Betamax Question:

[gener8tr]

This is going WAY back, but I'm a nostalgia buff and I just purchased a 1984 Sony Beta player and I want to add it to my vintage Sansui set-up.

Some of you may remember me asking about a Laserdisc a few weeks back. Well, I added that to the mix by connecting the video cord to the TV and the audio cords to my AU-317 amp. Man, it looks and sounds great!

Now I want to do the same thing with the Beta. Do I do it the same way? These old Betas do have A/V cords (unlike some older VHS players), but it appears from looking at the back there are 2 videos and four audios. I've never owned a Beta before and I don't quite understand.

Can someone please walk me through the process?

Thank you!

[EchoWars]

Four audio? Like...a left and right for two different sets of outputs? Should be fairly self-explanatory. If not, take a pic.

[rulerboyz]

Perhaps you can set it up and use trial and error to find out. It is likely that one of them is an audio input which would allow you to input your own audio into your Beta recording. If you wanted to you could use the Beta to record audio only from something like FM radio.

[gener8tr]

It has one VIDEO IN and (1) VIDEO OUT or (2) RCA connections total and (2) LINE IN and (2) LINE OUT or (4) RCA connections total.

Is the line in / line out like a cassette deck for recording purposes?

[rulerboyz]

Is the line in / line out like a cassette deck for recording purposes?

Yes, I do recall using it like that once to record a radio show because it allowed me to record audio for a continuous period of several hours while I was away from the house.

I believe you can use the video line in to connect another video source such as a DVD player or another VCR. This used to come in handy because older TV sets often only had one coaxial input with not RCA inputs.

[gener8tr]

I believe you can use the video line in to connect another video source such as a DVD player or another VCR. This used to come in handy because older TV sets often only had one coaxial input with not RCA inputs.

I gotcha... So Beta was actually "ahead of the game" as compared to most VHS units from the similar timeframe (mid 1980's)?

Is it also my understanding the sound from Beta is much better than VHS? I have a friend who owns a few Beta concert recording and I'm looking forward to playing them through my Sansui in stereo! The speakers in most TV's just don't cut it.

[Duane]

Colin,
If your tv has more than 1 a/v input,just hook the Beta up to another input on the tv and you already have the audio out to your Sansui.If you only have 1 input,you might try hooking the Beta up to the tv instead of the LD player and then connecting the LD player to the input of the Beta.

[rulerboyz]

Yes, TVs from the late 80s and early 90s often only had a single Video input (if they had them at all), whereas more recent models have multiple Video inputs (Video 1, Video 2, Video 3 etc....). If you have stereo audio you are definitely ahead of the game as far as mid 80s VCRs go, since many back then only had a mono out. You might recall that many people used to split the mono signal in two, with a special single to double RCA cord, when feeding it to their stereos. The audio quality when doing this on my old mono VCR was terrible.

[gener8tr]

One last question...

Will I have to run the Sat. T.V. coax through the Beta player in order to record T.V. programs, or will simply connecting the video (yellow) cable from the back of the unit to the T.V. suffice?

Thanks!

[ByrdWyngs]

So Beta was actually "ahead of the game" as compared to most VHS units from the similar timeframe (mid 1980's)?Actually no, most VHS decks also had video and audio inputs and outputs so that you could record from a video camera, separate tuner, or another tape player.
Will I have to run the Sat. T.V. coax through the Beta player in order to record T.V. programs, or will simply connecting the video (yellow) cable from the back of the unit to the T.V. suffice?
You'll need to hook something up to the video and audio inputs on the Beta deck or an antenna of some kind to the deck in order to record anything. If you just hook up a single 'yellow' cable from the video out to the TV that will only let you play back tapes that are already recorded.

[gener8tr]

Thanks, Byrd! I'll hook the SAT TV coax through the BETA and into the TV.