The worlds first consumer Camcorder. The Sony Betamovie. This thing was over 2000.00 in 1983 and was the toy that everyone wanted but couldn't afford. It started it all, married a video camera with a VCR. Will this one work?
Пікірлер: 64
@flippers49 Жыл бұрын
My SL-F1UB (PAL) recorder still going perfecty after all these years. Heavy piece of metal I carried around to record onto while using another camera connected to the AV port. Got very good footage with that setup. Still have some around. Must watch again some time. Thanks for keeping our memories alive.
@video99couk Жыл бұрын
I have a couple of these in PAL form, one in full working order. There was also a Sanyo badge engineered version.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Sony made them for Sanyo and Toshiba as well but afaik they did not use a trinitron tube they used conventional
@mrjsv4935 Жыл бұрын
Very cool camera, would've been great to have this in the 80's :) Image quality looks good for 1983 camera.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
It was as good as you could get unless you went with broadcast gear.
@Betamaxx1 Жыл бұрын
I have a recording that my aunt and uncle made on this model of beta movie which they rented in a pal format area. The picture quality outdoors is incredible, very little crosstalk in the colour.
@radio-ged4626 Жыл бұрын
Totally agree about this being the first camcorder. I worked at a TV rental company back in 1983 and the video cameras were all separate to the tape units as I remember it (and bloody heavy too), until this Sony BMC110 came out.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Nothing to agree about it was the first camcorder. I worked for Sony when it was released and borrowed a prototype that we had to record my first wedding of a friend.
@radio-ged4626 Жыл бұрын
@@12voltvids 😶
@dmcintosh1967 Жыл бұрын
The only vintage camcorder I have is the Zenith version of JVC first VHSC camera. It still worked last time I used which was a couple of years ago and the rechargable battery still held about 10 minutes of charge which for 30+ year battery is better than I would have expected it to be. The date on camera says it was made in 1984
@fadhlematrook1248 Жыл бұрын
Wow it recorder very well😮
@philipnelson8909 Жыл бұрын
Never thought would see another I sold lotts In my early days! Fab bit of kit! And good results too! My god how we've come on!
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
I think I now have pretty much all the tape formats
@philipnelson8909 Жыл бұрын
Could I ask? Did Beta write signals faster to tape than VHS.?
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
@@philipnelson8909 yes actually it did. The drum was larger so more tape wrapped around equaled higher writing speed. This is why betamax had a better picture than VHS. The only reason VHS won was because blockbuster chose vhs as the only format they would carry.
@danielboguse42496 ай бұрын
I had bmc110 and got the Sony extended warranty with it . I had allot of problems with it and Sony didn't want to service it anymore so they gave me a BMC550 as a replacement. That one got stolen so i purchased a BMC660 with the money i got from the insurance company. I still have that camera with the case and allot of accessories. Someday I'll get that repaired allot with my slhf1000 and slhf900 . I have allot of home videos done with that camera and allot of bootleg videos copies that recorded.
@lawrencejelsma8118 Жыл бұрын
You teaching us of capacitor discharge on non use has kept me wondering since HDTV and VCR VHS only working without extra to analog TVs have let it lapse 20 years in my closet. The recargeable battery contacts probably are corroded as well. Even for an automobile not being driven around much gets corrosion negative terminal build up. New electronics keep these electronics at bay to have battery and capacitors leak out.
@juleksaas414411 ай бұрын
The early sony battery packs, like the one with the betamovie and the NP-22 (for the first Video8 camcorders) still hold the charge to this day, they were just made to last, unlike other video battery packs
@12voltvids11 ай бұрын
No they don't they're ni-cd batteries and they are all bad. I have a dozen of them to back this up. I also have s bunch of the original infolithium that all still work and one goes back to 90s keep them off the camera and chathe once a year and they are fine. The people that find their cells dead are those that left the battery attached to the camera for years and then wonder why it is dead and won't charge
@veb6814 Жыл бұрын
Thats so cool how you have to wat for the tube to warm up! I love that! So cool thanks for the video!
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Won't enter record till it warms up.
@jasonthejawman5442 Жыл бұрын
Love the Old Video camera 🎥
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
This one is certainly a keeper.
@exorbis9880 Жыл бұрын
It might be the truck made it trough the tunnel because it was LOADED, therefore compressing the tires and reducing the total height. As you might guess, unloading might add just enough to hit the bridge. Although @13:24 suggests that the lift piston was extended when it hit the bridge.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Considering that the tunnel is 1km ahead of the tunnel and there are only 2 exits and no entrance between the tunnel and bridge unless he dumped his load at the side of the road ....
@exorbis9880 Жыл бұрын
@@12voltvids Interesting, in that case based on the footage @13:25 (you can clearly see the exact location where the the dump bed has been hit in respect to the height of the concrete trusses) the telescopic cylinder might have accidentally been lifted when the truck approached the bridge. Alright, next time I'll comment on actual electronics ;)
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
@@exorbis9880 well that overpass is out of commission for probably 3 - 4 months requiring a 30 minute detour for everyone that lives in the other side and for people leaving the big casino right next to it.
@jasonhandy8442 Жыл бұрын
I should have said I love getting old tech working
@doogie812 Жыл бұрын
Was hoping for a refresher on the reduced size head drum double head chip theory of operation... Maybe next time.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Went over that on the gcs1 overhaul last month.
@fflynnful Жыл бұрын
It's interesting that the head drum is a much smaller diameter than a beta VCR and that the tape wrap is nearly 360 degrees rather than 180 as a betamax VCR would have. Nice work getting it going.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Yes I explain how the time compression non standard video signal worked on the previous GCS1 Betamovie video i did a few weeks ago. They speed up the video signal and speed the drum up from 1800 to 2500 rpm but the tape speed is the same. When played back on standatd equipment the video signal returns to normal. Very cleaver design to make the drum smaller. Down side it it is record only bit nobody cares because the super8 camera if was replacing had to send film away for processing.
@fflynnful Жыл бұрын
That is really some impressive engineering for the time. At the time, I was working as a maintenance tech at a TV station. We used quadruplex tape format, 2", 15ips tape for broadcast. I thought that Beta or VHS was quite a marvel in that they got any type of useable video at such a slow tape speed. Thanks for your videos, they are always quite interesting.
@markmarkofkane8167 Жыл бұрын
I was just under the legal drinking age when that came out. I didn't have my own camcorder until 1996. I did rent them starting in 1992.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
I was working for Sony when this one came out. I borrowed one to shoot a friend's wedding. Always wanted one.
@fletzyproductions11902 ай бұрын
18:22 I GOT THAT SAME SCREWDRIVER :P
@Dansbus1 Жыл бұрын
Most still used super8 for home movies. This video thing won’t catch on Lol. I have a couple of these one mint and boxed.the box is interesting with pictures of school sports day being videoed. I hope to go out and shoot some footage with each of my cameras as a timeline video. I don’t know if any colour Sony tube that didn’t use electrostatic scanning. The small scanning angle and low eht means very little scanning power was needed. Focussing was magnetic on the 2000 series cameras but I don’t know if these camcorders being saticom used magnetic or electrostatic. I must find a service manual to find out as I wouldn’t want to kill one of these cameras
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
School sports day. Back in the 80s yes. Now it's activity day and everyone gets a ribbon because coming in 1st 2nd and 3rd leaves everyone else all depressed and needing drugs to cope.
@jasonhandy8442 Жыл бұрын
Thats cool
@jasonhaman4670 Жыл бұрын
"It's humming. Because it doesn't know the words." HA!! That's amazing that except for 2 minor-ish problems, it just worked. (Well, 3 once the hum started.)
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
The hum went away. I don't see any problems with it other than dropouts on 40 year old tapes lol.
@KoelAnderson Жыл бұрын
Another win 🏆
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
winner winner chicken dinner.
@petersmit6507 Жыл бұрын
That hum could have been caused by that inverter you had it plugged into.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
It is a true sign wave inverter.
@ACURAOCULTA Жыл бұрын
Very good
@a.l.108624 күн бұрын
Hello! I loved your video, it was very informative. I recently was gifted a Sony BMC-110K, boxed and in almost perfect condition. The battery still holds charge! The only issue I have run into is that the cassette compartment does not stay closed, so matter the camcorder being power or not. Do you know if this is fixable?
@12voltvids24 күн бұрын
Possibly a worn belt
@sagbutt Жыл бұрын
We have an underpass here n Augusta called the Olive Rd underpass that's been too low since the 50s, and in true Augusta fashion, they've never fixed it. It is obviously too low for trucks to pass under it. Yet they do it. Just search youtube for it., you'll get a bunch of hits.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
That's not what happened here. This overpass is 4.6 metres high. It follows a tunnel that is 4.15 metres high. The truck had already gone through the tunnel as there is no on ramp. So what does that tell. Either the trucker was high and started raising his box or there was mechanical failure and the box started going up. Never the less there are alarms and lights to warn the driver that his box is up. The only other way he could have gotten on too high was to have been heading west and wanting to go south to the dump. Had he gone over the overpass and taken the on ramp he would have hit on the curb lane. He hit on the right through lane. He could have taken the north bound lane and flipped a u turn at the tunnel. There is a u turn route over the tunnel for emergency vehicles only with do not enter signs all over it and a big fine if caught. That's the only way he could get on the highway. Unless he entered from river road using the south bound exit ramp. I wouldn't put anything past these cowboys. I deal with ignorant assole truckers every day. Gave one the bird yesterday because he was going 75 on an 80 zone in the left lane passing another truck. Just like in the video I posted last year about the 2 trying to pass and of course asshole number 2 in the right lane floors it because he doesn't want aashat 1 in the left passing him. There are so many truckers that I question their qualifications. My father in-law would be spinning in his grave if he could see the batch of cowboys on the road these days. He was a professional truckers back when they were professional drivers. These days they are just a step up from taxi drivers.
@dalemettee1147 Жыл бұрын
Dave was this lens similar to the blass on the HVC series cameras as far as scope and zoom power?
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
6x glass on this one.
@ryanjofre Жыл бұрын
Cool beans dude. I still have a Beta video of my brothers and I in 1989 @ my Uncles house in Houston. I was 10, we lit off a sh*t ton of fireworks and my uncle had a hot tub and an InSANLY hot girlfriend. My uncle bought a TOTL Sony Beta for a small fortune for his house not knowing VHS would win of course. I have a stash of NOS 30 minute Maxell SP’s which are super high quality broadcast BetaCams. Rock on brother.🤘 BTW - What’s up with the rando Maxell XL II?? You have annoying neighbor noise allot.
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Those sp tapes can only be used on BETACAM SP, SX and ED Beta. They are metal tapes and if put in standard home betamax will eat the heads.
@pslinares Жыл бұрын
I like the effect these tube cameras do when a strong light enters into the image field on a dark background. It's like a "trace" or "trail" effect. I always wondered if that effect was harmful to the tube. Does anyone here know it?
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
It can be if bright enough. High intensity lights or catching the sun can destroy them instantly. Also lasers will kill the tube in an instant.
@chezsnailez Жыл бұрын
🐌Yours must be an early model. We have one of those and later cameras had a nubbly square bit where the 'push' sticker is... All our NP-11 batteries have long since gone to battery purgatory... Here's video of a walk we took in Menands, NY back in the mid-'90s with our BMC-220 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kKmBZ92ktbC2dYk.html Heard a meow and instinctively thought is was from my kitteh...😃
@TigerBoyRS Жыл бұрын
Always a pleasure to see another great camcorder coming back to life. 40 years old and it still performs great. Video joy and gem! Cheers 🇵🇹
@butcharmstrong9645 Жыл бұрын
$2000 in 1983 via the inflation calculator= $6100 in 2023
@12voltvids Жыл бұрын
Except that electronics went down not up.
@butcharmstrong9645 Жыл бұрын
@@12voltvids Yeah, that's true I didn't think about that.
@toyguy19568 ай бұрын
Very simple camera the only bad thing no rewind or play you need a Betamax to play back
@12voltvids8 ай бұрын
The reason it doesn't play is because they designed it with a very small head drum. Beta had a relatively large head drum that would have made for a huge camera. They designed it with a small drum with a single head and modified the video signal to a non standard video signal, non standard frequencies to record on this time compressed transport. To play back a modified tv was required. The beauty is when the tape is put in a beta VCR the signal becomes standard. It was engineering at it's finest. You have to appreciate that. Besides if you were shooting movie film you couldn't rewind. You didn't see your pictures till the film came back from the lab. Betamovie started the camcorder revolution.