Old Beta Players

[Deej]

Susan wrote:

>  My folks still have their first VCR, even tho it's broken and a tape is
> stuck in it..I guess when you pay that much for something it's
> hard to let go. Hell they still have their original stereo
> equipment from the early 70's. They just don't make things as
> durable and dependable as they used to.
>

My parents still have their  first Microwave! A huge, great, bulky beast circa 1982. They've kept it around because" Hey, still works like new". But, it doesn't!! You see, you have to puse like a bastard on the buttons, and it continues microwaving even when the door is open! I'm certain that's not healthy!

Now...as to the topic. My old man bought a Beta around '85-'86, convinced it was the wave of the brave new future. He'd rent a title on beta and copy onto vhs. Seems like it was around '87 or '88 when you just couldn't find a beta flick, either in shops or catologues. Their beta machine is long gone, but for some reason, they still have a beta copy of Blue Thunder!!!

[Susan]

>>My parents still have their first Microwave! A huge, great, bulky beast circa 1982<<

Mine kept theirs until just a few years back - that thing was great and I haven't seen microwaves that big since (which is too bad since they are generally too small as it is) They bought one of those radiation detectors that you could hold against it to see if it was leaking- which it never was. It worked perfectly until they got rid of it too, the only reason they did is because they wanted to get one of those that sat over the stove.  The funny thing is I remember when we first got that microwave it was so novel me and my brother had mischevious shanannagans with putting stuff in there we weren't supposed to.

>>My old man bought a Beta around '85-'86, convinced it was the wave of the brave new future.<<

Really? I thought they were on their way OUT in the mid 80's

[Jim H]

Beta was starting to lose ground in the mid 80s, but it really didn't start to totally die until the early 90s.

[regan]

Here in Australia Beta went out early 80's - but yes, Beta is the better. Learnt this at an appenenticeship at a tv  station - where they still use Beta.

[kenman]

if anyone can help me my wifes grand father needs a beta video tape plaer. he has soo many tape & wishes to watch them. it would be too costly to convert them.
is there a site that has some new or used plaers? you would think sny has a warehouse packed with these 1950 john deer tracktors. please help an old man.
thanks, kenman.

[Michael]

Deej wrote:
> still works like new". But, it doesn't!! You see, you have to
> puse like a bastard on the buttons, and it continues
> microwaving even when the door is open! I'm certain that's not
> healthy!


Deej,

This is very dangerous!  They have a bad disconnect switch in the door
that they should fix.  A guy on another forum accidently microwaved his
hand for just a few seconds because of a problem like this and severely
damaged his hand.

I know, you wouldn't think a few seconds would do any damage but
his hand is really messed up!

Just thought you should know,
Mike

[JohnL]

>if anyone can help me my wifes grand father needs a beta video tape plaer. he
>has soo many tape & wishes to watch them. it would be too costly to convert
>them.
>is there a site that has some new or used plaers? you would think sny has a
>warehouse packed with these 1950 john deer tracktors. please help an old man.

Can't help you out with where to buy a player, but if he does get one, I'd recommend that you hook up some other type of recorder (VHS, DVD etc) and have him copy each tape as he watches it. Eventually, you won't be able to get a Beta machine anywhere.

[The Burgomaster]

My parents still have the Beta machine that they bought me for Christmas some where between 1979 and 1981.  The machine weighs about 1,000 pounds and is an eye-sore.  My mother wants to get rid of it, but my father won't part with it.  He saves everything.  He still has a stack of electronics trade magazines from the 1960s!  Anyway, he has about 6 movies on Beta (all recorded from TV, I think).  He keeps saying, "I still watch these tapes occasionally." (He doesn't).  Someday, that machine will be worth $1 million, and we will all consider my father to be a genius for saving it.

[Yaddo42]

Glad now my parents made the VHS choice when the VCR wars were raging, they already made the mistake of going with 8-tracks rather than cassettes when we bought a home stereo. I remember our video store was one of the few that had a better selection of beta movies than VHS, except most of the kids videos were VHS. I even remember when they had their "great beta tape sell off" around 86 or 87.

I loved the "Cowboy Bebop" episode where that tape came for Faye and Spike and Jet had to go hunting around in the bowels of some building on the ruined Earth looking for a VCR, thinking they were all the same when they found them. Only to have to go back and get another one, once Ed pointed out they had the wrong format.

[Mitch McAfee]

">Here in Australia Beta went out early 80's - but yes, Beta is the better. Learnt this >at an appenenticeship at a tv station - where they still use Beta."

Regan, I grew up in Melbourne & my Dad bought a Betamax VCR in 1984 & we continued renting Beta movies up until at least 1988.

Yes you are sort of right in saying television stations use Beta..... except they don't use the domestic Beta like we all did in the 80's, which was Betamax BTW, the industry standard for well over a decade is/was BetaCAM SP, which I still shoot on occassionally (I'm a freelance cinematographer). The tapes look the same, they just run at a faster speed.

Can I ask what was your apprenticeship?

[trekgeezer]

Beta would've been the better choice had Sony licensed the technology, but they decided to go the way Apple did and stay proprietary.  This is why it died. JVC licensed to everybody.

[john]

does anyone know where i can find a beta player??  i need to play 2 old beta tapes i have

[Menard]

Flea markets, vendor's malls, and eBay are places I would check. Since the older Beta players are generally heavy, be prepared to pay hefty shipping if you get one on eBay.

You might also check at Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift stores, or any thrift store like them.



Post Edited (04-10-05 18:28)

[Archivist]

In the early 80's my Dad and I would go to the video store on a regular basis, usually each week, and borrow some action blockbuster, weird scifi or B-grade martial arts flick (my Dad has cool taste in movies).

Over a period of a few months,  I noticed that certain movies were ONLY on Beta.

"Dad," I said, "Maybe we should get a Beta video?  We could watch THIS movie!"

"No way," he snorted.  "The titles are limited and Beta is on its way out.  You just watch, it'll be gone in another few years."

We never bought a Beta, but we did have a very large National VHS that worked for years and years after we got it.

Now there are DVD HDD recorders that do everything I've ever wanted to do, with the exception of recording three stations at once.  Cut, edit, super fast forward, instant playback, no messing around with video tapes, no quality degradation over repeated viewing, near-instant permanent backup on DVD, preview of whatever you've recorded, plug in the DVcam and burn home movies for everyone...

Ah, technology...

~Archivist~