Scored an OLD Betamax - Page 2 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

JohnAdams · #16 08-02-2009, 11:33 PM

I have 4 Sony Beta HiFi's and 1 Sanyo in various stages of working order. One is the Sony with the built in AMP with surround sound and hookups for 4 speakers. I never remembered seeing that one till i found this at a church sale. My goal is 1 working BetaHifi, playback only, so I can copy about 100 tapes to DVD. Many predate TV Stereo (MTS). Our cable company simulcast 4 cable channels on FM Stereo. HBO, Cinemax, TNN and MTV. I would swap all for just one beta hifi that played.

kneeOhFight · #17 08-02-2009, 11:36 PM

lord. I remember those early 80's days of VCR lust, lol...my then fiancee ordered a Sony Betamax machine with all the bells and whistles,remote, the whole routine... some Amereican Express Card offer, God give me strength, lol...was incredibly expensive, right at $1400 as I recall...what the hell was I thinking?

zenith2134 · #18 08-03-2009, 12:17 AM

Yeah, now you can download the movies for free,. HEHEH

My aunt told me she bought my uncle a knob tuned VHS vcr in 1981 for christmas and it cost 700 bucks or so...."now look"

Greg B. · #19 08-03-2009, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenith2134

My aunt told me she bought my uncle a knob tuned VHS vcr in 1981 for christmas and it cost 700 bucks or so....

I remember those ones. Around here there were a couple of competing local electronics places that advertised heavily, "Mad Man MacKay's" and "Wacky Wheatley's". Their newspaper ads had pictures of those knob-tuned VCRs, VHS RCA models, that they used as price leaders. I imagine they sold a lot of them. For some reason the number $799 sticks in my mind.

I went for the 5800 for a number of reasons besides the supposed technical superiority of Beta. One, it had varactor tuning that let you set the channel buttons to any channel you wanted, which I thought was neat, having never seen that before. In those days of early cable, we had 7 or 8 channels worth watching, so it worked well. Second, it had a 4-event, 2-week timer, and it could also retain a record setting for repeat recording every week! That worked well for SCTV, since I recorded it every week and only ever had to set the timer the first time. I think I only ever used the 2-week feature once though, when I went away on a long trip one time.

I probably haven't recorded anything off-air in the last 8 or 9 years, my current VCR sits in the basement unused, and I don't have a DVR. There is nothing on I want to watch.

truetone36 · #20 08-03-2009, 11:47 PM

I have 2 5800s out in the shop, as well as a changer attachment which holds 6 tapes. One works well, but the other has tired belts.

***Eric H*** · #21 08-04-2009, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

Let me know all the numbers of the machine and I can check at Chester Electronics, they have TONS of old rebuild kits for VCRs. I got one right off the shelf for my RCA VBT 200 from '77.

Mark , I'll get that info as soon as I can, what would you need besides the model number?