Sony SL2500 Betamax will it work

This was one of the more complex of the old Betamax units. 6 direct drive motors.

[@mitchd949]

I was in aerospace building rockets and working on space shuttle in late 80s early 90s and this is substantially more complex than any hardware that was flying.

[@Nick_Catania]

I have two industrial betamax. SLO-383. They were connected together with a RM-440 controller and a Video Toaster. It was a nice editing setup. They were built in 1980 but I got them in 1999. When I last put them away a few years ago, it needed the belts changed. But other than that, they worked great.

[@michaelturner4457]

We used to have a SL-C6 mk2 Betamax briefly in the early 80s. The thing kept on chewing up tapes, and the Sony engineer came out few times and had carve bits off the loading ring or something. After that we switched to a Ferguson VideoStar VHS, and that was totally reliable.

[@kelvinhoughton7953]

Very very similar to the SL C9 in Europe. I have somewhere between 7 and 10 of them in various states of disrepair and they are still expensive in Europe although the power unit is different, as well as the issues you mentioned with loading gear and guides the UK SLc9UB suffers from defective dc to dc converter causing a working unit with no display. Early versions are in a metal can , later ones have ventilation holes in the can but they still break.

[@crashbandicoot4everr]

I bought one of these about a week ago. Mine has an issue where the sound is muffled even after adjusting the azimuth of the audio/control head. Do ACE heads go bad in these?

[@markmarkofkane8167]

Never owned a beta player. But our training tapes at a fast food restaurant were beta. We had to watch those videos (orientation) in the break room before starting the job.

[@whodatdere1]

There is a guy I watched decap a few of those "discreet assemblies" from a piece of test equipment. Took him a bit of time to do it, but he saved the device and still use it to this day.

[@cgeorge6786]

I have a SL-8200 and I like it cause of the big A*s motor and all the belts and metal the thing is 40 something pounds. I don't have it working perfectly yet.

[@12voltvids]

I have an 8600 i think. Single speed b2

[@richardkeith7571]

I've used the alcohol and toothbrush method on cellphone boards and laptop boards and brought them back to life also that battery you clipped out might be needed at least power to those connectors I know may not be relevant, but older mac's the desktop version and laptops if the clock nvram battery was completely dead the system wouldn't respond /boot power up

[@Watcher3223]

_"also that battery you clipped out might be needed at least power to those connectors I know may not be relevant, but older mac's the desktop version and laptops if the clock nvram battery was completely dead the system wouldn't respond /boot power up"_ This VCR can work without the backup battery, and you may as well clip it out of these machines now because of the risk to the servo board versus the now rather pointless utility of the battery.

[@jasonthejawman5442]

The old machines are very complex and takes very serious skills, double sided boards were very Fragile

[@12voltvids]

Especially this one. Glad I sold the working unit I had.

[@gartmorn]

Is the board multi layered? If it is even removing the ic isn’t going to help if internal traces are damaged! The power of the leaky cap!

[@12voltvids]

I don't know whether it's multi-layered or just double-sided it could be a 3 sided with internal connections. this was around the time that Sony started putting their multi-layer boards in and actually just using solder to interconnect between the layers before they started plating the boards through.

[@thevisualstoryteller3171]

Do they make universal remote controls today that will work on betamax? I have a Sony SL-2406 but never came with a remote when I bought it.

[@dalemettee1147]

I'm thinking about an ESR meter. Which one do you like?

[@nickwallette6201]

Metal Gear? Solid. 😄

[@DavidSmith-dm8ew]

The stuff that came out of the battery is probably potassium hydroxide.

[@jasonthejawman5442]

Image in working condition worth much more, but non work should be less....

[@12voltvids]

I have been trying to get 100 for the other mint condition sl2500 I have for months. No offers at all. Even working worth very little.

[@chrissanders2562]

If you could give me some advice on something id be very grateful. I thought i wanted to be an auto mechanic. I am really good at it. I went to work a shop and after a week i realized I ultimately didn't want to do that as a profession. Now im sort of lost wondering what i should do for a career. I love fixing things. Trying to find a career path. Any ideas?

[@SuperVstech]

I own an HVAC company, and if you like fixing things, and want a substantial income, that and electrician are great highly in demand career.

[@fcovaldezt]

love it, i have the sl2400.

[@12voltvids]

Going to dump the 2500 I have that works.

[@azshaw123]

Caps in the Dc to DC converter.

[@12voltvids]

No, power is there. 12v 16v and 5v.

[@Dr.-Smart]

and here im sitting and recapped a ccd-v5000 (with aprox 300 capacitors in it) hearing you ramble about 2 inches of battery damage on a two side pcb , heck what shall i say on my 4 layer pcbs , you shouldnt be so negative. btw got my v5000 workin perfectly , cheers ;)

[@12voltvids]

I'm fully aware of the v5000 I recapped mine before selling it. Did it all with the original surface mounted Sony caps so I'm sure they all failed a game and I did it before they leaked on to the board at the first sign that the video was starting to get washed out. I'll wait and see if I could unload the other 2500 that I have that is in perfect condition. If I can get rid of that one and get some half decent money for it that might be a factor in determining whether I get back on this one again. But to spend countless hours pulling chips out of boards and repairing damage traces for something that may just end up sitting there never to be used again I just can't justify the time and effort. It's not like it's something that I want or need. If it was my slhf 1000 that's a different story. I would be spending the time on that machine because in my mind that would be worth it. After all I did a Head drum swap from an s lhf 900 to make a 1,000 work when the drum motor seized up. But this is a 2500, one of the most problematic chassis ever made. these are the ones with the great direct drive motors that were infamous for snapping tapes on rewind. I got awful design that Sony figured out pretty quick was a pilot crap from the time it left the factory. This one the SL 2000 portable and the sl-2700. the three worst betamax machines that Sony ever made!

[@Watcher3223]

@@12voltvids _"This one the SL 2000 portable and the sl-2700. the three worst betamax machines that Sony ever made!"_ I knew there was a reason why I liked my SL-2710 more than the 2700.

[@12voltvids]

@@Watcher3223 those ones had the poorest picture too.

[@dimitarlazarov2094]

No sound yet!

[@zx8401ztv]

One big nightmare, dig into it if you enjoy torture :-D. I would dump it, it's very unlikely you will ever find a good one worth repairing.

[@12voltvids]

I have one that is like new in the box that is going to be sold as i need a beta like I need a hole in my head. Especially one of these complex units. I have two slh f1000 that I use for tape transfer and that's enough. They get turned on perhaps once a year if that.

[@IREKWWSL]

So it doesn't work?

[@waynesharp1690]

Nothing worse than your favourite tool breaking.

[@12voltvids]

Lol I have a few friends in their 60s that their favorite tool is broken. They are devistated. 😥

[@solarr2]

👍🇵🇱🇵🇱👌👍

[@HoneypawsModsDE]

@12voltvids the connector you were looking for was probably the almost completely trashed one that was sitting next to the following Points: J605, Q626 right in between CP609 and B699; R649; R650 beneath the two Orange Connectors left from the leaked Battery-Acid at the Timestamp 16:40 (Bottom Left of the Paused Frame)