What is a Sony BVW-40 Betacam Recorder good for?

[Skubalon]

More precisely, can it play/record BetaII/III L-750 tapes? I already know it can't do DigiBeta, but I have someone interested in buying the machine from me, and I don't know the answer to his question. Can anyone help?

[edDV]

A BVW-40 is an editing analog Betacam deck that was widely used for Broadcast news editing in the 80's 90's.
http://www.broadcaststore.com/store/model_detail.cfm?id=5224

It has nothing to do with BetaMax and it is not DigiBeta which came out in the late 90's.

Tapes can be purchased here.
http://protape.stores.yahoo.net/betacam---analog---digital-betacam-sp.html

Many small operations still rely on these old machines. Maintenance cost is high. If this has a good maintenance history and low head hours it has worth.

[Skubalon]

Thanks for the reply and the extra info, edDV. I was already aware of the incompatibility with DigiBeta. But if the Beta II/III L-750 is the consumer BetaMax format, not Betacam, then my potential customer is out of luck (and me, too)?

[edDV]

Thanks for the reply and the extra info, edDV. I was already aware of the incompatibility with DigiBeta. But if the Beta II/III L-750 is the consumer BetaMax format, not Betacam, then my potential customer is out of luck (and me, too)?

Sell it to a place like I linked or put it on eBay. The maintenance history of the machine determines value. Editing machines carry a premium to playback only models.

[Skubalon]

So I guess my answer is no. My problem then becomes that I don't really know the machine's maintenance history, as I sort of inherited it along with a stack of other old equipment when I was doing video production at my church. I'm really just trying to find a safe, reliable way to sell it off. I know it worked fine when we bought it from its previous owner about a year and a half ago; but at the moment I'm without any way to test its functionality (I'm on a job hunt, and have no equipment of my own to hook it up to, aside from my home TV, and no Betamax tapes to put in it). Would broadcaststore.com take it for a good price anyway?

Thanks again for walking me through this.

[edDV]

Call them and ask.

To sell it yourself, you would need to prove it works. You might enlist the assistance of a TV station tech, or maybe your local cable access tech to evaluate what you have, read the hour meters etc.

You could donate it to a PBS station or university for a tax deduction.

[Skubalon]

Not a bad idea. I'm freelancing at my local PBS station at the moment. Maybe I could get someone there to help me out.

[edDV]

Local PBS stations usually operate from donated older equipment from the big guys. They need good techs to keep it all running.