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  1. I'm having quite the time with a Beta tape transfer project. I have some great footage of my dad who passed away many years ago playing in rock bands in the 80's, and I had an old Beta VCR that I thought I would use to transfer the tape, but it had issues so I took it to my local tech. The tech has now had the unit for close to 3 years without fixing it with no ETA given.

    After that dismal experience locally, I decided to go the eBay route. I purchased two different Beta VCRs described as "working" that weren't, and no returns were allowed on either.

    Next I asked around to friends to see if they happened to have an old Beta VCR. Turned out one did, which he said was working, but it didn't work either when I fired it up. I have ordered belts and O-ring and am working on it, but it's not a very good unit anyway (a very old non Hi-Fi Sanyo) and probably not worth fixing.

    I've done my homework and decided to invest in a Sony Betamax EDV-7500 or EDV-7300 (the Canadian version). Both of these units have an S-Video out, which will work great with my VHS transfer setup.

    I've already reached out to a few folks privately who may have one of these units for sale, but they already sold any extras. If anyone here has one they've used that actually works, I'm interested in purchasing. I've been burned by eBay one too many times.

    Thanks for your time.
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  2. Hi theseeker2 - misery loves company, and I feel your pain!

    I was in the same boat as you... almost 100 betamax tapes, 4-6 hours on each, and finding a reliable betamax machine for my digitization project was a challenge indeed! My only advice to you is be patient and keep hunting those local classifieds. When a unit pops up, have a test tape (and potentially a small monitor and rca cables) with you and make sure it works to your satisfaction before buying the unit.

    If you choose to buy online, you're always gambling - a unit that worked fine for the owner may no longer work after a bumpy trip across the country to your place. Perhaps the best option for a reliable unit is purchasing through a trusted vendor, such as MrBetamax, who will offer a replacement/repair warrantee with any unit you purchase.

    Now of course you will pay a premium buying from such a site... a unit like the one you're looking for will run over $2000 USD if purchasing directly from him. If you can buy a 2nd hand unit yourself, he provides a repair/reconditioning service. I personally have used this service and had a very positive experience (check this vid if interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuPxFaIxFl4 ).

    If you don't need an s-video unit, you can get a decent hifi unit for a much more reasonable price - for example the sl-hf300 for $430 USD. With a 3 month warrantee that should give you enough time to get all your footage digitized.

    The last thing I'll let you consider is if you actually need an s-video unit for your purposes. I personally own an EDV-7500 and sent it to Mr.Betamax for a reconditioning and to repair a loader assembly issue. I also own 5 other lower-end models because like you, I went through the painful process of buying a bunch only to have them crap out on me after a bit of usage. Here are two sample captures from the same tape, one with my very expensive edv-7500, and one with a $50 USD local classified sl-hf300. The sl-hf300 broke after 4 tapes (wouldn't eject my 4th tape and I had to struggle to manually remove it. A broken tape transport pin was the culprit) but check out and compare the footage I _did_ capture before it broke. The audio is MUCH better than my EDV-7500 (something I'm going to have to play around with and troubleshoot) and the video i'm not sure is worth the $800 USD difference... but again, you be the judge

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Hae8FVQg4wwB0P4MGp0OCzmwq8Un3kHT?usp=sharing
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  3. Thanks for the speedy and very helpful reply! The main reason I wanted to go with an S-Video unit is that my capture chain is all S-Video, including a Panasonic DMR-ES10 for TBC-ish capabilities. If there are any issues needing TBC, it would be nice to use that without jumping back to composite.

    I do really appreciate you sharing those captures. The colors do seem a little more realistic on the EDV-7500, the sl-hf300 seems "brighter" somehow, but agree that the differences are minimal. I did hear the audio difference you mentioned, it seems just about impossible to keep these old beasts in completely working condition!

    I will check more on the Mr. Betamax route, but I can't currently afford a $2,000+ price on one of these buying directly from him. That's more than I've paid for some cars

    I've also heard some good things about buying from Japan on eBay. Silly question maybe, but are the menus only in Japanese on those models?
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  4. Capturing Memories dellsam34's Avatar
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    Japanese machines are 100v AC, so you would need a stepdown voltage converter.
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