I have a Sony SL-600HF and about 20 tapes.:D

I have an '83 Sanyo and a pile of tapes. don't know the model or how many tapes but I got 'em.....:)

Does Beta look as good as VHS or what?

I assume Beta was the first kind of "VCR" on the market,i wonder why it failed.. (AS VCRs were quite successfull (And still are liked quite a bit))

Beta looks much better than VHS.

I have three beta PAL vcrs. A Sanyo 9300, a Toshiba 8600 and a Sanyo M50 HiFI vcr along with some 200 cassettes. (In fact a friend arrived with a box of unused L750s the other day.)

PAL Beta vcrs are all single speed and an L750 at approx. BII speed gives 195 mins.

There were no PAL SuperBeta or BetaED vcrs.

Beta has some technical advantages over VHS but lost the marketing war.

I have found that I rarely get tracking errors with Beta tapes even old recordings or tapes from other vcrs.

Beta HiFi on NTSC machines is radically different to HiFi on PAL beta units which use a system akin to VHS HiFi depth multiplex recording. On NTSC Beta the HiFi sound is recorded in "spare" space on the video tracks ...this was not available in PAL and hence Sony adopted the VHS format for HiFi sound. Unlike VHS cassettes where HiFi will drop out if tracking drifts, I have never had this problem on my Beta HiFi unit.

Beta looks much better than VHS.Ah thats what i was curious about.....

Can you easily get a BETAMAX still?? (I'd like to take a gander @ it if i could)

have a check on eBay search for betamax... usually some units available ...not to mention thrift stores..

I wonder if the term "BETA" was because they were testing the technology before releasing the final "VHS" product...

Im curious now :)



EDIT:

Just found a picture!!

http://www.student.oulu.fi/~tomilepp/pics/betamax.jpg

What a nice looking unit!

Officially "Beta" came from the general shape of the tape path... which is somewhat like the ß symbol.... but I suspect it was more to do with marketing...

Somewhere around here I have an early color camera for Beta for decks with connectors. Clearly from Japan with Japanese characters on the body. Now I gotta find it and post a pix. Easier said than done.

"Beta" in Japanese means "The entire surface" and they chose that word because a betamax uses all of the surface of the videotape compared to VHS which does not.

At least that is the explanation I read years ago...

I have a couple beta machines-a monster Sears (Sanyo) top loader with knob tuning from the early 80s, still works well though can be a little lazy. Also a mid-80s Sony. I was given another, I can't even remember what brand. My brother-in-law's father bought it new. All the rubber had turned to gum; I can't remember if I saved it somewhere or just tossed it. Probably a few dozen tapes around here. I'm always on the lookout for off-the-air recordings from 20-30 years ago.

"Beta" in Japanese means "The entire surface" and they chose that word because a betamax uses all of the surface of the videotape compared to VHS which does not.That must be why they look better!!

Why doesnt VHS use the full width?? (Pretty strange)

Cassette tapes also only use 1/2 the tape (Otherwise you couldnt record on both sides of course)

I have 4 Sony Beta HiFi's and one Sanyo. One of the Sonys is the home theater version with a 4 channel amp built in and connections for 4 external speakers. I have about 150 tapes to convert to DVD and my Sanyo was the last to work. I may have 5 Sonys. I forgot about the rack mount duplicator deck. The Sanyo was the last to run. I wish I could find someone to take all and swap me a hifi deck so i could finish my conversion work.

I have three beta PAL vcrs.

Were there any 50 HZ VTRs or VCRs that were made for 405 line British TV?
I'd like to find one of either flavour for a project I'm working on. Actually any 50Hz unit will do.

I'd like to try to run one on 48Hz power and record CBS sequential color on it. There were no video tape machines in 1951 when CBS color was the US Standard. Cliff

As I understand it many early UK vcrs could receive and record 405 line but I am not sure of the details.... perhaps one of the UK residents on the board can help you...

"Beta" in Japanese means "The entire surface" and they chose that word because a betamax uses all of the surface of the videotape compared to VHS which does not.

That must be why they look better!!

Why doesnt VHS use the full width??
Hawkwind is correct on the origin of the term "Betamax"; Sony's engineers came up with the alternate-azimuth recording method that eliminated the need for guard bands between adjacent lines of video on the tape, reducing the length of tape needed per minute (and thus the cost, the all-important issue in an era when a one-hour blank tape even at Beta's introduction cost a few hours' pay for an average worker).

VHS, in fact, DOES use all of the tape area, as it has the same alternate-azimuth recording technique as Beta.

Ironically, when multi-speed VCRs were released, using the faster speeds would result in guard bands anyway. Multi-speed VCRs have heads the width needed for the slowest speed (LP or SLP/EP for VHS, BIII for Beta), which are narrower than for the faster (SP or BI, BII) speeds. Four-head VHS VCRs have two heads for SP and two for SLP/EP. LP, if the VCR has it, uses the EP/SLP heads.

Oh, to answer the original post, I have these Beta VCRs:

Sony LV-1901 (the first Beta; console with 19" TV and built-in SL-6200 VCR)
Sony ED9500 (ED Beta, probably the best non-digital home VCR ever made)
Toshiba Beta (I don't remember its model number)

I also have tapes going back to the original K-30 and K-60, which were the names used (for the recording time) before BII was added and the sizes changed to the tape length in meters (L250, L500, L750, L830).

I have 3 beta decks in my old VCR collection, all are unfortunately not working up to scratch:
Sanyo VTC-M10
Sanyo VTC-5005
Sony SL-C6 (recently serviced working great but when put in really bad tape it now tracks terribly :(, I just recently had it serviced by a beta serviceman named Betahaven too at a high price)

Good news, I've just won on Ebay a Sony SL-C40ES beta deck which is said to be in excellent condition so I assume it works :):
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SONY-BETAMAX-BETA-PLAYER-VIDEO-VIDEO-CASSETTE-RECORDER_W0QQitemZ280412606509QQcmdZViewItemQQptZA U_Video_Cameras?hash=item4149e4d02d

I have hundreds of beta tape recordings dating from as early as 1979 to the early 90s, the majority of them still yet to be transferred so hopefully the Sony deck I just won is actually in good working order so I can continue the task.

You can never have enough Beta (you'll see why in a sec). I have:

Sony SL-2401 with remote and manual, and a sloppy mouth that spits out the cassette but not the tape
Sony SL-7200, missing a couple parts
Toshiba V-S443 with an idler issue
Sony SL-HF750 SuperBeta that loses its chroma after a couple hours on and playing...

And a Sanyo 4400.

Plus 150 or so tapes, some blank and some pre-recorded. Even a couple still sealed.

Sony SL-HF750 SuperBeta that loses its chroma after a couple hours on and playing...
I fixed a Sony Beta chroma problem years ago (in a different model) by replacing the color crystal. I think it was a 3.579545 MHz crystal, like the one in color TVs but smaller.

Seems like I recall that Sony wouldn't license anyone to make Beta machines until way late in the game. Matsushita apparently would let ANYONE make VHS machines, almost from the get-go & VHS also won the "length" war-altho a movie on the 6-hour speed was almost unwatchable, IMHO, especially on a tape that had been "used" a time or 2. I remember reading somewhere that VCRs had some of the tightest manufacturing tolerances ever made up til that time on any consumer good, considering the literally zillions of 'em that were spit out, its amazing they worked as well as they did...

We have two working Sony Beta machines and probably 75 tapes. We bought one of the machines new when our kids were small, so almost all of our kid-vids are Beta. The second machine we got at a garage sale for $5 along with a boxful of movies on tape. I later bought some movies from rental stores when they were phasing out Beta.

I have to hand it to Sony for quality. The machine that we bought new was used daily for years, has never been serviced, and still works beautifully. We have gone through about 5 VHS machines since that format became popular, and even the newest/priciest one doesn't look as good as the old Sony.

Phil Nelson

Just got my SL-10 back from repairs! Works like new. Also have a functional SL2000 and a SL300 Super Beta.
I prefer Beta as tapes seem to last a lot longer and the picture is better than VHS.
Sonys seem to have a good attitude where the other Betas can be a bit persnickity

Im glad it works!! (I'd be weary of the techs of today trying to work on GOOD STUFF like that (They might make it worse,etc))

I've got a SL-HF950 from the late 1980s that I bought new. Other than my occasional cleanings, it has never been serviced other than issues with the shuttle wheel when I dropped it one time... Never did that again.:tears:

Does anyone here have any recommendations as to where one can get a Beta VCR repaired? I know there are some techs who advertise on-line where you can ship your unit to be serviced/overhauled. Anyone have any experience with anyone like this or places you would or would not recommend? I have several Sony Beta Hi-Fi units I would like to have repaired and gone through so I can use them for dubbing. Thanks!

Gilbert

---

All of my Beta machines are Sanyo the oldest one is a VTC9300. I also have a VTC6500, VTCM30 and heaps of tapes. Some stuff on these tapes has been taped of TV in the mid 1980's so one day I'll transfer the interesting bits across to DVD and from memory there's even a poorly copied 1970's blue movie on one of those tapes, will probably copy that across too for a laugh! :D

G.

I was given a broken Sony SL-HF600 along with over 100 tapes that were recorded from that VCR. I managed to fix the VCR (bad voltage regulator IC STK5441 in the power supply, along with a gear in the cassette loading mechanism that I broke), and aside from the regular (non hi-fi) audio being very muffled, it works perfectly.

The recording quality is very good -- especially in Beta II mode. Most of the tapes are simply movie copies in Beta III mode, so the quality isn't super-great, but considering that most of the tapes are 20+ years old (and were stored in an attic for quite some time), the quality isn't as bad/deteriorated as I would expect from VHS.

Here's the machine:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4242655273_84bc356c83.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/38686641@N08/4242655273/)

I always loved the look that the Sony machines had. Nice job getting it going, and welcome to VK!

Thanks! The funny thing is, that Betamax is now the only working VCR between me and my parents. Our JVC HR-D870U VHS VCR from 1989 started eating tapes, and our Realistic 125 VHS camcorder (which we never really used), died with a foul odor. Lol

Those first-generation SuperBeta VCRs (SL-HF400, 600, 900) were really nice machines, all with built-in stereo TV tuners to go with the Hi-Fi sound. I recorded a lot of early stereo TV shows with my '900. I think I still have most of them.

SL-2500 and SL-HF750 here.

I have a Sony SLO-1800 Professional Beta Duplicator, as well as 3 or 4 consumer grade Beta machines. Also have lots of video test equipment, Tentel gauges and a fully equipped VCR repair/service bench.

Welcome ashore my friend :)

...and aside from the regular (non hi-fi) audio being very muffled, it works perfectly.Can you fix that issue??

Congrats for getting her going!!

:)

I have that one too, that is one beautiful machine. I hope and pray that you never need to remove the front panel, because it is an absolute nightmare to snap back into place and get all the switches lined up properly on the slanted portion. The worst I've ever seen in 40 years of electronic servicing. Mine works perfectly, except the drive motor is mildly intermittent and only malfunctions after the machine is all put back together and at the bottom of a stack on top of the TV.

Quite a shame. I ended up having to put a voltmeter AND ammeter on the motor to make sure it wasn't the driver chip. Sure enough - current quit and voltage stayed. Took motor apart, cleaned the brushes and replaced the anti-spark caps, worked great as long as it was on the bench!

On the muffled audio, have you tried gently tweaking the A/C head azimuth or front-to-back tilt? Usually a tiny adjustment will clear it up.

I have a Sanyo 4035...but it's dead now. Paid 5$ for it, but now the clock comes on but nothing else works...
Any common sanyo problems that you guys know of that might be the trouble?

But more to the point : I have Beta...I guess :P

Have about fifteen betamax units. One Multi system T9ME
Current list

Sony SLHF950 aka 750 in mint condition
Sony C9
Sony C6, C7 x 2 and C5
Sanyo M20

and a few VTC5000's

and about 750 original pre certification tapes from australia

I would love getting a BETA unit and @ least 1 movie to view on it! (Commando maybe (Hopefully it wouldnt be digitally compromised))

I would love getting a BETA unit and @ least 1 movie to view on it! (Commando maybe (Hopefully it wouldnt be digitally compromised))
I only have one factory-made beta movie. It seems like an old rental tape.
The title is: " One flew over the Cockoo's nest". It was probably used a lot, even though, I never saw the movie.
I picked up a Sony SL2300, a few years ago for a buck. In very good shape.
It even has the original "It's a Sony" stickers on it. :yes:

Sony SL-10, Sony SL-2000 (two of em), Zenith VR9800 with 9850 tuner timer, Sony SL-hf450, Sony SL-2401. More but I'd have to look for them. My favorite is the SL-10! It went for years and then was sent to MrBetamax and repaired. It came back as new! The rest are just plain work horses. One of the SL-2000 machines has been with my TS-4 Motorola for years. They are an inseparable pair!
I have a couple of VHS machines but the Beta's are much better pieces!

I only have one factory-made beta movie. It seems like an old rental tape.
The title is: " One flew over the Cockoo's nest". It was probably used a lot, even though, I never saw the movie.
I picked up a Sony SL2300, a few years ago for a buck. In very good shape.
It even has the original "It's a Sony" stickers on it. :yes:

I tried running that movie yesterday. The tape was so bad, if fouled the heads up. I hope they'll clean up OK. :sigh:

should do, just run a good tape through from start to finish. I sometimes use a dry type head cleaner for 10 seconds every once in a while. works fine.

I still have 4 Sony Beta HiFi's and one Sanyo. One of the Sonys is the home theater version with a 4 channel amp built in and connections for 4 external speakers. I have about 150 tapes to convert to DVD and my Sanyo was the last to work. I may have 5 Sonys. I forgot about the rack mount duplicator deck. The Sanyo was the last to run. I wish I could find someone to take all and swap me a hifi deck so I could finish my conversion work.
I also have 40 or 50 NOS blank Sony tapes I would throw in.
The Sony home theater version is one I have never seen on Ebay or elsewhere, but I could have overlooked one.

I have one non-operative (Super)Beta deck: a Sony SL-HF450. I put a tape in, and after about 5 seconds or so, it spits the tape right back out. Doesn't even load it into the transport.

Is it worth fixing?

I have a Sony super Betamax SL-HFR70 and about 20 tapes mostly Disney. I paid $5 plus $1 for a bag of tapes so $6 for the lot. The last time I turned it on it was working perfectly.

I have one non-operative (Super)Beta deck: a Sony SL-HF450. I put a tape in, and after about 5 seconds or so, it spits the tape right back out. Doesn't even load it into the transport.

Is it worth fixing?
Yes. Those are excellent machines in SuperBeta mode.

Everyone has beta but no one will admit it...lol. I personally have two betas i bought new, a SL-5600 Sony and a Superbeta SLHF-900. I also have a sears beta with a dial tuner and two zenith versions of the sony for spare parts.

Beta was better in picture quality than VHS. But the VHS manufactures were better at marketing. A lot of them were sold as american brands like RCA, Zenith, GE, Magnavox...etc. Many thought they were american made and so chose them even though beta was better definition.

The specs show Betamax has slightly better chrominance resolution over VHS. Any quality difference was made moot when Betamax switched to the BII speed as the system default. B-Is recording (Superbeta on the original "X-1" speed) was quite impressive however, particularly the Super Hi-Band 6.0Mhz mode found on the SL-HF1000 and SL-HF2100.

I have several Betamax VCRs. A Sony SLO-323 (industrial VTR with linear stereo), a Zenith Video Director VR-9000W (rebadged Sony SL-5400), a Sony SL-5400 (ßII/III top-loader), a Toshiba VM-32 (mono front-loader), a NEC VC-N70EU (Beta Hi-Fi front-loader), and a Sony SL-HF2100 (15th Anniversary Betamax).

The 2100 is a very fascinating machine; the second-to-last consumer Beta machine released, it has all sorts of fancy features, such as SuperBeta (and ßI-S "Super Hi-Band" mode, as mentioned in the post above), auto-tracking (a first for a Beta deck), and S-Video jacks (only consumer Beta deck to have them). The entire front panel is comprised of touch-sensitive panels, making it perhaps the only VCR ever made to not sport any physical buttons (even the RMT-2100 remote control, which I do not have, was a big LCD touch-panel). It worked when I got it, but playback fuzzed out to static 15 minutes into the tape I used to test it. Hoping that cleaning the heads will fix it, as I expect it to be the best Betamax deck I'll ever own. Not bad for a $19.99 surplus sale buy, anyway... :D

Fun tidbit: my Zenith VR-9000W was supposedly once owned by late fashion designer Bill Blass. I found it in the back room of a local antique store, and the store owners claimed that it had been found in his summer cottage, along with a stack of Betamax tapes of his fashion shows. The owners made a deal with me: if I could confirm what was on the tapes, I could have the Zenith. I took the tapes home with me, stuck them in my Sony SLO-323 (the only Betamax deck I had at the time), futzed with the tracking to make them halfway-watchable (being ßII tapes, and the Sony being ßI-only, I had to use the X2 playback speed mode), and what should appear on the screen but several runway models outfitted in the finest '80s pastels (the tapes comprised several collections, spanning 1984-88). I took the tapes back to the antique store, gave them my report, and the Zenith was mine. Of course, I have no documentation to back up my claim, and the antique store is long-defunct. All I have are my memories of those pastels... :sigh: :stupid:
-Adam

I found a VHS-C to VHS adapter the other day @ a thrift store..... (You place the compact cartridge into this bigger holder and it will play in a reg VHS machene)

Does anyone know if a BETA to VHS adapter exists??

No, there were never any Beta-to-VHS adapters, or any dual-format VCRs. There are too many physical differences in the signals on the tapes for a machine of one format to read tapes of the other format.

Thats sad...... You would think they could easily accomplish this with one of those converter things..

Different head drum diameters, etc etc - cannot be compensated by an adapter that holds the tape cassette.

Thats sad...... You would think they could easily accomplish this with one of those converter things..

I'd equate it to trying to put an Atari 2600 cartridge into a Nintendo NES. Too many dissimilarities to allow it to work (about the only thing VHS and Beta have in common is the width of the tape). In the case of VHS-C to VHS converters, VHS-C uses the exact same recording method as its bigger brother, and converters were available from the very beginning of the format.
-Adam

The Atari-to-NES converter would actually be easier than Beta-to-VHS. Do you know about the Atari-to-Colecovision adapter that WAS manufactured?

The Atari-to-NES converter would actually be easier than Beta-to-VHS. Do you know about the Atari-to-Colecovision adapter that WAS manufactured?

Yes, I own a nice example of "Colecovision Expansion Module #1", as they referred to it, and it works fairly well. Essentially an entire Atari VCS clone system which makes use of the Colecovision's power and video take-off points; Coleco also sold a stand-alone system using the same guts as the "Gemini". A Beta adaptor would similarly need to have an entire VCR transport in it, like those cassette adaptors used with 8-track players.
-Adam

My Betas:
Sony SL2710B (daily driver),SL-2000 portable, SLO-260 industrial (works perfect!), SL-100 superbeta (I'm the original owner), Sanyo VCR-7300 beta hifi portable, Sanyo VTC-9100A (still working) and a parts unit SL2710 for my working 2710B. And that's just the betas! :D

My Betas:
Sony SL2710B (daily driver),SL-2000 portable, SLO-260 industrial (works perfect!), SL-100 superbeta (I'm the original owner), Sanyo VCR-7300 beta hifi portable, Sanyo VTC-9100A (still working) and a parts unit SL2710 for my working 2710B. And that's just the betas! :D

Don't even ask me how many VCR's I have! Lost count, a while ago.
At the Wisconsin swap meet, a Sanyo Beta, marked freebee, was the only one taken. It seemed to be complete and in decent shape. :thmbsp:

I have three.
One is the SL-2700B and it ran perfectly fine and had an MPX decoder but then one day the plastic loading arm gear shattered and it's been sitting on a shelf ever since.
There's also an SL-HF900 but it has power supply issues and I have no idea how to service stuff like that.

The only other deck I have is an SL-2000. I ended up paying $30 to rebuild the battery pack (http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a166/ballsandy/CGS_0694.jpg) and adding in an A/V out jack to the back near the multi-connector but it became a real workhorse. I used it and an HVC-2800 to make this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5xVLnz_SaY) a month or so ago for another project.

I have a Sony SL-HF900 with manual and remote. Only one movie: (Tron)

Tron! Lora/Yori (Cindy Morgan) is an old friend from her first tv job as a weathergirl at my station in Rockford, IL. 1973. You do the math. Unrepentant diva even then. Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

I have the Sony SL-HF750 and a NEC beta HiFi "I cant recall the model number " betamax too.

I payed $990 bucks for the Sony back in 1988 from a electronics mail order outfit.

The NEC I got free.

I used the SL-HF750 daily up to the late 1990's until the beta tapes source dried up here .I must have about 700 plus beta tapes recorded.

I recently restored a Sony SL-8200 (1977 model, Sony's first with the BII speed) to good working condition. Now, I need to pull out some of my old tapes of TV shows recorded in 1979-1990 or so and watch them.

Don't even ask me how many VCR's I have! Lost count, a while ago.
At the Wisconsin swap meet, a Sanyo Beta, marked freebee, was the only one taken. It seemed to be complete and in decent shape. :thmbsp:

Thanks Dieseljeep,
Now I know who gave my son the Sanyo VCR4020 Betacord. The vcr needs new belts and idler tires. The originals were cracked or broken.
I ordered new belts then realized I forgot to check the idler tires. Tires are on order now. The vcr powered up ok.
I ended up buying a belt set for my Quasar VH5042XQ vcr and Sony TC-248D Eight Track Player at the same time. The 8-track works fine just had to remove the 30-40 year old gooey rubber belt off the pulleys.
My son has been finding old Beta tapes a our local Goodwill, along with VHS
tapes also.
I hope to have the Sanyo working by the end of this week.
Ed

Thanks Dieseljeep,
Now I know who gave my son the Sanyo VCR4020 Betachord. The vcr needs new belts and idler tires. The originals were cracked or broken.
I ordered new belts then realized I forgot to check the idler tires. Tires are on order now. The vcr powered up ok.
I ended up buying a belt set for my Quasar VH5042XQ vcr and Sony TC-248D Eight Track Player at the same time. The 8-track works fine just had to remove the 30-40 year old gooey rubber belt off the pulleys.
My son has been finding old Beta tapes a our local Goodwill, along with VHS
tapes also.
I hope to have the Sanyo working by the end of this week.
Ed

My niece's B/F asked me if I would want two VCR's, a Beta and a VHS.
I mentioned that, there's renewed interest in Beta's. He was talking about taking them to Best-Buy for recycling.
I'm glad, it was a win-win situation for all.
BTW, where did you get your replacement belts? Studio Sound? :scratch2:

I recently restored a Sony SL-8200 (1977 model, Sony's first with the BII speed) to good working condition. Now, I need to pull out some of my old tapes of TV shows recorded in 1979-1990 or so and watch them.
I didn't realize Sony Beta's were around that long!
I bought my first VCR in early 1982, after they came down to slightly under $600 . VHS tapes were $12 to $14 each. :sigh:

My niece's B/F asked me if I would want two VCR's, a Beta and a VHS.
I mentioned that, there's renewed interest in Beta's. He was talking about taking them to Best-Buy for recycling.
I'm glad, it was a win-win situation for all.
BTW, where did you get your replacement belts? Studio Sound? :scratch2:

I bought the first order from Studio Sound in Ind. and have the tires on order from SMC in Mass.
SMC had a better look-up table/listing for the tires IMO, since I didn't know the exact specs. It's hard to measure old and worn belts and idler tires exactly.
Ed

I didn't realize Sony Beta's were around that long!
Sony made and sold Beta VCRs in Japan until late 2002, but they were last sold in the USA in the mid-1990s, I think.

My son and I got the Sanyo Betacord VCR4020 back together, new belts and head cleaning. The vcr works fairly well. The coarse tracking control is a little touchy, but not too bad. We tried different old beta tapes from the mid-eighties, some played better than others depending on prior usage.
I had to re-clean the head after it picked up some dirt from one tape, Star Wars :scratch2:. One barely used tape of Gallagher the comedian played back the best.:yes:

Im glad ya got her going buddy :)

ANALOG IS A TRULY WONDERFUL PLATFORM... VHS,BETA and VIDEODISC are quite good in my opinion!!

My first VCR was a Philips N1500 in 1975 ..I still have part of the 1976 Olympics recorded by it. Max running time per tape 60mins ...
VHS in 1978 and Beta ...Sanyo 9300 (PAL model fo the 9100)..recorded the 1980 Olympics ..the ones in Moscow...with it! N1500 is now with another collector for restoration Sanyo still running ... stll working perfectly.

Wow that was recorded off analogue TV :) -- I would love watching those!!

I have 4 working Betamax VCR's SL-8200 1977 Beta I/II Mono(could use some new belts), SL-2001 1982 portable Beta II/III Mono special effects, SL-100 SuperBeta Mono beta II/II no AV input, SL-HF750 SuperBeta Hifi Beta Is/II/III Special Effects 4 head.2 S-VHS decks both JVC, Sony EVO-5000 Hi-8, And a Quasar Great Time machine currently being restored once that happens I have some 1978 Superbowl tapes that i hope have commercials on them.

Panasonic NV-2030SD EIAJ 1/2" B&W, Sony AV-6800 EIAJ Color.

Pro formats Sony VO-5800 U-Matic, Sony PVW-2800 Betacam SP, Sony BVH-500A 1" portable, Panasonic AU-65H MII Editing recorder.

I have 4 Beta decks, 2 working and 2 needing repair: Working: SL-HF360 SuperBeta hi-fi, SL-HFT7 SuperBeta hi-fi (the one with built-in amplifier)... Needing repair: SL-HF 2000 (won't successfully load a tape all the way) and my prize, a SL-HF 2100 which accepts tapes, FFs and REWs with all LED lights working fine but immediately stops whenever I try to PLAY a tape. :-(

a SL-HF 2100 which accepts tapes, FFs and REWs with all LED lights working fine but immediately stops whenever I try to PLAY a tape. :-(

Odds are that is a bad surface mount capacitor on the capstan motor board. I have a Sony SuperBeta Non-hifi model that would randomly stop advancing the tape in play mode, then stop (though with the cover off one could 'help' it out of that condition before auto stop occurred). Replacing that surface mount cap fixed that problem, but I should have removed the rotor when I did the soldering....I ended up melting a spot on the plastic edge of the rotor which has magnetic servo control control track on it, and now the video has constant tracking noise from the motor running wrong, built in....I wish I could find another rotor, or a way to fix it....

Came home with a Sony SL-5400 from the thrift store today, a $10 investment. Pretty dirty on the outside, but I know better than to pass up an old VTR for cheap.

Opened it up, and it's only mildly clean inside. More importantly, it doesn't do much of anything - it lights up, turns on, and ejects, but doesn't play, FF, or rewind. Bad belts?

Oh - and it's a TANK. Really huge and heavy!

Were there any 50 HZ VTRs or VCRs that were made for 405 line British TV?
I'd like to find one of either flavour for a project I'm working on. Actually any 50Hz unit will do.

I'd like to try to run one on 48Hz power and record CBS sequential color on it. There were no video tape machines in 1951 when CBS color was the US Standard. Cliff

Power frequency is not related with the scanning frequency on VCRs. The motors use DC from the power supply, and their speed is controlled by the servo circuits. So the drum is going to keep running at 25 Hz no matter what the power frequency. Even if the CBS sync is similar to the EIA sync (I have to look it up) and the sync separator works OK, 24 Hz is 96% of 25 Hz, and I am not sure that the modern servos are designed to work with such a frequency offset. Even the cheapest cameras of the Betamax era had crystal-controlled sync generators, so the VCR designers would not expect the input vertical frequency to be ONE FULL Hz off.