Sony SL-5800 Betamax VCR (from 1980) 

I had a Sony SL-5400 that was VERY similar to this model, of course it didn't have all the "bells and whistles" that this one has. However it had an amazing picture and loved to play old tapes in pretty high quality with very minimal drop-outs. It's nice to see that there are some people out there still fixing these tanks. I also liked the intro and outro Billy Joel - My Life....Very nice touch!!

this reminds me so much of my sanyo vtc 9300! The model has a bad reputation, but mine works perfectly and to service the belts was so easy. One motor runs everything with the big belt (as you describes).

Point of interest: the bightness Balance was added on later models of the 5800. which was the ONLY Betamax to have that feature. Later models had a 'still frame adjust' button, but it didn't control flicker (which was gone by then on still-frames.)

Got one of these at the thrift store for $15 a few days ago. Neat to learn some things about it! All the belts and such look perfect inside, I'm kinda shocked haha.

I saw one of these at a business called Summit Video in Lee's Summit, MO last month. They have it on display but use it to do the odd transfer. Back in 1980, instead of Facebook, you would go and visit your friends at their houses and see one of these in their living room.

Has one of the coolest names for any beta machine: “Time Commander.” I love mine, the thing is a tank, I actually have 2, been trying to find the right fuse to replace on my second one.

Great work, I can't wait for the next video. I need to find some time (and confidence) to try to fix my Akai VHS from 1987 that I grew up with it. I found the same mold under the dry belt.

Removing mustiness is not easy, but it can be done. Here are some mold-cleaning observations, which may or may not help at all. A bath of isopropyl alcohol or a good spraying of it does help. Worked well on speaker grills that had been stored in a moist cellar somewhere for years. Doesn't work well on paper though. What did work surprisingly well on a musty old book that I bought, was using a hairdryer with hot air on it. Ten to fifteen minutes of hot air and most of the moldy smell was gone. I did not expect that to work as well as it did. Anyway: Death to Mold!

Separate real table motor is for better reliability and serviceability along with minimizing wear on the head drum bearings.

The service manual for the 5800 you can find online has the old βetamax logo printed on it so it's expected that it doesn't mention the brightness balance control. Production of this model ended in 1982 so that control might very well only exist in those later-production examples.

Try playing a βI tape. The manual suggests that review, cue, still-frame, and other trick-play features will not work on βI. What happens if you try using them? Thank you for demonstrating the trick-play features with a CRT screen. Many flat-panel screens will black out the picture if the image is not stable. Also, I have noticed that some picture-bending or flagging effects (seen in review/cue on the VHS LP mode and two-head Betamaxes on βII) appear on CRTs but not on some flat-panel screens. Showing this on a CRT gives a better idea of what it was like to use this machine in the past.

Good morning video

Fantastic piece of technology. Obsolete yes, but just look at it. All those electronic components, motors, belts, levers, cogs and whatnot working together, it just boggles the mind.

Tenho um igual,e que aqui em Portugal não foi comercializado. Betamax Sempre!

Vintage's series from sony beta vcr

Excellent video, I congratulate you, and I want to ask you for help, I have a model just like yours and the problem I have is that every time I load the cassette, the video starts and after a while it stops and the tape gets tangled inside the Betamax. When it comes out of the cassette deck it does not come out completely rolled up. I appreciate your help.

I have no idea if that model can play Hi-Fi tapes properly but ours was a Sony SL-5400 and when I played tapes recorded with Hi-FI audio the picture is distorted.

I wish VHS and Betamax merged into one technology prior to the introduction of VCD & DVD... Too bad...

Hey, Thank you very much for the video! It is super helpful. I have the same machine, I bought it for about 10 USD, It was completely dead, but now I can see images. The audio was not working before I watched this video, I tried the switch pressing and it worked!, but when it was released the sound went away again. I sprayed cleaning contact on it, but I still got the same behavior. How do you manage to keep the switch in the right position? I hope you can help me with that, thanks!

I have a VR 9760 zenith beta vcr do you know where I can get a manual for this. Do I need a plug for ac outlet in order for it to work

I. Just got 6800 model but I can't get it to take up tape or return it without help manually can you help?

How many belts used in this model Beta machine?

What is the ac outlet

When I was 14 a mate had seriously minted parents that were utter b'stards that bought everything they could just to stop interacting with their kid. They had one of these monsters and a stack of snuff movies that we would watch over and over. No wonder I'm fcked up 50 years later...

There is no Indexing on this machine....that came later.