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Post by TV's Cowboy on Sept 9, 2014 18:28:56 GMT -5
My workplace had a Beta VCR they wanted to get rid of so I was willing to take it off their hands. Anything you suggest I should do with it? A part of me was wondering if I can start a mini collection of Beta tapes.
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Post by Mod City on Sept 9, 2014 20:37:54 GMT -5
I actually have a couple of Beta machines amongst my outdated electronics stash. A Zenith and a Sanyo, I believe. Neither work 100 percent, but obviously it's a nostalgia thing for me. I watched and recorded a lot of stuff with the Zenith growing up, and I picked up the Sanyo early in the days of eBay for hell of it. They're only getting older and there are far fewer of them out there than their VHS cousins. Far, far fewer. Was your workplace using it or was it in a closet somewhere and they just wanted to get rid of it? Some of the higher-end pro models can still be found where video broadcasting is done, though they've been being phased out now for decades. And heck, check eBay for tapes. I'm sure they're out there. And you'll be able to say you watch movies on Beta. Take that, hipsters  |
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Post by TV's Cowboy on Sept 9, 2014 21:39:23 GMT -5
Yeah it was just in a closet alongside some outdated laptops. They weren't using it and I don't think they would have much use for it. Far as I know they didn't have any beta tapes on hand.(plus I think it was in that same corner gathering dust for years).
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Post by Skyroniter on Sept 10, 2014 11:51:59 GMT -5
Use it as a boat anchor!
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Post by TV's Cowboy on Sept 10, 2014 15:34:24 GMT -5
^
Good idea. Now I just need a boat.
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Sept 12, 2014 19:17:54 GMT -5
Ooh, I'm jealous. I've heard that Betas actually had a superior film quality to the VHSs, but was never able to compare to see if it was true or if it was just hype.
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Post by Mod City on Sept 13, 2014 18:53:01 GMT -5
Ooh, I'm jealous. I've heard that Betas actually had a superior film quality to the VHSs, but was never able to compare to see if it was true or if it was just hype. In general it was true, but obviously we're still talking standard definition 80's technology film quality. That's one of the reasons many television studios and the like used Beta instead of VHS. Machines like this, which is actually a digital Beta unit, can still go for $1,000 or more if in good working condition. They're often really nice as professionals generally used to keep their equipment in good working order.  Tapes didn't have as much recording time, though, I want to say around three hours at the most, at least with consumer models, but I'd have to look back. |
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Sept 17, 2014 13:37:12 GMT -5
Considering how bad film quality could get if I used the 6 hour format on most VHS tapes, it doesn't sound like that huge of a loss.
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