Dusting off a 1983 Sony SL-2710 Betamax

[@rottenandrude6669]

What a beautiful unit! Thanks for cleaning her up and sharing the joy with us. And I absolutely love the wood on the doors of the Closet of the Unknown!

[@crashbandicoot5091]

Cool video! You should find Mike and Jay from Lightning Fast VCR repair and show them how to actually fix a VCR.

[@fredfunk4049]

So cool to see others restoring and keeping old school technology alive. Have a realistic selectavision player i rebuilt 7 years ago. Now gummed up from setting a year and from myself smoking in home. Now i cant get it to cycle oast the removal of record caddy and the side A,orB light. Tray will not lower. A gummed up switch. But not knowing which. I redid both the belt on the tray lowering mechanism and one one the stylus tracking. Which was a big pain in the xxs. Many circuit boards to move aside. Wanta get back in action. Have close to 50 movies.

[@video99couk]

In NTSC countries, Beta HiFi audio was a fairly cheap upgrade so lots of machines have it. In PAL countries, Beta HiFi required extra heads in the same way as does VHS-HiFi, so in the 1980s it was a more expensive option and only a few select Sanyo and Sony models included Beta HiFi sound.

[@Gideondycus]

You’re basement is so cool I wish I had all those CRTs and VCRs maybe someday cause I’m already into that stuff and I’m 13 lol and I already have 2 VCRs 1 color crt it’s a 13 inch I think and 2 mini portable 5 inch CRTs and like 200 vhs tapes and a bunch of cassettes and players

[@vintagevideobasement]

Hey, that's awesome! Keep saving them. It's nice knowing more people are enjoying these old machines.

[@BobbyS1981]

Excellent to see young people discovering what used to be ordinary and commonplace to many of us older folks. I’m 43 (44 in six days) and I grew up with this technology. I love HDTV and the convenience of music on my iPhone, but this old tech is preferred when I just want to relax at home and wax nostalgic. One thing to keep in mind is that the CRT is a consumable item. The cathode that emits the electrons for the electron beam will wear out in time. No one is rebuilding or making replacement CRTs anymore. My recommendation would be to use a modern TV with analog and composite video inputs for regular viewing and use the CRT occasionally. The VCRs will also eventually wear out but they are mechanical and parts units or new old stock parts can be found. The tapes will also eventually wear as they will loose a bit of their magnetism with each play. But this will also take some time if not already in that state. I snagged a copy of Star Trek The Motion Picture on VHS in the longer runtime version cheap that has considerable play time. The image is soft and color bleeds and the tape is stretched to almost the breaking point where it meets the leader tape. I can fix that but not the weak signal on playback. It will be a display piece. Good luck on your collecting and enjoy!

[@pavidus]

i picked up one of these last year for 250 bucks in a town an hour away from me came with a milk crate full of old rental beta tapes, in hindsight i probably overspent a bit on it but like yours mine is in mint shape!

[@ScramjetNY]

Howdy Matt! In 1984 I was 24yo. This was a cool time to be a tech geek - so much changing so fast. I vividly remember picking up my KV-1357R and RM-714, along with my prized and cherished SL-HF300. Just 10 years prior our family got our first color TV - a 25in RCA Colortrak. The Trinitron and Betamax were so much $ back then for a young man to splurge on. My friends and family thought I spent waaaay too much on such a small TV and a Betamax nonetheless - and then they heard it playing through my Technics amp and their jaws dropped. Later on that year, I obtained my 1st CD player when that tech was still new. For giggles, the CD player had a PCM out, which I connected to the SL-HF300 PCM in. The audio quality of the CD player and the SL-HF300 CD player recordings were nearly identical, even when using BIII. I picked up a few blank L-830s and copied a lot of my CDs to Beta tape so that I could have 5hrs of high quality audio playing at a stretch. I had forgotten all about that until watching your video! Great job troubleshooting and cleaning up the SL-2710 btw. It came out amazing!

[@vintagevideobasement]

What a great comment! I love the idea of copying your CDs over to Beta, so you could let them play without interruption. Such a great idea! Thanks for the story! :)

[@calebvance97]

Beautiful man. Love the basement and the Instagram page. Super cool content. Long live JVC amd rhe vhs tape!! Much love from Murfreesboro, TN

[@Betafreak_GE]

Great we never had this model in europe

[@Maxxroad]

Great video. Love your style. Very wholesome. Keep the content coming.

[@vintagevideobasement]

Thanks!

[@VintageAnything]

Everytime you upload a video I get so excited I love!! The basement I love!!! The nostalgia.. I am 29 from ohio. I have maybe 30 crts.. nothing special maybe 10 2000s.. crts. And some 1980s tvs 1 1950s tv and one philco holiday tv that I havnt plugged in yet, but I just want to express my appreciation.

[@vintagevideobasement]

That's great! I really appreciate it. Keep them out of the landfill and enjoy them for as long as possible!

[@VintageAnything]

​@vintagevideobasement YES you know most of them I have found on the curb... which is really sad.. I found a 2005 combo I have that had the vhs and dvd player in it on the curb.. I have a weak spot for crts.. each time I see one tossed on the curb.. I have to save them.

[@jjh5374]

17:35 “But this weird movie, apparently nobody ever talks in it” 😂

[@Bassguitarist1985]

Your channel needs more views! So much cool stuff! My childhood!

[@vintagevideobasement]

Thanks!

[@Bassguitarist1985]

@@vintagevideobasement well not exactly vintage I just came across a Panasonic VCR to DVD combo where it actually records to the DVD and renders a menu page and everything for restoring old VHS home movies. I remember my parents had a very old Akai VCR, silver body had a motor for each function, I wish I could remember the model but it was massive but when it finally broke there was no one around here in Connecticut that could fix them anymore

[@briandurant19791997]

I have a Betamax VCR that I bought from eBay along time ago that I think needs to be fixed. I wish I could have a professional fix it for me to make it work like new

[@HomeCinemaEnthusiast]

My parents had that model Betamax 👌👌👌👌

[@stevel.2786]

Nice to find a beta with no issues. The ones I been finding either have eject issues or they end up eating my tapes. 😢

[@vintagevideobasement]

Sorry to hear that. Usually replacing belts and cleaning the track resolves these issues. Make sure tension rods and levers aren't stuck or jammed.

[@thecolourofspring5972]

Francis Ford Coppola directed The Rain People btw. 3 years before The Godfather.

[@vintagevideobasement]

Is it worth a watch?

[@thecolourofspring5972]

@vintagevideobasement i saw it once about 15 years ago but I remember thinking it was an interesting road movie with some nice photography. I'm sure many would find it a little boring though.

[@BrickMuffin]

Motivational!!

[@JonCo]

Just wondering if that tape with the non-working audio might be a non-Hi-Fi tape? Did you test the linear audio head (see if audio still works with Beta Hi-Fi turned off)?

[@vintagevideobasement]

Yeah, I checked that out. The tape might not have even had a problem. When I fast forwarded to a scene that actually had talking, the audio worked.

[@davidcrossley3542]

Looks like it's not been used much

[@vintagevideobasement]

Surprisingly clean

[@SilkiesRewind]

Just curious? Say that orange belt with the teeth broke. Where in the devil would you get a replacement for that?

[@vintagevideobasement]

You might get lucky and find a NOS replacement on ebay, but would likely have to find a parts machine for cheap.

[@SilkiesRewind]

@vintagevideobasement I was afraid you would say that ! 😄

[@keithfailmezger1596]

I have been looking for a working one of these . i have a some movies i want to watch

[@vintagevideobasement]

I hope you can find one. Don't be afraid to take a chance on one at the thrift store for a low price and a little bit of maintenance.

[@khangaudio399]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ chào anh

[@bradj5642]

Betamax is cool and is superior to vhs. But you just find so many more vhs and players compared to Betamax for better price.

[@MrDuncl]

In the late 1980s it was the opposite. At an electronics sale someone jokingly had for sale "Star Wars tape £10. Free Betamax VCR". At one point I had three Sony SL-C6s but gave them away when I moved house in 1990.

[@vintagevideobasement]

I agree you find more VHS VCRs than you do Betamax, but they are almost always later models. I am more into the late-70s to mid-80s units, so I tend to find more Betamax in that range.

[@DavidMander-rs4uk]

Dusting off relic junk 😆

[@vintagevideobasement]

Not junk to me. I enjoy these old pieces. Hope you have something you enjoy.