Just picked up one of these recently from a local thrift store! Didn't know much about it at all originally but it had 3 tapes with it, mostly uncut clean recordings off analog TV from back in the 80s
Thanks, I enjoyed your presentation! I've got the SL-2000 AND TT-2000 and Trinicon Camera all from February 1982 in the original boxes with remote and instruction manuals. Wow, it's soon to be 40 years young! I haven't used this equipment in about 35 years, but I gave it a quick check today, and everything appears to be functioning properly. Are people still interested in this type of equipment? I will sell it since I no longer have any use for it. I bought it to record my kids when they were little. Anyway, thanks for your most informative review.
This portable VCR and its camera have fascinated me for quite some time now, so this was a very interesting video. The PAL version of the VCR is the SL-F1, as cameras there are the HVC-3000 and HVC-4000, I have not yet seen a PAL version of your higher ended silver camera with the SMF (Saticon Mixed Field) tube. Maybe that was only available for NTSC, like many other of the high end Betamax VCRs and accessories.
That HVC-2200 has a ton of 1, and 10µF capacitors. I got mine recapped, except for the view finder, and a100µF 160 volt in the power supply board. I now have a bright image, with great contrast, and color.
You're bringing out old memories here. The total system could be housed into a carry case that would include the recorder-tuner, camera, lights, cable bag, all in a case that was ~3 ft. long, about 2 ft. wide and 10" deep. A tripod was attached on the outside under the carry handle. all this weighed about 40-45 lbs. Should have had wheels built into it. HEAVY!
Dang, that's some huge childhood stuff right there! I still have my Grandfather's Trinicon, but had lost the tape deck in a move. It was an older model with mechanical buttons, and a brown case. After quick search on ebay, and I'm certain is was an SL-3000, and decided to go ahead, and buy it. I may be missing the AC-200 power adapter as well. I definitely remember that, and the battery was dead in 1995. I'll dig out the Trinicon to see what model it is. Fairly certain it is from 1981. Thanks for this video, now I make a complete usable set, once again.
Bad caps (presumably) strike again! Those VCRs are great though. I've heard mixed opinions on that chassis, but a lot of people seem to really like them (myself included). Those being top loaders makes them immune to the front loading gear problems of the SL-2500 and similar, so that's a bonus. Also quite jealous of your cartoon recordings from the early 90s. I was a kid with no money and 3 VHS tapes to my name that got reused into oblivion. I somehow managed to save a dub of some cartoons I recorded in 1993, but the quality was rough.
I bought one with a PCM-F1 PCM thing. They appear to be in excellent shape! I’ll get the Tuner timer, power supply brick, remote, carrying bag, and HVC-2200 Camera for the ultimate setup! And yeah, it’s a later “Swing Search” one.
That's very interesting that I gave you the prior lawsuit model. I wish that the doors were not missing when I got it before giving it to you. Maybe I'll find a parts unit that still has the doors. It was funny that you used my twisted me with and revving engine sound. Go ahead and used that every time my name gets brought up if you want. :P And Bandy trying to hit himself on screen at the end. Makes you wonder, if you could bring him back in time to his pasted self. Would he get a long with himself? lol
I’m still recording home movies on this setup but using either the HVC-2500 with auto focus or the HVC-2400. I’ve recapped the viewfinders but I’ve not touched the camera itself. I do have a Hitachi VK-C1000 I’ve recapped and use with the Sony 10 pin to K adapter. Biggest issue I’ve seen with the SL-2000 is the retractable guide pins break on the early revisions. I’ve got a few of the Sony kits to repair them. I’m also running these on IDX li-ion packs these days.
Great video! I recently acquired a Sony SL-2000. This may be a dumb question BUT…how do I connect this thing properly to a tv? I grew up with VCRs, so I am new to the BetaMax world! I guess I am thrown off by it being 2 components! Do I connect the 2 components together first? And how do I then connect from the BetaMax to the tv?
Noice! We has a pair of them ourselves. The makers of the 'Movieola' editors sued Sony to stop the 'Videola' branding. We can hook you up with spare flipper doors if you need 'em. Alas, all our NP-1 batteries died so we don't use them anymore. Still love having 'em and one system is hooked up to our 'Computer lab's' entertainment rack... Note the mystery compartment in back of the tuner module containing a DC-out plug. Almost no information is mentioned in either the manual or the service manual (which we have) and neither even acknowledge its presence. A hint as to its function is the mention of an upcoming Sony captions decoder (that presumably would take its power from that plug). The PCM-F1 Digital Audio encoder/decoder matches the overall design of the two unit. Remarkable you could get Superßeta to play on your SL-2000. Doesn't work with ours. Guessing you weren't using a Superßeta Hifi deck... Whoa! Never noticed the |\ \| thing on the display! Kewl! We have a few of the Trinicon camera - HVCs 22.., 24.. and 2500. By now the rubber belting for the Zoom and other motorized controls have likely perished. Our HVC-2500 has a bit of 'sunburn' on the pickup tube. Others seem alright. We also have a CCD-G5 CCD camera. We have a Sanyo VCR-7300 portabeta HiFi VCR. Is there an 'invert' switch on the HVC-2500 camera? Ours it 'put away' and thus we can't check for ourselves. At least one of our HVC cameras had that feature along with a fade in/out switch/button. Hadn't used ours for nearly 20 years... No, these cameras are pretty dark indoors. You'll need a set of f**koff TV lights. Swap the viewfinder units to get one good camera. One thing we have (that you don't yet) is a Sony camera power unit for using the camera without the VTR - like for a mainframe VCR or a TV set alone. We really loaded up on extras just after the turn of the century. Kittehs! And... Fight! Hudukon!
I have an SL2000 that I got right after moving here to Rochester in 2008. It’s a nice unit, but I haven’t been able to find the battery for the unit. I had to look for the camera for it, and found it but it is all falling a part and had been in rough shape when I got it in 2011.
I used this equipment for several years untill the camera to recorder interconnect went strange. In the pause mode, you would release the transport to continue recording and the recorder went into fast mode while still in the record mode. made for really strange performance.
About the two-channel audio input on the HVC-2500. I have an SL-C9UB which is a European model similar to the SL-2500. It has the same camera input those portable VCRs have and has stereo inputs, implying it is stereo, but I don't think it's Beta Hi-Fi since I'm pretty sure it's from 1982.
My unit works really good and so does the camera. Unfortunately, the Tuner timer unit started to smoke after a few minutes plugged in so I can only power it with the AC adapter.
You talk about the camera has poor light response. Well the HVC 2200 had great color in daylight. In indoor light, not so much. The ASA value was about 35 in film numbers. A very slow camera in light gathering. A cell phone today, has much better response.
