Need Help Hooking BetaMax Player To TV

[jstiger12]

I recently bought a like new Sony Beta max Sl-5000 still in original box to be able to play all of my childhood videos. I'm not the best at hooking up electronics and am having a hard time hooking it up. It seems to have come with all of the needed cables. I know they need to be on the same channel but I can't seem to get a picture to come on. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jagabo]

Use yellow/red/white AV cables:

http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-Audio-Video-RCA-Cable/dp/B000V0DY7U/

Yellow = composite video, red = right audio, white = left audio. Switch your TV to the appropriate input. Usually labeled Line 1, Video 1, Composite, or some such. Similar to "DVD player to TV hookup" on this page:

http://columbiaisa.50webs.com/diagrams_hookup_dvd_cablebox_tv.htm

If you want to record it's a little more difficult -- see lower on that page.

[sanlyn]

It seems to have come with all of the needed cables. I know they need to be on the same channel but I can't seem to get a picture to come on. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jagabo has the right idea. Today's HDTV's don't play older components on "channels". They use the inputs on the back of the TV. In today's digital cable/HDTV world, the only thing on "channel 3" is Channel 3. If your TV is one of the newer ones, its rear or side input panel might not have a dedicated analog composite input (yellow-red-white). If you don't see one, check your user manual; often a component input (red-green-blue) is used to double as either component or composite. Your user guide will tell you which wire goes where for composite video. The audio should hook up to the red-white pair.

If you have one of the newer TV's that has no composite input at all, you're in trouble. The cheapest way (although not so cheap) is to find an a/v receiver that accepts a composite input. Usually these receivers convert composite and/or s-video inputs to HDMI output. The a/v receivers that have analog inputs are getting fewer and farther between. Glad I bought my Denon when I did -- I don't care to have Big Brother dictate which of my a/v components I'll keep or throw away.

[jstiger12]

Hi, thanks for the help guys. I actually tried that. I have a set and hooked the yellow into the back of the Betamax in the "VIDEO OUT" port. I then plugged it into the side of my tv into the "VIDEO 1" port. My TV actually detected a signal and switched to video 1 but it says "no signal detected". I think everything is working fine, I just don't have something hooked up right.

[DB83]

This may (or may not) help. Trying to think way back to my very first VCR which was a Sony C6.

It came with two types of output - AV and coax (the one with the preset channel). The problem was that the unit when you first installed it expected a channel input and you had to tune your tv to that channel to see the picture. Only when you could see the picture, albeit the setup screen, could you then change the output to AV.

My Sony tv also has analogue inputs - even the coax - so I could plug in old equipment (if I still had it)

Of course UK models are somewhat different than US ones (we also had scart) but I expect your only chance is to have a tv with a coax or the US equivalent.