Heh.BTW just checked the SVHS-C adapter to see how it knows which grade C-tape is installed. An extra hole in the tape shell lines up with a pivoting lever which uncovers a hole way over near the furthest bottom edge of the adapter. It should have broken years ago. BTW Maxell ST-120 assembled in USA was $5.75 US after (both) sales taxes at the drug store last week.

Lessee..

First, I'm really surprised at the youth of some of you in here.. ßeta was in it's hayday when you were born.. just shows I guess that SOME young people know quality when they see it, and don't fall for all the flash with no substance that passes for todays consumer goods (what IS with all the stupid flashing lights on bookshelf stereos, anyway?? )

Second, for good prices on S-VHS tapes, watch ebay. I got two cases of Fuji for something like $33 each. Excellent quality tapes (although, I think my Hi-8 deck actually looks better than S-VHS, but this may be due to the noise levels in the program material.

Well, Brenda, I was given a 1000 which let me in on the beta "thing", and when it died I put my tapes away for a while until an SL-20 showed up, so now I'm on an unending quest to have the best of Beta once again. Yeah, though, some of us are pretty young, though. Franny's "excuse" is obvoius, from what I gather her family chose beta to begin with. (LUCKY!). I wish my family used "Beta", I've got them to accept it, though they just use it to play my tapes. My dad doesn't care eiter way (Can't see a differnce, don't know why), but my mom DOES see a difference but demands all tapes I make for her are VHS... makes no sense, doesn't it.

Ewwww, yes, Brenda I HATE modern "hi-fi" bookshelf systems because they all SUCK. I hear NOTHING but high end (hissssssssssss) and maybe some low end if we're lucky (sony). Yuckkkk those stupid flashing lites annoy the hell outta me, just like the pretend woodgrain of those mini-mini bookshelf systems. Even worse are the huge stereos that don't have Dolby. Gimme my 20-lb Denon DCD-1820 with linny-skate loading [SL-HF750 anyone? :)] and 20 bit D/A converter over a 1-bit Aiwa job! I hate consumer electronics.... Yes, my dad says he can't see a difference between beta and that other format. I think the Betamie has better colour than our Digi-8 cam. Ya, my 9" sony with twirly-tuners has a really great piccy if you let it warm up for like 1/2 hour, otherwise contrast isn't worth a darn.

i was just a fussy audiophile with nothing but contempt for the fuzzy,blotchy video which was the norm until superbeta hi-fi came along.now i could enjoy watching concerts and performances i had taped from broadcasts as well as listening to the music.and with mts stereo emerging tv broadcasts were a potential treasure trove of performances by artists.scores of tunes on 3-4hour tape!WOW!

I have to agree about the bookshelf systems. They have passed there peak. They are getting to be like boomboxes after '85, goofy with low quality. Some of the small systems are nice but others are stupid. I miss phono inputs and tape 2 monitors (No EQ!) where did they go?

sean -from what i can recall,the jvc5500 had lots of bells and whistles for a price that was not stratospheric.how close am i?

Do you mean the HR-S5500U? I paid only $40 for mine but I have no idea about list price. it's very nice, having limited edit features, but all playback and so forth. It can do all sorts of tricks. Sorta on par with the SL-HF-750. JVC can match Some Sony Machines feature-wise but since they have nothing to compare with BIs-SHB and ED-Beta (S-VHS is only a little better than BIs, not enough to care) Beta still wins out. Most Betas are better built anyway, and there are other system superiorities that have been discussed in the past, such as Beta's inherant tracking forgiveness.

nnils- actually,the bigger and better your monitor,the more revealing and unforgiving it should be.

a lot of that arises from beta's faster "writing speed".

my favorite beta trick is 2x play with normal pitch sound.cuts tv newsmags in half.took jvc ten years to duplicate with 1.5x play.

What decks have the normal-pitch audio at 2x speed? my 900 doesn't do it unless I'm missing how you turn it on. Yes, The bigger the monitor the more picture imperfections. I have a friend whose eyes are so sensitive he can't watch NTSC on anything bigger than maybe 13-15", he calls my 27" Mitsubishi "A good way to count scan lines".

SL-2710 does 2x w/ normal audio. Guess they either would've had to make it sound like the Chipmunks or mute it otherwise. I think my Aiwa AV-70 does, too, but I'd havta check it.

Why would anyone waste perfectly good money on Snail VHS? If you wan't an ultra band format wouldn't you be better off with Hi-8 which doesn't take up so much space? And you're buying into a Sony designed format as well. Snail VHS still uses the VHS tape and loading system.

You do have a good point, Franny. Those tapes, as good as they look, will still stretch and break sooner than a beta. I've seen more broken VHS tapes than Betas. More stretched ones too, probably mangled by cheap VHS VCRs. As to the crummy construction on the VHS VCRs these days, like I said before, my Go-video job is VERY heavy, accordinlgy so. I've heard of modern VCRs melting when Cable boxes are set on top of them. and of course setting a monitor on them is signing there death certificate, while my SL-20 in the other room holds up a 21" TV and a large cable box.

One other thing: Regarding the post about TV's, I've noticed the "grid-effect" of scan lines across some larger direct-view (25"+) sets, myself. Mostly on some of the low-end models like those sold at places like Kmart & Wally World.

I use a 27" Sony Wega myself. This baby has digitally-assisted picture and dot-crawl/video-noise filters (HDTV-ready compliance), so there's little of that "grid-effect" happening. Superbeta+ tapes look really phenominal on it; even regular betas (i.e. prerecorded) are decent, to a degree.

Some time ago I wrote about my experience w/tapes. From PAL VHS E-300 tape I obtained approx. L-870 Beta tape. As about Hi8 format it has the highest scanline number of all consumer video formats - 424 lines in PAL. To my mind the good advantage of Beta is high writing speed and colour signal pilot burst. About Dolby NR. To my mind it is not the best NR system used in consumer audio tape recorders but its advantage is a compatibility of made recordings with non Dolby decks. I own 2 cassette decks that beside Dolby NR also have dbx.