While fixing my frinds Sony SL-HF100UB HiFi Audio Betamax video recorder, I thought I'd show you how I did it, and also explore the VHS Betamax Video Tape Format wars of the 1970s 1980s. All in 10 minutes - Hope its not too boring!! I actually scripted this one! Massive thanks to Wikipedia and Google for all the amazing information available online when researching this! The music is not copyright.
1975 saw the birth of Sony's Betamax. This was followed by the competing VHS format from JVC in 1976 almost 1 year later. Subsequently, the Betamax-VHS format war began.
While VHS machines' lower retail price was a major factor, the principal battleground proved to be recording time. The original Sony Betamax video recorder could record for only 60 minutes, JVC's VHS could manage 120 minutes, followed by RCA's entrance into the market with a 240-minute recorder using VHS. These challenges sparked a mini-war to see who could achieve the longest recording time.
When home VCRs started to become popular in the UK, the main issue was one of availability and price. VHS machines were available through the high street rental chains such as Radio Rentals, while Beta was seen as the more upmarket choice for people who wanted quality and were prepared to pay for it. By 1980, out of an estimated 100,000 homes with VCRs, 70% were rented since a lot of money (about £2000) could be spent on a system which might become obsolete.
The main determining factor between Betamax and VHS was the cost of the recorders and recording time. Betamax is, in theory, a superior recording format over VHS due to resolution (250 lines vs. 240 lines), slightly superior sound, and a more stable image; Betamax recorders were also of higher-quality construction. However, these differences were negligible to consumers, and thus did not justify either the extra cost of a Betamax VCR or Betamax's shorter recording time.
The VHS technology was licensed to any manufacturer that was interested. The manufacturers then competed against each other for sales, resulting in lower prices to the consumer. Sony was the only manufacturer of Betamax initially, and so was not pressured to reduce prices. Only in the early 1980s did Sony decide to license Betamax to other manufacturers, such as Toshiba and Sanyo.
By the time Sony made these changes to their strategy, VHS dominated the market, with Betamax relegated to a niche position. Beta sales dwindled away and VHS emerged as the winner of the format war. The video format war is now a highly scrutinized event in business and marketing history, leading to a plethora of market investigations into why Betamax failed. What Sony did not take into account was what consumers wanted.
By 1988, Beta format was officially declared dead without any more new models released. Sony began to assemble and market its first VHS machines. Sony also had good success with VHS by the mid-1990s. It was clear that the Beta format was dead - at least in Europe and North America.
Made In Japan, the SONY SL-HF100UB was one of only two Hi-Fi (high Fidelity sound) Betamax recorders released by Sony in the UK domestic market. Cosmetically it is a stylish looking font loading machine. One oddity is that it has a transparent window in the lid to allow observation of the cassette. It has all the timer and play record controls of a typical video recorder. The extras functions of the unit are some sliders for setting the audio levels and some LED bar meters to show stereo channel audio levels. What made this unit special was its audio quality as can be seen by a massive blue sticker on the top of the unit comparing Betamax hi-fi to other systems such as open reel tape recorders and fm/am radio.
The TV tuning controls are under a panel on the top of the unit. These offer a test signal and auto-tune functionality.
On the rear of the unint a radio frequency Gain switch marked as "DX/Local" is present next to the TV aerial connectors. There are connectors for video in and out and stereo audio in and out. A sony specific camera remote connector and a 6 pin DIN AV connector are there for remote control and signal transfers, also a separate power switch to turn the unit on.
Lets see what happens when we power this unit up and try to put a tpe in.
System
Video recording system
Rotary two-head helical scanning
Audio recording system
Beta hi-fi PAL system (2 channels)
(Recording on the conventional audio is monoaural.)
Video signal
CCIR standards, PAL colour
Aerial input
75-ohm, asymmetrical aerial socket
Channel coverage
UHF: Western European channels
E21 - E68
(Up to 12 programmes can be preset.)
RF output signal
UHF channels E30 to E39 (variable)
75 ohms, unbalanced
Video
Horizontal resolution
260 lines
Massive thanks to Wikipedia and Google for all the amazing information available online when researching this!
22 авг 2020
