I managed to pick up an SL-HF300 for $60 on eBay including shipping due to the seller being in the same state as me. I did a video on mine but there's not much to see about it because it worked without any problem. Amazing how reliable this old Beta machines are.
Found your video and looked on my slhf 900 and the spring post was broken. Put the spring in the hole and walaa now the unit works. Thanks for the video! 5:10
Holy shit you are a lifesaver! I just bought a Sony Betamax sl-20 at an antique market and it was having the same issues. When you noticed that tiny spring was off I went and checked mine and sure enough, it had the same problem. Popped that sucker back on, popped a tape in and it works! I haven’t hooked it up to a tv yet and troubleshooted any other potential issues but just to be able to play a tape is a win for me.
They can have their quirks but, in all, I like the 711 chassis. Never owned an SL-HF300, though I've fixed a couple before. But I have owned an SL-HF400. For those wondering, the HF400 is basically the same as the HF300, but with SuperBeta and MTS reception capability (stereo TV).
@@12voltvids Exactly. Used the same 711B2 chassis, but added SuperBeta and MTS reception capability. I used to own one. Wound up selling it. My working machines are an SL-2400, SL-2710, SL-HF550, SL-HF750, SL-HF900, 2x SL-HFR70, a Zenith VR8900W, and a Toshiba V-S44C. I certainly need another Beta like an Eskimo needs a freezer.
Boy for every tough job, you get lucky and have one of these simple fixes. Other than the sensor board hitting the spring, I think that tis problem is solved. Maybe cleaning the heads and guides, this job is ready to button up.
Very helpful, thank you. On my side, the sensor still has the spring attached to the plastic part BUT the sensor just doesn't move at all. So it's always on the 'loaded' position. Do you have an idea what can cause that?
I have two Beta 450 and 3030, they worked fine 2 years ago but now they both won't load - tape simply does not go down as if there were no power, what causes the problem and where is the stopper to force down in place? I bought the 3030 brand new in 2012 so wear out is not an issue. Any suggestion?
I have an HF500 where the tape will not go down. You push the tape in, but the motors never start to take in down. Any ideas? I made sure the switch on the side that gets pressed by the gear is clean and reading 0ohm while pushing the switch. What should happen next and what could prevent it? I'd appreciate any help!
Can I send you my SL-HF1000…same exact issue but the spring that is pointed out is intact. Was working fine for months, did a move and I guess something happened while boxed up. At my wits end. In YVR.
I picked up 3 working good condition sony betamax hf3000 from japan recently to use in Australia cheaper than a hifi PAL unit (PAL betas are over priced and lack features) and 3rd of the price of a hf1000 which i don't understand why they are so expensive for the same machine only difference i see is the back in Japanese
Beta always had a better picture than VHS due to the larger scanner drum diameter. Larger drum means faster head to tape speed. Higher writing speed means more information can be written.
@@12voltvids Also, Beta used a color carrier frequency of 688kHz instead of 627kHz on VHS, so the color reproduction was slightly better than VHS. Beta was also better with HiFi sound as there was enough bandwidth to record the AfM sound using 2 heads, VHS had to use 4 heads for HiFi.
@@KylesDigitalLab The reason that VHS used 629 khz was more for legal reasons. When Sony, Matsushita, Toshiba, Sanyo and JVC were all co-devoloping the home VCR Sony set the standard to the same as 3/4"Umatic, 688Khz. and devoloped the scanner size accordingly. They worked on both the M and U threading mechanisms. Sony recommended that everyone adopt their Beta system over the other proposed systems. Sanyo also had their own system that was very similar to Beta that they ended up marketing briefly as Vcord. It used a beta type U load, but the tape looked more like an 8 track and the tape wound the oposite way more like Umatic with take up on left. The decision was made to go with a single standard, Betamax. Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo signed on. Panasonic and JVC also gave the Beta system the nod. Unbeknownst to Sony and the others JVC and tehor parent company Matsushita decided to go with the M loading system most likely because they did not want to license it from Sony who had devoloped it along with Umatic. The made the scanner slightly smaller and changed the chroma record frequency as well as changed the azimuth of the heads by 1 degree each. Enough that it would not infringe on Sony's patents. Then JVC took credit for the theft of the century and handed out basically free licences to everyone and his brother that wanted to build a factory to make VHS.
