The Betamax With Only One Speed - Total Ripoff

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Explore the orgins of Sony's Video World with this classic Sony SLO-320 Betamax VCR from 1977. The first Betamax introduced in the United States was the LV-1901 console, which included a 19-inch (48 cm) color monitor, and appeared in stores in early November 1975. The cassettes contain 0.50-inch-wide (12.7 mm) videotape in a design similar to that of the earlier, professional 0.75-inch-wide (19 mm), U-matic format. Betamax is obsolete, having lost the videotape format war to VHS. Production of Betamax recorders ceased in 2002; new Betamax cassettes were available until March 2016, when Sony stopped making and selling them. (from Wikipedia)
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2 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 111

@toasTr0n 7 лет назад

Great video! 2 other things that might be fun to mention: 1. This model actually DOES have mechanical piano key controls, but they're inside and not user-accessible! There are 4 "keys" at the front of the unit under the cassette carriage. Each one is operated by a separate solenoid depending on which "soft touch" switch button you press on the front. I assume this transport was either used with both styles of buttons or adapted from an older design with piano keys on the top/front. 2. This VCR is old enough that it uses no microprocessors whatsoever to control the transport functions. It's all discrete TTL logic and timers.

@theannoyedmrfloyd3998 3 года назад

Beta 1 is commercial Betamax. Showbiz Pizza Place used a Beta 1 player for their Family Vision video drop-down screen between Rockafire Explosion shows. It was wired up to a box which used black screen video to trigger when it was supposed to start and stop. It usually worked... A local discount department store used a Beta 1 player for training videos. I was thankfully allowed to use it to copy a couple Beta 1 tapes I had borrowed and returned. I recorded them to a TDK Super Avylin VHS tape in SP. It was the best I could get at the time.

@databits 3 года назад

TDK Super Avylin was great.

@wildbilltexas 7 лет назад

Great Demo! When my family bought our first VHS deck in 1984 all our freinds had VHS so that's what we bought. A friend who bought his VCR in 1979 told me a blank tape used to sell for $20-to-25.

@databits 7 лет назад

Yes, tapes were a bit pricey back then! Blank or pre-recorded.

@wildbilltexas 7 лет назад

But they were using high quality tape made in Japan or the USA. By the mid 80's the prices for blank tapes dropped to where you could get two tapes for around 7 to 10 dollars. But many brands had switched manufacturing to Korea and unfortunately their tape quality wasn't as good. I bought a lot of Polaroid VHS tape back then because it was inexpensive. Now watching them 30+ years later some of those tapes have bad video noise. And they've been sitting in a box for years.

@glennmillerfan 7 лет назад

That is the same reason my parents went with VHS (they purchased their first VCR, the Magnavox VR8415SL01 sometime between October of 1984 and April of 1985), though my dad's uncle was an early adopter of Betamax and bought his first Betamax (the Sl-7200) and a black and white camera in early 1977 (he switched over to VHS in 1983 or '84). Also, my mom said that Betamax recorders were usually a few hundred dollars more than VHS recorders as well (for example, my parents paid $450-500 for the Magnavox VR8415SL01, but a comparable Betamax VCR such as the SLHFR-30 or the SLHF-300 were closer to $700). Blank tapes and pre-recorded tapes were also still pricey in 1984 or 1985, as my mom recalls paying about $5-10 each for standard grade blank tapes and as much as $75 for pre-recorded tapes. *Edit: my mom told me that the aforementioned first VCR and blank tapes were a bit more expensive than I originally thought. My mom recalls paying closer to $600 for the Magnavox VR8415SL01 and $15-20 for standard grade T-120 blank tapes. To save money on blank tapes, my parents even bought some T-60 tapes, as they were less than $10 a piece at the time. It wasn't until the latter part of 1985 that blank tapes began to drop to less than $5-10 a piece at least in the area my parents lived (Central NJ).

@honestguy7764 5 лет назад

Yes! I remember that a kodak or tdk 180 vhs blank in 1985 was , in Spain, 3.000ptas (roughly 18€ or 21$) I remember it pretty well as my aunt bought to my brothers and I one tape each the following week we bought our Thomson (rebadged JVC) Vhs. That was a lot of money!,

@12voltvids 6 лет назад

I have a SLO340 portapak B1 deck, and the big brother a VO4800 portapak Umatic. I have a performance by Chuck Berry on 3/4"

@just_passing_through Год назад

Sony may very well have won the format war if they dud not ditch Beta I. They could have very easily kept Beta I compatibility when they introduced Beta II / III standards. Beta machines would then have had the best of both worlds… Beta II / III to compete with the recording/playback time of VHS, and still had the recording quality of Beta I which VHS could never match due to the slower tape speed.

@zshall48 7 лет назад

I completely cracked up when the demo tape started playing! The crazy speed and warped music and tracking along with the surprise was just too funny!

@databits 7 лет назад

Bring on the dudes doing bike stunts! haha

@fixman88 6 лет назад

Nice machine! I've heard of those but have never seen one in use before. The innards remind me a lot of the 1981 Zenith Video Director Betamax VCR I got in the late 1980s from my father. He had apparently got it from someone for free because it had been hit by a lightning-induced power surge and was dead. He replaced the power supply fuse and it fired right up. I used it up until the mid 1990s when believe it or not, I got a 1989 vintage Sony Betamax to replace it.

@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd 7 лет назад

Beta 1 was meant for commercial use, having a faster tape speed than Beta 2 and 3. Showbiz Pizza Place used this machine to play their pre-recorded Family Vision tapes. One local had a Beta 1 player for their training videos.

@PascalGienger Год назад

Beta 1 obviously had also a usable audio quality because of the higher speed of the tape.

@moshezaharia4666 7 лет назад

HI.Instability of picture is caused by bad electrolytic capacitors on the SERVO circuit.do these and your good to go. it is a well known problem.suspect any Sanyo capacitors, they are prone to fail and they DO fail.Best Regards,Moshe.

@crashbandicoot4everr 7 лет назад

moshe zaharia Could also be a tape path alignment issue.

@moshezaharia4666 7 лет назад

Absolutely right! another thing to observe is the pinch roller condition, cleaning the tape path completely.If you don't have an oscilloscope to align the enter and exit guides, you can use flashlight pointed at the tape while being played, and carefully align the guides (Enter and Exit) first to slightly press the tape, and then slowly back them up until the wrinkle just disappear and the tape is seated properly on the lower drum rail.good luck.Best Regards,Moshe.

@databits 7 лет назад

Thank you for the tip!

@clurkroberts2650 3 года назад

This recorder was intended for Industrial/ institutional applications. One speed, which played at the highest speed for the best quality, and to keep the tracking heads separated. Your demo tapes were made for non industrial home decks, don’t use the head cleaner unless they are clogged.. Wonderful deck. Just look for a low end Betamax deck. VHS didnt happen to win, they were willing to go low end quality and price. Customers wanted to record soap operas and begin the time shifting revolution.

@DesertPhxStudio 8 месяцев назад

This machine was not a consumer Betamax but an Industrial model. It only had Beta I speed, hence the fast playback of the pre-recorded tape. Consumer models after 1977 no longer had the ability to record or playback in Beta I speed, only the new Beta II speed and after about 1980, Beta II and III speeds. Most of the consumer Betas after about 1981 or '82 had Beta I playback capability but not record. It wasn't until 1987 that Sony made Beta I recording available again in a consumer model with the SLHF 1000.

@UkSkin 7 лет назад

OMG that thing is built like a tank! Puts the last VHS's off the production line to shame with all the nasty plastic mechanism's

@musicom67 7 лет назад

5:44 - The location of the RF input RIGHT NEXT to an AC outlet is mystifying. Anyone born in the 60's has seen this machine... NOTHING was better than a SONY in those days. Oh, Sony - what happened?

@honestguy7764 3 года назад

Or born in the late 70s for that matter

@ChristianPinnock-u5c 7 месяцев назад

They went into a abandoned mine the wobbly roof fell down 😂😂😂😂

@NatalieThress 7 лет назад

betamax cassettes look so much cooler than vhs

@drewgehringer7813 6 лет назад

a bit less practical in some ways, though. VHS letting you see both reels gives you a better idea of if a tape is fully rewinded or not.

@TheDzhoel 4 года назад

as far as i know, the majority of Beta machines only had B3 and B2 recording capabilities, and it was only the first machines that had B1 capability. I wouldnt call it a total ripoff, as its actually quite hard to find a machine that can record at the originally intended speed. It would be super handy to keep around especially for playing back 1975 and 1976 released titles.

@super-gerald 4 года назад

Oh I remember the 70's. We rented a Beta for a weekend to try it out. At the end of the weekend we were convinced we needed a VCR so we went out and bought a VHS machine. Hated hiw Beta tapes only had 1 window in them so you couldn't judge how much tape was left. RCA tapes; I remember buying packs of 5 or 6 at a time...VHS of course.

@peterp2626 6 лет назад

Thank you sir, this is the only recording at Beta 1 speed I could find on all of youtube.

@databits 6 лет назад

Thank you for the comment and for being a subscriber!

@warrenmacdonald1372 7 лет назад

Great memories. I had one of these, got it at a flea market . It only needed the tape counter wheel and belt replaced. I was always amused that its' model no. included the word SLO in it, as it ran at the fastest speed Beta ran at ( B1 40 mm/s ). If you ever come across a portable Sanyo or a full-sized Toshiba m/c and later Sony m/c's, note that the u-load system is backwards ( it's a mirror image of yours but everything is in exactly the same place, just backwards ( the tape is loaded from the left and loads clockwise ).

@gio048 7 лет назад

Betamax was such a better picture than VHS,but VHS was a lot thinner and less bulky,and you could record a lot more because the VHS tapes hold more tape.I think,but I definitely know the picture was a lot better. Thanks for posting this video,very entertaining 🍺🍺🍺

@marcusdamberger 6 лет назад

Later generation Beta's could also play back Beta I speed. But only record in Beta II and Beta III. The Beta camcorders (Betamovie) all recorded in Beta I speed, thus why all later Beta decks could play back all three Beta speeds. I remember my friends Toshiba could do that, and seeing the Beta I indicator light on was magical, you just never saw it unless you put in a tape that was recorded by a camcorder of the same era. The picture and color also looked a bit cleaner than Beta II speed. Movies only ever came out on Beta II and the L-750 tape solved the 2+ hour movie problem with its 3hr capacity at that higher quality speed. BTW, I remember using this deck for editing, you can connect two of these with an edit controller between and they are frame accurate.The blue "Remote" port at 4:52 is where the cable for the edit controller went. The "TV" port was used for the playback or record monitor separately and included audio in the 8 pin connector. The video out was fed to the other deck or a switcher effects box between. Later versions would have a "Dub" port for a cleaner pic and audio included. I suspect they sent the luminance and color separately like S-Video cables did on S-VHS decks. The pic always looked a little cleaner if you used Dub input instead of video input, but this was for professional applications. This deck probably was mostly used is corporate settings and community access, where I leaned to edit on one of these.

@abeleballestri612 7 лет назад

I have admired your nice demonstration on how a Betamax maschine inside and outside works. I have a number of recorded tapes Betamax but I do not have any b etamax videorecorder to watch them again. Do you know if it is possible to recover them ? Do you find still recorder which can reproduce them and how? I would be very grateful for a suggestion of yours.thank you for the interesting video.

@cbrstar7145 6 лет назад

As a BMX fanatic I would love seeing the rest of the vid of the kids doing tricks on the BMX bikes. There's not a lot of vids from the 80's of BMX bike riding.

@mixtapesforever1765 7 лет назад

i love this betamax

@RobertK1993 6 лет назад

VHS fanboys can't afford a high quality of Sony Betamax VCR.

@aaronbrandenburg2441 4 года назад

Hey remember when people used to use betamax for audio? Believe it or not that was a thing back then! Because he only Oconee was so good it was actually used for recording purposes! Buy some people. I don't know if ever there was an audio-only version or not but I think there may have been but take that with a grain of salt. Also cannot remember how audio is recorded on betamax either! Was it the same as VHS as in recorded linearly much like control track on VHS would be. Or is it recorded the same way stereo is on VHS on on the drum in the helical format like the video? Also not sure what in terms of modulation or whatever form is done in? Or even what particular type of tape is used in terms of equivalency of cassette warm other tape? And I'm also wondering about tape speed versus VHS as well? I know a lot about VHS but not a whole lot about betta. Also that connector that is the 8 Pin audio video connector does anyone have any information on that or when it's cold or the system is called in terms of video format or if there's a name for that particular type of connection system. Been trying to find that but unable to find it at all! I remember seeing that on all the equipment but had never seen it in use. But maybe once? This would have been back probably at least noemi's was the last time I saw it! Also will be interesting to know who makes the connector or did and any technical information. Haven't seen any sites reference this is that would have that type of information. So any info would be appreciated.

@ScottGrammer 2 года назад

It's a pro deck, and pro versions of home format machines often played only the top speed, because this is the only speed pros used. I have a Panasonic SG-7500A Pro VHS deck that only plays the two-hour (SP) speed. My other pro VHS deck plays the SP and EP speeds, but not the middle (LP, or 4-hour) speed.

@victorgolda 5 месяцев назад

Great video! I have a question because I have a Sony SL-340 Super Betamax playing in L-500 Beta Tape. It starts playing in BIII but couple of seconds later it switches to BI and the speed screws the entire video, just like you showed here. I'm trying to understand how the speed works and what can I do to play it with the right speed. Thanks in advance

@ed10523 7 лет назад

My Dad Owned a Betamax..We watched Michael Jackson's Thriller Video..on it..Oh where has the time gone.

@databits 7 лет назад

I have Thriller on CED.

@ruikazane5123 6 лет назад

1975 the Beta coupled with a Trinitron on a single cabinet

@CMILF 3 года назад

Yesterday, i was at a goodwill. I saw a betamax player, The Power cord was cutoff and there was dust all over. Atleast i saw a betamax.

@vintageceilingfans 4 года назад

I have similar i bought at a thrift shop.. Got it home and put a tape in it and it worked.. You need to double the volmue of you videos, I have to everything all the way up to barely hear u..

@pcallas66 7 лет назад

It looks like the U Matic threading system in reverse. Great video.

@tschak909 3 года назад

These SLO decks were made for semi-pro field use, and were not meant for consumer use at all.

@CoolDudeClem 3 года назад

I've never seen any Betamax with more than one speed, all of them I've seen (including the one we used to have back in the 80's) only had one speed.

@mrmagnetoscope 7 лет назад

A Beta1 VCR, almost all Beta VCRs can record the 2 other speeds and not Beta1. Do there actually exist Betamax VCRs that can record the 3 speeds? Also what happens when you play a Beta1 tape in a VCR that only records Beta2 and 3? I know that all VHS VCRs I have can play LP tapes even if most of them don't record in LP speed.

@marcusdamberger 6 лет назад

@buckfiden6227 6 лет назад

I have a Sony Super Beta Hi-Fi SL-750 & it can record on ALL 3 speeds. It was a High end model in 1986 (about $ 1600 new)

@montana01971 21 день назад

Beta I image quality was superb...look at the video.

@adrianoarnoldi9730 Год назад

Thanks for this demostration, i didn't know this type of videorecorder. Great video 👌😎

@electronicreviewer2541 7 лет назад

databits do you ever consider getting a dtv converter box that records to usb?

@dannyjaar Год назад

looks like the same tapeloop as a umatic machine i love beta and use it still 2023 every day with betacam tapes

@hollykorri8237 Год назад

I got pansonic ag196 vhs camcorder i try ep slp recroded tape in going back sp speed audio sped up

@nikoachtzehn4776 7 лет назад

Statistics-wise, how many of your audience were around in 1977? Not that many I presume.

@databits 7 лет назад

According to Google, the majority of my audience is between ages 25 and 34 years old. 2nd largest age range is 35 to 44 years. So quite a few actually.

@funkerella 6 лет назад

databits I'm 50... Can i have my own category Now...?😄

@aaronbrandenburg2441 4 года назад

I was around then

@gerrywade4482 Год назад

This machine was designed for professional duplicating environments. That's why it's a single speed machine. It's designed to record. Not really to playback.

@databits Год назад

Yeah, my response to the speeds was kind of tongue-in-cheek.

@shahabshahab635 4 года назад

Where to find Betamax VCR in libya .I am in dire need of it.

@hollykorri8237 Год назад

Pansonoinc ag196 vhs camcorder recrods and play sp speed

@samuelfellows6923 6 лет назад

I think the play/record head is the main drive motor as it has a centrifugal cooling fan on it - why it spins when playing/recording/FF/REW. Your other SONY beta machines have this fan on their drive motors? 😉

@ColinGilbert24 3 года назад

I had a Ferguson Videostar VHS VCR that had many different features including Audio dubbing and simulcast.

@AbdiPianoChannel 4 года назад

How many laptops will play anything 43 years from now.

@speedyboishan87 3 года назад

Hardly many, cheap capacitors, cheap resistors,

@kubbar 4 года назад

How u connect this old betamax player to lcd screen?

@KylesDigitalLab 4 года назад

The output jack is BNC but you can convert it to an RCA plug. Then you can just convert the signal to HDMI and display it.

@DAVIDGREGORYKERR 7 лет назад

It is most likely that the belt is old and needs replacing and fix the pinch roller assembly and see if that fixes the problem, it probably is that there is Macrovision record prevention circuits in the machine to prevent piracy.

@12av67 3 года назад

I have the SLO-323 and it works great. Just needed the counter belt replaced and needed a cleaning.

@MaximRecoil 6 лет назад

So that machine doesn't have a TV tuner? I didn't see an RF input on the back, only an RF output.

@databits 6 лет назад

Correct, no TV Tuner.

@dadautube 7 лет назад

just asking only because didn't see/hear you do or mention it in the video: before recording from the other VHS or whatever source onto the newly unpacked Betamax tape, did you fully wind the latter forward to the very end and then rewind to the very start in order to remove slacks that usually are the number one cause of 'jumps' and unwanted 'tracking marks' on the recorded video?

@databits 7 лет назад

Yes, I even tried completely new tape inside the cartridge.

@briandurant19791997 6 лет назад

I use to have a Beta VCR but not anymore . I do have a few Beta tapes . But I can not watch them because I do not have no Beta machine anymore

@hubzcaps 6 лет назад

Pretty slick lookin man.....i miss my vp9000 hi band u matic

@gamingmusicandjokesandabit1240 4 года назад

I guess you could say the other speeds were ripped off the list of features it has!

@MrGeoffHilton 6 лет назад

Thanks for your enthusiastic video, you do the things that I would've done thirty plus years ago, I can almost smell the inside of the machine!

@frazzleface753 6 лет назад

With VCRs, it seemed consumers had progressively less features to use as the years wore on.

@pHD77 7 лет назад

The rotating video head while rewinding or fast forwarding... If it's anything like my old front loading Beta, it was possible to do picture search while rewinding/fast forwarding by holding down the rewind/fast forward button.

@databits 7 лет назад

This one does not offer picture search. At least not with the front controls.

@tariqsurrani 6 лет назад

Where to find Betamax VCR in Pakistan. I am in dire need of it.

@BETAMAX19732 2 года назад

Great video!

@audiodood 4 года назад

what a ripoff

@evergriven7402 6 лет назад

I don't agree that this unit was a total ripoff ...

@patarrota1986 Год назад

Muy buena máquina

@crashbandicoot4everr 7 лет назад

On 14:30 the drum spins because it drives the reel idler using a belt!

@akella728 5 лет назад

i think that recap will solve problem with a glitch

@betaman7988 6 лет назад

European Betamax’s only play in B2 speed on all units.

@Classic689 7 лет назад

Today i Buy a Betamax player from a pawn shop.

@horrortimeproductions5504 6 лет назад

I remember my grandparents owning one of the very first JVC VHS machines. They often reused the same tape over and over, as they were 30 bucks. When the VCR was passed down to me, it was shot and needed a lot of maintenance. I was able to repair it but unfortunately the whole power supply died soon after. When it did work, the playback speed would constantly change back and forth. It only did this with tapes recorded in the 6 hour mode, 2 hour recorded tapes played okay but it looked poor. The machine had wood paneling, two huge knobs for UHF and VHF channels, then it had the top loading mechanism. The best part was, it ignored the macrovision copy protection and you could make perfect copies of movies. You would play the original tape on that VCR, then find another VCR to make the copy. The video output was clean of the macrovision signal, the tape I made still plays perfectly on all my machines. :)

@aaronbrandenburg2441 4 года назад

I had heard that some machines were kind of like that but most definitely I would just a fluke of a chance that that was because desire the circuitry cannot verify or confirm this.

@aaronbrandenburg2441 4 года назад

Also with the macrovision issue that probably was not intentional as well but who knows?

@horrortimeproductions5504 4 года назад

I think later on, VCRs had a security chip installed to prevent dubbing copyrighted movies. You could still copy them, but the video signal would be messed up. Although there was a cheap workaround for this, just increase your TV's brightness. Even if it gets too bright, the dim parts would look almost normal. Unless you had one of those copy protection removal boxes, which were sold at Radio Shack. Some VCRs had manual gain control, which is very rare but you could adjust it while dubbing. :P

@mixtapesforever1765 4 года назад

good vi deo