_@_¼¼-meep! I don't know but I think Betamax.TO is gone for good now. Haven't been able to bring it up for a week or so. The site did mention that they were unable to afford keeping it up and they had been taking bits of the site down piecemeal so this might be the end for them?

____@_oo-Snail-1 to tower...

Lots of snails flying under the radar, I see...

Anyway, That IS odd about Betamax.to... First I noticed all the catalogs were gone, showing an error message that was something like "this is gone but will be back". Now the enire site just gives a 404... I wonder what has happened... Franny, have you been translating the pages using the 'fish or do you speak Japanese too...

(What I mean is "Do you speak japanese in addition to english and german and spanish.. not "me too"... I don't speak japanese at all...)

I have an SL-C9 which has given years of excellent service but now has broken gears on the cassette carriage.I have so far been unable to locate a source for spare gears or any work-around to solve the problem.I would hate to lose a good machine for the sake of a couple of plastic gear wheels.Can anyone suggest a source for these parts? (apparently Sony stopped making these back in 1997)Any advice would be welcome.

Regards

The only thing I can suggest is to aquire another machine (No matter the condition of it, you can probably get a dud rather cehaply) and strip thegears out of it... otherwise, I've heard of success of using gears from a "Hobby shop".

yay... But Sean does Imperial have auto climate control, Bose 9-speaker sound system, and heated seats? 20/28 mpg? Methinks not. Blagh! 400 hp?! Wasteful, inefficient, and unecessary! :) Anyways... I went to mow the lawn today and found a nest of baby and medium size snalies! It was sooo cute!! There were clusters of babies!! The lawnmower hadn't been used in quite a while, lol those poor lil snalies. I hate it when the grass gets so high you can't see what you're mowing over; I stepped on a few snalies because I couldn't see them in the high grass. I'm planning on taking Betamie on the senior ski trip; is a UV filter recommended so Betamie doesn't get snow-blind too?

DEAR GOD that "car" is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO think how much FUEL was wasted on cars like these during the 70s!!!!!!!! It looks like a WHALE! eeeeeee! Well you know where I would be during the 70s (besides taking care of the JVC lab and shoppin at Wards)! I'd be protesting! Can you imagine how much fuel we'd have today if everyone had opted for an economy car!? Yes I also know that there are other cars that get better gas mileage than the Millenia; like a hybrid. I've never had the chance to ride in a hybrid, so I can't talk about them. Make a Millenia a hybrid and I'm in. You're right about several u-mies fitting in the imperial trunk, Sean! HAha! The Imperial probably has enough room to install the hybrid equipment, and you'd never even notice!

Yes, the imperials did hae auto climate control, heated seats, and high-quality sound systems. They even had anti-lock brakes. Gas mileage was not quite that good, but, for all you talk up that, my big ol' Buick gets similar mileage (19/ 30, better city mileage than a lot of small cars sold today).

A friend of mine has a hybrid. they're not very good cars... The technology will mature, however. AS will fuel-cell cars that will alow us to drive cars of any size we want, and the exhaust is, guess what... WATER!!! Protesting is a waste of your time. The technology is maturing on its own. Cars are poluting less and less every day. There is no call to get rid of old cars, it will happen on its own.

Nowadays there's more and more economy cars but still we burn more and more fuel !

Well here where it's $2 or $3 a litre feeding an old 1950 auto isn't cheap but hauling all our field equipment without having to hire a lorry makes up for the cost. And creaming the rear end of an SUV with only a couple broken sealed beams and a mildly dented bumper to show for it is nothing to sneeze at either.

No I don't speak Japanese or Spanish...

I just know a fish that does...

Watch your step around those little snailies

it could turn out the Bhuddists were the right ones and you might step on Akio Morita sent back to make sure your Betas are being well looked after...

Yes, those old cars are very safe when it comes to traffic accidents. Electric cars are a rotten idea too, since think of it, while the car itself gets its power from electricity, where did THAT come from; maybe a clean nuclear plant or hydroelectric dam, or maybe some dirty coal-fired plant? Hybrids are sort of an "in-between" "quick-fix" idea. Jesse, you're allowed to drive whatever car you want. So am I. That's just the way it should be.

I recall reading where General Electric toyed with the idea of developing a high capacity electric car battery back in the late 60s but came to the conclusion that if the batteries ever stood a chance of making any money the car makers would make them themselves instead of buying from GE.

GE - Imagination at work....

I have for sale a SONY BETAMOVIE BMC-200P in good working conditions.

Please make offers if interrested.

Martial

Yes I agree, Sean. The Buick Parque Avenue almost looks like a Millenia; that's probably the only one that I'd drive. I've seen a couple of Buiques that remind me of them... They're not bad cars but I just can't see myself driving one. Hee hee.. Poor lil ol Morita came back to watch my betas, huh? Well I'll squash him for being dumb and not squashing JVC!

The Park Ave Electra is also supercharged... say waht is a "Miller Cycle" engine anyway???Well if you squash little Morita this time maybe next time he'll come back as a mildew fungus and destroy all your tapes of "All My Children" (That was on while I was in the Deli Yesterday).

Just lost an auction for the ultra-rare photolab adapter... someone had an "Ultimate" suite of SL-2000 goodies up (including the snail-pack with the camera bracket) and adapter cables and perhaps $5000 worth of stuff if you bought it new... He broke it all up and I tried for halfadozen items... somebody named "dieselkid" sleeched it all up... Grrrrr...

funny but the guy didn't actually have an SL-2000 for bid...

I hope that dieselkid isn't a dealersnail. He bid for a lot of SL-2000/ 3000 items...

_@_v - how to be a pilot in 4 easy Betatape lessons...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3313437032

missing that all-important Tape 1 though...

"Now pay attention because if you don't want to crash..." _@_v/[lesson 1]

:O :( GEe Sean your comments are pointed!! LOL! Well I don't keep archives of AMC. I just watch today's episode and tape over it; beta tapes aren't that plentiful around here for me to do that. A Miller Cycle Engine is an engine that uses a Lysholm compressor and dual intercoolers; the compressor enables the engine to get more horsepower for less fuel.

http://www.mazda.co.nz/technology/1022.html

Buique is supercharged? Well it doesn't say what kind of supercharger it uses. I went to the site... couldnt find out much. Maybe you can help me on this one? BTW how much does the Imperial weigh in at?

73 IMperial had a 127in wheelbase, was 235.3 inches long and weighed in at about 5k-pounds. It was about 80 inches wide... Truly these were the VO-2600s of the car world, very ehavy and built to last a lifetime. Their sheer mass makes them good in snow, their anti-lock brakes make them safe, along with their incredible weight, which is the most inportant safety factor on a car. That is according to Insurance figures.

Anyway, my friend Rich has the ultra-rare titler kit for the SL-2000, including a black-and-whte camera and some other neat goodies... He has yet to set it up but I know he will post info on it on his page... I might be getting the accessory cataologue to the 2000 soon and I will probably post scans if I do...

Well, I finally got back to this page. Been forgetting about it as of late. Cars? I like OLD cars myself.I sold my 1983 Eldorado, which by the way got 18 MPG in town, and 28 on the highway. Not bad at all,I'd say. I am currently building a 1985 Cadillac Seville, which I bought for $100 last month. It had both a bad motor and transmission. Scared everyoneaway that looked at it, except me. Fortunately I happen to have a spare engine and transmission that came from my previous Seville (which got totalled 2 years ago when it caught on fire). tems here waiting for the right car, and this one is it! Imagine a 100% Garaged cadillac from new, still looks new too. It is complete with everything (even have the window sticker to it).Anyways don't have much else to say, I am more of a car nut these days than anything! Still love Beta of course.Just dropping in to say "hi". Andy

YEA! Andy's back! Gotta love those old caddys... I almost bought a 66 60-Soecial-Fleetwood-Brougham... Sometimes, I still wish I had. Someday... So, Andy... Still want the 600? Ive got a wonky Toshiba beta that should be an easy fix for you, its even got the remote so it should be worth something... Lemme know!!! I've also got some other stuff that may be profitable...

I just tried editing for the first time with my newly repaired SLV-R5UC and some home video footage that I've taken in the last few months. Damn, this makes it SO much easier to accurately locate my cut points using the jog/shuttle wheel rather that having to try and nail it down with just forward/reverse search and pause. And NO purple waves at every record/pause point either. I would like to shake the hand of the genius who invented the flying erase heaad. I also confirmed that my RM-E100V works by hooking up its cord to the Control-L jack on the R5, putting the controller in PLAYER mode and pressing the transport controls on it, and it does indeed control the transport functions of the R5. However, to use it for editing I may run into trouble hooking it up. I was expecting the controller to have 2 5-pin DIN jacks for Control-L, 1 each for player and recorder. Instead it has a jack for the recorder side, but a long, attached wire with a male 5-pin plug for PLAYER side. This presents a problem for me. I need to use my Hi8 camcorder as the player and the R5 as the recorder. I need to go from the mini-miniplug LANC jack on the camcorder, through the controller, to the 5-pin DIN jack on the R5. If the controller had 2 DIN jacks, as I thought, I could use a cable with a mini-miniplug at one end and a male 5-pin plug at the other to go from the camcorder to the controller, and a double-ended 5-pin plug cable to go from the controller to the R5. I could order both of these cables from Sony. Instead, with the male 5-pin plug PLAYER connection on the controller, I need a cable that has a mini-miniplug on one end and a female 5-pin jack on the other, and I'm not sure if such a cable exists.

My "dream" Caddy is a triple black 1967 Eldorado! My 1983 Eldorado was triple black, and was a gorgeous car. I would have never sold it, except I really wanted to get back into a Seville again.I am still interested in the 600 unit, but am in a pinch right financially.This short month , really gets you in the pocketbook. What model # is the Toshiba? Andy

NNnn.. those are nice cars... I believe they are front-drive an 1st cousin to another favorite of mine, the olds toronado... correct me if I am wrong...

Well wouldn't it turn out that I could stand for some $$$ too... The Toshiba can be seen here: http://www.betainfoguide.com/toshibaVM40.jpg Meaning it's a VM-40 or V400C, the latter being the canadian designation. The Remote is a full-function wired remote meaning no batteries! The issue is it needs a gear to be re-attached to a shaft, it broke loose due to a major dirth of lubrication in the machine... I am too lazy to fix it and since my next fixing project is making a useful SLO-1400 out of two dead ones, I stand to have a much better VCR for my time into those two than into the '40... so I'll let it go cheap, I think I paid $7 for it so any decent offer I'll take it... how much were you gonna pay for the 600??? I paid around $85-100 (Can't rememeber), let's say $100 for both???

Anyone got a GCS-50 they're willing to give up for cheap=my SLP-305? I'm gettin desperate, and forgot about that model...

cheap PLUS my SLP-305, hit the wrong button

Boy, once again I've been away too long; TUBES, man that's the stuff I was brought up on. Easy to repair tube type equipment. Of course now it gets me to remembering that I have a 1948 Recordio that needs some (believe it or not) 12 volt tubes replaced. For those that aren't aware a Recordio was an AM/FM radio with a record player that you recorded your own songs on, or whatever else as there is a "mic" jack on the front. Then of course I will need to find some blank records. As for the remark about the gas guzzlers of the '60s and '70's?? They've been replaced by SUVs and pickup trucks, go figure. But outside of owning alot of big cars I had a few small cars back in the '70s, Most economical was a 1963 Triumph TR-4 with a modified motor I still got around 30mpg hiway, but I had a '69 Ford LTD that averaged 28mpg hiway also, and a friend had a '72 Dodge Coronet that got about the same milage. Not bad for a couple of "boats". The big old cars are very comfortable cruisers.

While still off topic can anybody tell me the difference between a DVD and a VCD?? There is a seller on Ebay with the whole 5 season collection of Babylon 5 I'd be intersted in, if I knew it was a good investment.

And you Beta believe it.

Later. Pepse.

jesse: it should be an EATON supercharger with an 8 psi boost.

VCD (VideoCD) is a fairly low resolution video format. Players are easy to come by for computers, and many home DVD players will also play them. If they were good files to start with (say, 420-450MB for a one hour program) then they are quite watchable. Thailand still uses VCD's much more than DVD's.. I picked up some episodes of Earth: Final Conflict while I was there last spring on VCD for about a buck apiece, course, I have to put up with Thai subtitles. :) Thailand has a unique way of dealing with piracy, they simply make it unprofitable, by pricing the actual licensed product below pirate prices..

Also, Pepse, I'm going to be buying the whole first season of B-5 on DVD early this week.. I could put it on ßeta Hi-5 for you.. just pay for the tapes and shipping.

And, that's *exactly* the way they should do it here. Golly, CD's and DVD's are overpriced. If they'd lower the price I'd buy them a *lot* more regularly, and wouldn't be using WinMX so often. But, those idiot exec's just don't get it.

Hi there, just brought a SLHF100UB Beta HiFi machine on ebay, It has a slight problem though. The red record indicator light sometimes goes off and on intermittantly when recording but recording is not affected and the first 3 segments of the lower audio level meter don't always light up.Any ideas on how I can repair these problems please email me, any help is much appreciated as it enables me to keep my beta machines working and away from the tip!

Best regards to all you Betaphiles, Mike Hayes (mick_aka)

Hey! Pepse, what tubes do you need, I've got loads of them plus my B&K Dyna-jet 707 Dynamic Mutual Conductance tube tester can check them out before I send them out to you .. lemme know.

Check this out, people! Rich added a Betamax page with industrial VCRs. Yes, I created it. http://www.labguysworld.com/WhatsNew.htm

Pulling the cat of out a the bag a bit more: VideoCD is just about an hour's worth of MPEG1 compressed video on a CD-ROM. Most premade movies come on 2 or 3 disks. This format never became very popular in the States or Europe but is extremely popular in places like S.E. Asia (as Brenda mentioned). Generally, VCD is of about the same quality as VHS. It's also becoming popular to rip DVD's on a PC and make "backups" since CD-R's and writers are so cheap (also the reason this format is greatly pirated in aforementioned areas).

An alternate format is Super VideoCD (SVCD), this uses MPEG2 compression (like a DVD) and generally has much better quality (maybe around Laserdisc). It, of course, also means less recording time per CD. Typically 30 -50m (depending on bitrate) for an 80-minute CD vs. 74 or 80 or VCD. Premade films, be them far and few, might need as many as four CD's.

A friend of mine had "The Mask" (the comedy, not that distateful wallow that couldn't even be saved by Cher's presence) on SVCD... I remember he used it as his screen saver for a while... The movie quality wasn't great. Later they were getting rid of some movies at Office Max but I don't rememebr what they were. My old Laserdisc player could handle VCDs, my current one is an LD-only model but my DVD player can play any disc you can stick in it, near enough.

gllllllllllgh! Look at what I missed because of the screwy old bat at Goodwill! http://www.labguysworld.com/Museum009_Q.htm Goddang it!!!!!!!!!!!! Ugh! $14,99 and the old hag whines when I don't have an ID. I go to that one ALL the time and never been asked! And then she has the nerve to go write $14,99 all over it in huge numbers! And the camera was pristine! (Except for the usual scuffs and marks from being tossed around in a salvage bin)

I simpathize with your plight, Jesse, I've been snubbed more of those cameras than I care to remember... Oh well... I think several odd names for video made them, like konica, Minolta, etc...

Well folxx, I'll be pay8ing for it for a while, but I have a new buddy for my Sl-Hf-900http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15065&item=3009724041&rd=1

SLEECH!!!!

Um, an ID to buy something @ Goodwill?!! It's not like you're buying cigs or booze here!

Yeah, that confused me, what were you doing, paying by check like those people in the TV commercials for the checkCards???

Gee, I went ta Goodwill just a few days ago. Haven't seen any Beta stuff recently but I came home w/ some nice stuff nonetheless. One was a SONY 12-digit Nixie Tube desktop calculator (guess c. 60's-70's). Also two IBM Model "M" clicky PC keyboards, which, IMO, are the best typing devices ever made. Finally, a nice collection of LP's for half a buck each.

_@_v - eeee! never saw one-a these before!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3009882762

Sony PAL SL-P20CH video cassette PLAYER

_@_v - snail on snail action!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3009922643

snail yaderw snapping at snail redding's sl-2700 while some luckless person who simply wants a hifi beta get's knocked aside...

Well. This guy Snaling I have been watching is the scourge of Ebay. This guy bids on like everything Beta , oddly enough broken. He don't sell them, what is he doing with them? Building a house out of them? Anyone know? What a crock..

OH, well, I see, another Betaphile meats the king snail himself. No, snaling is not building a house out of them, nor is he a collector, nor a sunglasses-wearing, "Last Breath" smoking, crown victoria driving representative of Japanese Victor Corp. buying up betas to destroy them... Snaling is the user Id used for buying of a certain guy, he then sells the same units under the Id "someko", although usually hte prices are high (only a few I've seen are fair) and, since the decks are of questionable origin (As you said he buys broken ones) we tend to avoid him... He has come to peresent the practice of dealers buying Betas only to resell them at greatly inflated prices. A misstyping of his Id "Snaling" as "Snailing" led to a whole argot of terminology;

A Snail is a dealer interrested only in profit, not in happy customers.

To be snailed is to be beaten by a dealer in an auction or to buy at n unreasonable price.

To Sleech is to buy cheaply, from whatever source; it is what snails like to do, but we do it too.

A Snailie or snail-o-gram is an ASCII representation of a snail, used in the same capacity as a text smile __@_oo, for example. or ___@_v

Sometimes snail-o-grams are made into small or large cartoons and encorporated into other (usually Betamax-themed) ASCII art, but snails for snail's sake are discouraged in this forum, unfortunately. you have been warned...

Geez that was long... But now you know... The Rest Of The Story...

sleech!________ _@_v - I've always taken 'sleech' as being able to snag something more or less by getting in under everybody's radar like a snail would since a snail moves so slowly that you don't take notice of him until he's reached his objective...

either that or the amplified sound of a snail moving along his trail

sleech!________ _@_v

_@_v - here we see two snailies locked in a death struggle for an sl-2000...

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=she_snailie&itemid=776&thread=2568

I desperately need a betamax player. My wedding, kids games, and all family functions are recorded in this format. Anyone who knows where I can get one Please contact me.

nice score sean! izzat the remote for the 1000? don't feel bad about the price, it cost me $120-$150 for a new remote for my 750's from sony![before i had a computer]

yup, hadda look twice at my RMT 143 before i could see the difference!

Well, as for VCDs I guess the replies are what I thought about; cheap copies of videos. Ya see I bought a DVD player/surround system yesterday and being that I greatly enjoy B5 I decided to ask about this VCD thing. Brenda, I have all 5 seasons on Beta (mostly recorded on my late HF 400 (I traded it). I just wanted to acquire the Disc version as they were recorded in Dolby Surround since the beginning. I see Wally World has the first season for about $67. Now there is an interesting price comparison B5 vs Star Trek TNG; B5 $67 per season and STNG $100 per season. To me it's like the diff between Linux and M$; lower price (B5 & Linux) vs very high price (STNG & windoze), plus B5's story was, IMHO, better than STNG, Linux is a much more stable OS than windoze; less buggy and rarely crashes.

Sean, I'll have to get over to my step-daughters place and unwrap the Recordio and pull the tubes and see for sure which ones I need. Then too, I gotta dig out my trusty old EICO tube tester, circa 1956. I've had it for 20+ years and it still looks almost brand new.

As for the DVD system I will soon be checking to see if I can get good copies from my HF 750.

Later. Pepse.

well yes Madness I was trying to use my Paypal debit card..... lol excellent explanation of snail terminology Sean.. Let's see if it doesn't get cut.

Hi,I've recently bought, (well... e-Bougth) a SONY SL-HF950ES (My '82 SL-C9 had served me far beyond the call of duty, and deserved an honoured retirement).Regarding the HF950, will this VCR handle Betacam tapes, without wearing out the drum heads?

Thank you, and cheers from the Canaries.

It'll handle betacam oxides. Betacam SP, SX or digital betacam tapes will work but they will wear down the heads much more quickly and you shouldn't be using them. If you order or buy Betacam tapes, make sure they are oxide or "regular", NOT SP or SX or something like that.

Thanks a lot Sean!!

sleech!_______ _@_¼¼ - i especially like Brenda's use of 'sleech' which seemed to imply the exited release of snail slick upon the sight of a desired §eta as the snail races towards it...

"drooling and sleeching all over the place..."

I have a pristine SL 2500 which I purchased in 1982 and intend to keep forever; Trouble is I don't have the two audio cables for it. Does anyone know where I may purchase these (or, at least, the connectors)?

Thanks,Erik

_@_v - Radio Shack has a 1/8 plug to phono plug cord (#42-2444) or you can get the phono jack to 1/8 plug adapter (#274-330 or 274-897)

_@_v - there is also the stereo phono jack to mono 1/8 plug Y -adapter if your hooking to stereo equipment (#274-883)

_@_v - hope that helps!

I have just found a beta over the weekend at one of the local thriftstores (Goodwill) in my area. I found a Sony SLHF300 in very good condition for $12.50. There was a special at the store at the time so everything was 50% off! I also found a blank tape to test it with. The only thing that was wrong with it was the tape ejected crooked and got caught in the door. I took it home and fixed that. I tested everything and the picture is beautiful. Since this was found at a thriftshop it is missing the remote and the front panel door. I am looking for both of these items. If anyone knows where I can locate these two items please let me know.

Thanks,Greg

_@_¼¼- good sleeching! just about any universal remote will have codes for sony §eta vcrs (§eta used the vtr-1 code if you get a sony universal remote). repalcement remotes at URL http://www.replacementremotes.com/sony/ has some factory remotes for §eta vcrs (i think the rmt-124 was the remote that went to the sl-hf 300) still available.

Hey Greg, nice score on the HF300 ! If you can't find an OEM remote, any universal will control that. If you got a Sony one, the code would be 01 or 001 (depending on model). As for the door, that's very common. The door was sort of fragile and broke on those -- even those on eBay are missing it, more often than not. I've got one w/ it missing.

well hmmmmmm Yes that would make an excellent addition to my collection. My 300 is lonely being the only hifi beta.. Thats why I keep it hidden in the network enclosure I sleeched from school. They was gunna throw it away... Plus it had this huge fan in it that made it sound like a server case, but I dint want the magnets to interfere with the beta so I took it out.

That is a good deal on the 300, although I only payed a buck for mine :-D god I love yard sales...

Anyways, does anyone know if the GCS-50 has all of the same features as an HF1000, and if not what does it/does it not have?Marcus

The GCS-50 is an industrial Beta, so it probably doesn't have a TV tuner, timer programming or infared remote. I think it has linear stereo (unlike the 1000) and the ability to record BIs with a hidden switch, but I don't think it has BIII record capability.

That's cool, do you know if it's got the charachter insert and black screen mode as well?

None of those... the GCS-50 was NOT cousin to the 1000 but rather the 900, hence BIs record, not BIs-SHB record... notice the little lights above the jog dial, anyway...

Hi I just bought a used beta sp UVW-1800 70hrs and a PVW-2600 600hrs.I only need these machines to dub (nothing more). Did I make a good choice or I'm I losing picture quality compared to a set of PVW Series.Also how long can I wait till I have to service these machines based on the hours I described. Thanks to all in advance.(Real Rookie)

_@_v - whoops! you want the betacam chatpage not the betamax chatpage! this is the betamax chatpage...

_@_v - this is where you want to go...

http://www.chat-page.com/betacam/

Yes, unless you actually have "Betamax" tapes... somehow, they both came to be called "beta" which is very very confusing.......

RMT-mysteries... OK, this is how it is... the RMT-424 is deffinitely for a Hi8 deck... Hte button that says eject on the RMT-148 (SL-HF-1000) and RMT-164 (EDV-9500) is labeled "Open/close" (presumably this is the same operation code, the deck will simply resond to it by reversing the current state of its load tray), and the SL-HF-750 does not have that remote, it uses the (lesser!) RMT-143... this has a few more funtions. Or perhaps it is for hte SL-HF-1000D that I will be gettting... sorry to keep you waiting Boby but I'm underatking a few deals that will net me the money I need to send you the turntable.

Hello Betaphiles and Video 2000 Clubs.

I'm Italian. My colleague Marco (work) have got videorecorder portable Sony SL-F1 and tuner TT -F1.

Today, I have bought 3 videocassettes Sony, catalogue year in 1984-85, that they are new: 2 Beta Dynamicron L-125 and 1 Video 2000 Dynamicron VCC-360 in store discs. I have only paid 20Euro! The same store, the videocassettes are exausted!

Ok.

well well well.. We got a snow day!!!!!!! http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=7F509A49-8C7A-44CC-AC29-6A8631CF44D5 All Archdiocesan Schools Closed! Yay!!!!! Now I can watch AMC.. give the 300 a break!

Thanks for all the info. I will see what else I can come across.

Greg

I am looking for a 14" video monitor and I have found some TV sets with delta type mask picture tube (non planar). It is considered that delta tubes have higher resolution than planar ones - most of computer monitors use delta type tubes. So what is your opinion?

Hi I have a lot of old kit which I am now selling

1x dxc-m7p with complete with lens, view finder, flight case and manual 1x dxc-3000p with lens view finder 1x vo8800 hi band u-matic sp with kangaroo bag 1x cma8 psu 1x ccu-m3 camera control unit all the above is in good working order. Please email me for more information and prices.

speaking of SVCD i'd made it two years ago........whallaaa.......Sean frankly to tell i must postponed the deal regarding Asian free trade Agreement.....PLZ be patient.......

That's OK boby. We've both gotta wait... But it'll get done.

Two questions. I am trying to recycle old Beta movies that were no longer viewable. I have fast-forwarded them on a rewinder, erased them, and then rewound them. I put clear scotch tape over the knockouts, but I'm not getting a good recording. Do I need to use black tape over the knockouts? Or is a commercial movie not a good recording tape to recycle? harrym

I have a Sony SL-HF600 that has developed a problem. I bought some used Beta movies from a video store closeout. Some play fine, but others start to play and then shut down. Also, when I record on it and try to play the recording, the same thing happens -- even with new tapes. They start to play, then shut down and the counter stops, even though the tape is still advancing [at least the display shows tape movement]. Is this worn heads? Or is it a head-cleaning problem? harrym

I'm a PhD student at Cornell University, writing a history of the early video industry from a consumer perspective. I'd appreciate any help you can offer with the following two items:

1) I'm trying to track down copies of the Sony "Betafax" newsletter, which seems to have been sent out to owners of Beta machines circa 1986 - I'd be willing to pay shipping/photocopying expenses, if anybody has copies that they'd be willing to part with for a short while, or at the very least let me come and look at.

2) I've got a website up at http://www.videostoreproject.com to collect oral histories from people who owned/worked at/patronized video stores in the 1970's and 1980's. If you've got a few minutes to go to the site and fill out a survey, your help would be immensely appreciated!

Thanks so much! All the best...

It doesn't matter what tape you use on the record tab hole so long as it's able to keep the record tab covered and doesn't leave stickum when you remove it. I use Scotch invisible tape when I have to record over a tape. That being said, it should be noted that any movie tapes are going to be at least 15 years old or more - and well past the expected lifespan of magnetic media assuming their storage/usage conditions have shortened that further. Not to mention that if they're rental tapes they'll have the usual abuse from various users...

On that SL-HF 600... oh just send it to the Olive E Thomas Home For Wayward Betas. It's too far gone... ;o)

merfah! _______@_v you always beat me to saying that! LOL! Yes, I agree with Olive about the crappy rental tapes. Just rereel them, with good grade blank VHS tape. I was also wondering if anyone has a friend or something in the plastics manufacturing industry. Sean you have the SL-2000 snailpack don't you? Would it be too hard to make a mould of the snailpak and then 20 or so of the snailpaks? We could also copy the design of the straps and stuff. I really want to own a snailpak but can't afford to. Does anyone know how many of the microprocessors on Beta boards are still made? If we had the parts I wonder if someone could put together a Beta deck from scratch.

If you got prerecorded tapes that are no longer viewable, then the tape itself is probably so far worn (and therefore the VCR can barely detect a signal) that it wouldn't record over very well. I've gotten some of those. Picture seems to appear for a few seconds, then drops out, but part of it can be seen in fast forward or rewind. It's history - especially if it's an ex-rental. As they said, good for either respooling or the trash heap.

Hey, I wonder if with modern technology, how much of the beta boards can we shrink down? I say this because it'd be cool to add different modern technologies such as Dolby NR to the deck. Eee! Or make them modular, so we can add/replace cards in them: Time code, position markers, programme notes, etc. LOL, put a laptop-resolution LCD screen, and have animations. And this one would talk, too! We just need to find the Wards Lady (ask Olive!) and have her do voice for the beta. :)

To Jake: Your Betacam machines should work just fine for many hours of recording.If you use good quality tapes; it's not unusual to get several thousand hours ofrecording time on a UVW-1800. And the PVW-2600 is a good source machine - since it can play both Beta Oxide and Beta SP tapes. The difference in quality between the UVW-1800 and the PVW-2800 is not to great. Many TV stations in the top 25 marketsbegan using UVW series machines back in the mid-90s when they discovered that they held up well with with daily use. Not to mention that they cost much less to servicevs. the older BVW series machines.

Jesse: The snail-pack isn't that rare... however fabricating one would be difficult, it has a big gasket, metal bits set into it, it's very thick and has styrofoam inserts to hold the deck that would be 100% impossible to get, it has special rubber pass-thoughs for the camera, etc. the strap fittings are something like 6 gauge steel, perhaps (I'm not certain but they're THICK!) and the straps would be expensive themselves...

Remember that one of those 8mm watchman VCRs have an almost miniscule pc board. Assume almost no discrete components and you could pack in as many features you like without using edge cards. Could make a nice SL-F1 'Watchman' by adding a tuner and LCD screen. Would just have to re-align the battery case.

Harry, when you say "new tapes" do you mean "brand new blank tapes just out of the shrink wrap from Radio Shack?

Some day when my SL-2000 is working and I have time on my hands I'm going to get one of those NTSC screens for mount on the back of a Sony "playstation" and mount it on the 2001. ThenI could post directions for this project, and, if it goes smoothly enough, offer conversion services for 2000-series VTRs... If that screen is available in Europe, I wouldn't see why it wouldn't work on PAL machines, either...

_@_v - ah Snailie, we meet again! (in affected Sean Connery accent) what would a week's ebeta listings be without you?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3010282687

Black SL-HF 300 from The one-and-only Snail

_@_v - proof of cosmic justic?

An example of Japan Victor's failed VHD format...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3009635036

_@_v~ pblbblblblblttt!

http://www.cedmagic.com/misc/tv-movies/tv-movies.html

Scroll down quite a ways to see a little bit more gloating over VHD... plus, Olive, you and the other MAC peole here (Well, anybody, I guess, I liked it) will enjoy the segment on the computers even if you ca put up with the host who can't say "Vectrex"...

You Beta believe this ain't a Beta topic, but I gotta know. For those that are "hip" on DVD's I gotta good question. I have a DVD player/surround system and a same manufacturer TV and since "component video" is suppose to be better than "S" video I am wondering if there really is a difference between "component video" cables and the more common audio/video cables?? Besides the price. IMO it is similar to the difference between a TV antenna and a Color TV antenna; yeah right. I can't see paying a couple dollars more for the name (and paint) for the word "component" if it is no diff than A/V cables.

Later. Pepse.

For Sean

Thank you for disc CED player.

Sergio

To Pepse: AFAIK these component video signals are the ones that are directly converted from analog to digital when recording DVD. Therefore it appears that these are the less processed signals you obtain from DVD player output. All other video signals - S-Video, composite video and RGB - are obtained from these component video signals. As for the video cable quality I am not sure that in most cases (except most expensive ones) they are not the same audio cables. All cables used for video signal should have impedance 75 Ohm. Therefore I have soldered the most important video cables myself.

Gday,fellow Beta fans,my problem is that I have a Sony sl-s2000 super betamax and I cannot find any heads for it here or in japan,any one help?Please

Hello Betaphiles and Video 2000 Club

If your remotes is broken or isn't to function.http://www.mediasat.com/content.asp?L=1&IdMen=106http://www.mediasat.com/content.asp?SUBC=632&L=1

This remote is the market only in Italy.

Sergio.Ok