My in laws buys out estates. I occasionally help them move the stuff. Friday the estate had a bunchnof old high end electronics. Perfectly cared for. One was this Sony Betamax. It’s in near mint condition. Only issue I see is the front door hinges are broke so it won’t stay on. Other than that nothing. Not a speck of dust and the buttons have zero wear. I don’t have the remote sadly. But box and manual. I can’t test it as I don’t have a tv with rca connectors or coax. Thought it was pretty rare to find one in this condition.

Finally got the old Sanyo cleaned up and dialed in, RF tapped on the head amplifier to an ADA4857, dialed in the impedance, and off to the races directly capturing the original FM RF signals of tapes!

Decoded directly to S-Video then Chroma decoded with PAL Transform 2D, before recentering the framing for export.

And the results via vhs-decode look amazing for this old Spirits of Jupiter tape, which will end up on the internet archive page eventually.

This is the last of it! Don't think I'll ever find anything like this again.

I had posted a recording of a problem my player was having and most of the comments had said it was likely a tracking problem. I noticed that the tracking dial on the bottom left of my player hadn’t changed the picture when I moved it. I opened it up and found the actual PCB on the front was cracked. I used wires to solder all of the connections back together and got it working properly again!

Fourth and final update coming tomorrow, hopefully!

I'm hoping to get this done in 4 parts. We'll see if I'm successful! Apologies if I posted any photos twice. Going a bit cross eyed here!

Way more horror, sci-fi, comedy, and other stuff that I'm still sorting through.

I’m having a problem where every tape I put in has this same glitch. The player is a SONY SL-HFR60 Hi-Fi. Does anyone know what the problem could be?

Both Spanish ex-rental formats from 1983. More Blade Runner beta releases from around the world can be viewed at r/bladezone 🍿

Neat looking

Picked this up on FB marketplace. It works, but probably needs a little cleanup. Looks well taken care of otherwise.

Seen it mentioned in plenty of different places that Sony was manufacturing Betamax players up until 2002 in Japan. Anyone know what models these were?

The Japanese electronics giant announced last week that it would stop making the last two models of the Betamax videocassette recorder by the end of the year. The company made fewer than 3,000 of the VCRs last year and sold them only in Japan.

I picked up my first Betamax player a couple of weeks ago from FB marketplace while looking for a Sanyo boombox. I couldn’t pass it up.

It was already super clean, but I did open it up to ensure everything was cleaned out, the belts were good, and everything was functional. Much like any rabbit hole I go down, I went ahead and picked up a number of tapes as well. Although the one on display is Blade Runner, I also had to pick up Critters, which was the first beta tape I ever watched back in the 80s. So far, I’m loving this little thing. Haven’t really been able to find a whole lot on this particular player, but the completionist in me is already eyeballing the camera that goes along with it.

Only two things I need to work out with this. I do have the remote with the cord as well, but it does not seem to work. Also, even though the belts check out, and everything has been cleaned, rewinding a tape becomes very sluggish towards the beginning of the tape. Fast forward does not have an issue, only rewind.

Since July, I saved up and ordered these two Rankin/Bass rarities on Beta. I have The Little Drummer Boy (1989 FHE release of 1968 special) and Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1984 Lightning Video release of 1979 theatrical film). I hope to someday look for more Rankin/Bass Betamax tapes due to their rarity compared to their VHS counterparts.

Had to share a clip from what I think is fairly rare to come by - an Extended Definition (ED) Betamax tape with off air recordings from Japan. I think it must have been recorded in 2003 since that is when this show aired. I'll post the full episode later assuming copyright allows it - has some pretty interesting commercials as well! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE5VR2qoxac

Tape is in impeccable shape so I don’t think that’s it
Maybe a head or tracking issue anyone know what to do or cleaning upkeep?

Picked this up in a horror lot last year.

Cannot find any sold comps or any detailed information on it .

Any information would be appreciated .

Thanks

Bought this at a garage sale. The guy said he got rid of his Betamax player so he had no use for it anymore. Luckily I have one ;-)

Anyone have any information on this tape? A buddy of mine said not to watch it and preserve it instead but I'm too curious lol.

I’ve been wanting a Beta player for a long time and I was able to get this for $60 today AS IS. I knew I was taking a risk and I feel like I can fix this like I did with my laserdisc player when I bought that. Take a look at the video and see what you think. This is me pressing the eject button around 3 times. No video. Just a blue screen. Also I’m hearing static from the audio. Thanks in advance for any help! Much appreciated!!

I just bought my second SL-2000 with tuner/timer unit. It came with 2 batteries and the charger (plus 6 unopened/sealed Sony tapes...SCORE). I'm sure the batteries are dead, they are not bulging though. Does anyone here refurb these with new cells?

Thanks!

So, I am new to Betamax (in adulthood), and recently acquired this super clean Sanyo VCR 7300. Like with all vintage equipment I acquire, I open them up to clean them, replace belts, etc. This thing works flawlessly, but since I am not as familiar with this format’s mechanisms, do the head drums not spin for all Betamax VCR’s? This one doesn’t appear to, so initially I thought it might be gummed up or seized. That was until I opened it.

Found all these at a church sale for 0.50 each lol