Treasure from the kerb

[ceebee23]

On Saturday night I drove to my sister's home for a Christmas party.

Not far from her house was a pile of rubbish sitting on the kerb. Amongst the stuff I spied an early Sanyo Betacord (to be precise a VTC9300).

It was covered in dust and looking very forlorn but I could not just leave it there.

So I heaved (the only way to describe it. It weighs more than 40lbs!) her into the car.

I got it home and after wiping years of dirt off the lid, I plugged the old girl in.

I was greeted by a flashing clock. A good sign.

There was a tape in the machine wound all the way to the end. So I hit rewind. Nothing. Not a noise, not a screech or any other sound.

Bummer!

I hit eject. The machine whirred into life. The tape wound back into the cassette and the lid gently lifted.

No tape left in the machine or wrapped around the heads ...another good sign that the transport still worked.

I grabbed another cassette and put it in closed the lid and hit play.

The wonderful sound of a beta cassette loading greeted me.

A few squeaks and suddenly the tape started moving.

I hit stop (this thing has mechanical switches). Hit FF and the old girl whizzed into fast forward.

The tape moving at a proper speed.

Now I hit stop and this time hit rewind. This time she whirred ..or should I say purred... and the tape began slowly at first then at full speed, to rewind.

I really could not believe it.

I plugged in the RF out cable and turned on the TV attached to the Betacord.

I selected Channel 3 and hit play. Suddenly there was a picture. No snow, no tracking issues. There were no picture or sound problems at all.

The old girl was in perfect and I mean perfect working order.

So yesterday, I loaded a L750 and let her play. The old girl whirred and played for hours and hours without missing a beat!

This old Betacord has a new home. She will be loved. She will get a full service and clean. She deserves that much at the very least!

[Sandy G]

Awrite !! ANOTHER veteran saved ! What do yr cousins, the Brits, always say in cases like this ?-"Good show, Old Boy !"

[zenithfan1]

Those Sanyo's are good, I've had mine for years and all it needed was a clutch replaced once. Works great, mine's an '83. I hope you get many a movie out of the old girl.

[bandersen]

Nice find!
I like your writing style - lot of fun to read. Almost like a beatnik poem

(didn't think I'd every get to use that smiley)

[zenith2134]

Haha, very true bandersen! Cool smilie.

I for one have always been a big fan of Sanyo....every crt set i've owned by them was solid, from the late 70s to even into the mid90s....and they made some fabulous hifi gear back in the day as well....Those Beta decks are tanks.