'77 - Why I H@te This Ancient Sony SLO-260 Betamax VCR 

Random screw at 11:01, Don't let it get stuck in the mechanism!

Everything you find negative about this machine I find positive and enlightening. What a beauty, a VCR in its original form. If you truly understood how difficult it was to get this far you would understand what a remarkable achievement this VCR was. Going back to the mid 1960's this machine was an impossible dream and in that time it would have been considered very light in weight. It looks quite mint as well. I'd take it in an instant and find a place, in my home, to display it.

This Betamax VCR is super rare, because it was made around 1977 or so when Sony made this one, and it was extremely heavy, and weights a ton. It’s an SLO-260, the first industrial Betamax VCR that plays Beta 1 speed. There was no Beta 2 and Beta 3 when it came later. There was also another industrial Betamax VCR which is the SLO-320 and it looks a bit smaller and it was from 1978. This rare Betamax VCR is the same design that it was used in the SL-7200, but it has nice and interesting features that you don’t see in a standard Betamax VCR.

Dude that VCR resembles a european model 8080 . That machine was a masterpiece of its time. If you think that machine is heavy I suggest you take a look at Ampex first VCR.

Never hate technology that required so much expense and effort to create. Technology builds on previous technology. Hate is a terrible word, do you hate the massive computing machines used @ Bletchley Park? They weighed thousands of pounds and shortened WW2 by at least 2 years. Technology and the creative minds behind it absolutely amazes me.

You could totally 3D print, cast, or machine a replacement part. The spring probably wouldn't be hard to replace either.

In the 1960's and 1970's a lot of radio station chief engineers bought broadcast equipment by weight. An great example is the GATES CB-500 Broadcast Transcription Turntable. What a beauty!

Perhaps someone with a 3D scanner and printer could make you replacement parts?

My 1977 VHS has and exposed drum rotation censor I had to clean to get rid of the trippy picture scrambling but I've never heard of a drum that needs a belt from the main motor.

It is epic, it's beautiful man, a real stunning piece of kit from when stuff was stuff and took center stage...cd player!!!! bin...all you need for instant good times is a CRT, beta max video machine and bad porn from the 70's...you had one of these badboys and you had mates, go into the kitchen and give yourself a talking to... Techmoan would have that running in perfect order by lunchtime.

The problem with the picture is not caused by a slipping belt, but because of bad capacitors in the servo circuit, which causes the drum servo and capstan servo to be off speed. Many Sony Betamax vcr's used Sanyo capacitors which caused many problems, even the tantalum capacitors went bad on these units. The unit it too big and too heavy because the circuitry involved was more complexed back then. for example: I have the Sony SL-C7 (PAL) betamax, and only the clock/timer takes 3 circuit boards with seperate IC's for every function. that's the way it is, that was the cutting edge tecnology of it's day. The weight of the vcr is because it is mostly build of metal and all the circuit boards are attched to the metal framing.

11:02 Nice screw just chilling in there...

I had one way back when they came out. It was great back then and as heavy and big as it was I loved recording on it. Now those days are gone but it left some great memories for me.

I have an SL-HF900 I've put SO MANY HOURS into fixing, it's ALMOST done, I just need the now discontinued leaf switch on the loading mechanism. It works if I load the tape by hand and put a weight on top of the tape. Oh well, at least the SL-HF750 works now.

You actually need to insert a different cartridge for channel 4? That seems redundant even for back then. The Atari 2600 came with a little RF modulator switch box.

I was working at a CBS affiliate in 1977 and I remember the wonder and amazement we felt when the Sony guy brought this around to demonstrate. I was shooting commercials on 16mm film at the time and knew that the crappy video future had arrived. Get 'em out by friday became the new cry.

I take your point, they should have kept the VCR to a 4U rackmount size, 40 lbs.

Internally it looks like the first PAL Betamax from August 1978, the SL-8000 A L-500 was 130min It had an eight station tuner And what became the Sony design of the eighties anthracite body, grey knobs etc. it looks much cooler than the US versions. Tracking was done by adjusting the speed of the head using an eddy current brake. We used ours for 18 years One service was done, the switch that switched between rec and play needed to be renewed. The modulator was removable as well. It was easer for Sony to deliver the European, Australian, South African and British standards. But compared to the first VHS from JVC the Sony was massive and far to big.eddy current brake

What do you expect from a VCR from 1977? They were big and heavy because much of the electronics were not miniaturized like machine that came later. Of course you're going to have problems with playback since the tape transport parts and pinch rollers, etc are 30 years old. The age wears them out. Capacitors dry out and the electronics don't perform like when it was new.

Yiu did a wonderful job explaining how this machine works. I earned a few things from this video.

The Beta tape transport mechanism really was insane. It truly is a miracle that any of the 70s VCRs worked at all, even when they were new. Over-complex, over-heating and over-sooner than the consumer expected

I briefly saw beta-max but VHS just destroyed it almost immediately in my house.

Wait did I just see a plastic component get smashed into the tape on eject?

is there a way to 3d print any parts?

The engineering is insane. What?!

Thnx for this! Still have betamax tapes with 30yo footage never seen again.. can't get a working beta VCR and don't wanna send them out for digitizing :( will keep looking.

46 pounds!? I have got a VCR for you, the Panasonic PV-1200. It's only 30 lbs and still works after 40 years, with no maintenance and outdoor storage!

in 1987, I was given one of these and it worked. It was the same model as yours or very similar to yours. It had only one speed, Beta I which played or recorded for 90 minutes on an L-750 tape. Most machines after that had Beta II and III. You couldn't put the tapes in a newer machine because they would not play Beta I tapes, although I did see a Zenith Betamax player that had a switch in the back to manually override the Beta II and III mode to play Beta I tapes. Also 90 minutes was not enough time to even record a movie. For the most part, compared to newer Beta II/III machines which could play up to 5 hours with decent quality, the Beta I machine was pretty useless.

nice video!

Looks like your spring is not sprung enough. I'm sure the tension is one of the thousands of critical factors in reliability. I think the Space Shuttle was more reliable.

Seems about as heavy as my custom desktop PC. I use a Antec Sonata case which is made of steel and weighs that much without any parts inside it.

I found this model at a junk shop in Phnom Penh last year.

That was Wow alrighnt - low speed variations like an off-centred lp record.

I just picked up a filthy but intact SL-8200 pretty much just like what you have and am about to waste many hours of my life cleaning it and attempting to bring it back to life and yes it has that same part you are having trouble with.

Your tape head is spinning all over the place. That's what you get when the tape head uses a belt.

家庭用ビデオデッキの先駆けしかしVHSグループの勢いは、標準2時間の鮮明な画像で飛躍βは、放送業務用に新たな活路を見つけました。

I agree with you. The early Sony Betamax models(1975- let's say 1982) were really big/heavy/ugly. *** However, SL-C9ES from 1983 is a gorgeous looking electronic device! It looked great in 1983 and it looks great/modern even today: 40 years later..........

There's a loose screw lying on the inside of the machine.

10:22 'I wouldn't call it wow, it doesn't WOW me at all!'

It looks even bigger than my family's first Betamax recorder, a Sanyo Betacord 9300PN monster my brother bought around 1982.

Heavy means quality, not the "made in China" stuff that we are so accustomed to in this day and age. That VCR has historical value, you probably could see if you could have that plastic part 3D printed or machined to get this one working.

Dang!! That thing is heavier than a 1st generation Mac Pro!

11:02 And that lonely screw being left behind...😛

You never met Sony's Umatic machines then, which make that look positively lightweight and portable, even the last models that they made are almost the same size and mass as the original ones. I have some VHS Panasonic machines, which are a lot lighter, and even have the autochanger for them as well. Well worn heads, which only is a problem in playback, but for them as duplicators it was not too much of an issue. VHS stereo, and could do regular and SVHS as well, plus had no issue putting Macrovision onto the tapes as well if the original has this on it.

3:49 People trying to connect their phone to speakers via this machine be like: *It's free real estate* (no offence).

that is called wow and flatter.

That plastic arm would probably be quite simple for a company to mill out of metal for you as a replacement. Someone could probably 3D print one also if a metal arm would be too stiff and risk damaging other parts. Of course whether it's worth it depends on what other problems it also has.

You got a video (of sorts) out of it. I say now that it has fullfilled its duty to the channel sell it on ebay as a non-working or parts unit. Either that or trash it and keep the TV tuner knobs and the VU meter.

Looks cool at least

I think it is beatiful piece of human effort to achieve something... anyway, you did not mentioned what American industry deployed, at the same year? Something better?

These Beta units were big and heavy because Sony just took the guts from their U-Matic (3/4") units and stuck a smaller transport in it and voila!, they had a home or small office model. This went on for a few years until competition from VHS made them design lighter and more compact actual Beta machines. I dealt with them back in the day as a service tech.

If it upsets you so much, i'm sure there is a dumpster that would love to eat it, yum yum lol :-D And i thought my old piano key Jvc hr3320 ek vhs machine was big.

That looks almost exactly like the U-matic machine my grade school had.

I still have few units of these Kind of machine. Yeah you’re right it’s very very heavy and bulky! We might injured ourselves moving these things! Ha....

ask AvE to machine a new part :D (or let it 3D printed or machined by some viewers). Sadly I am still building up my tools (&skills) to machine metal parts, otherwise I would have done it.

1977 and just one plastic broken. This machine is nothing less than an evidence of finest engineering. Will our iPhone work after 50 years? Our LCD? Not sure why you are so mad?

11:02 you did see the screw, right?

Early Sony Betamax machines were just as big & heavy in the UK, although they look very different & do not have a VHF tuner. Personally I prefer these to the later machines that were mainly made of plastic & more prone to break.

They were back breaking heavy

How do you like the Panasonic Pv-1200?

Umatic machines were common in the 70s so I can only assume they designed this to resemble one of those.

From memory, it seems that's a belt issue during playback. Our old SL7ME had such issue every few years.

However, the BetaMax VS VHS debate, and the claim that BetaMax would have been overwhelmingly better, is actually mostly only a myth. Maybe the BetaMax had a slightly, but only slightly better image quality because the BetaMax had a bigger video-head drum. But they did some improvements to VHS recorders during the 80s, including picture enhancement circuits, so by the end of the 80s, probably VHS has overcome BetaMax and had a slightly better picture quality.

you probably didn't exist when this VCR was on the market

Did you ever get the part or fix it.

Also the lack of BII/BIII speed should be a dealbreaker

Again, just and JUSTLY relax, and remember that Sony isn't only about Betamax , but also about ALPHA Audio input...Besides isn't the Siamese (as in 2) fighter fish' scientific name BETTA (with 2 Ts) SPLENDENS?...Remain chill, calm and carry on...yet Shema!!!

the same as the 7200 i have one of these

You'll be in the shower and the fix will come to you. Can you see what's worn or broken on the bad part? 3D printing solution?

Was that in the ancient tombs of Egypt 5000 years. Lol 😊

This loading mechanism is an over engineered mess. VHS is complicated enough, but compared to this it's pure simplicity.

Did you really censor out "Hate?" Its not even a cuss word.

hi did you know the tc755 has big long belt as well i have this deck was my first 10'5s sony used alot of long belts in some deck i pleased sony went on to better video deck the hi-fi decks were not that good as people use betacam in them and wear down head faster brother had a video tec that used to take old video decks a part not good as you don't know now long the life was going to be

easy enough to repair if parts can be found last one i serviced was about 15 years ago

it's not that silly betacam sp are more heavy the betacam sound better

What? D-VHS on an ancient Betamax?

Maybe 12voltvids can help you out.

Local 58 channel... 😆

Yeah, I guess the design is dumb if it doesn't last to perform flawlessly after 43 years. And 30+ years after the format died. /S

Wow is slowdown and flutter is speedup from what I remember.

I can see 2 potentially big reasons off this player not working properly. 1. You aren’t using a Sony monitor. 2. You are trying to play VHS stuff on a Beta 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

it is big exuse why is so heavy because before was only reel to reel videos and you should try weight of these ones. And it is stupid compare 1970 VCR to 30 years younger CD

No views 1 Minute Ago ... damn I'm early for once.

why you don’t buy a 3-D printer and 3-D print all of the parts you need? at least try that.

Gahhhhh... the type nerd in me hates you for using Papyrus. XD

Blue sanyo capacitors are bad

Your videos frustrate the fuk outta me. So many questions... DVHS promo from late 90s... on a Beta tape... in a deck from 1977? Huh? That’s the least of it. It’s as if you identify all the salient points, then intentionally skip past them in favor of reciting the button labels for us. Sorry, I love this old tech, but, I rage every time I watch your videos.

Capstan belt needs replacing