Running over VHS tapes

Keith Barry

E-mail: barry*meol.mass.edu
Web URL:
Current Beta Machines: Sanyo Betacord 4010 and others

I am a Beta collector and would love to subscribe to the Beta Digest group. I own one of the few working Sanyo Betacord VCR 4010s that does not eat up tapes (except from rewinding while playing) and despise VHS. I have stepped on and run over VHS tapes (players are too expensive, although the quality is cheap) and only allowed a 5 square foot area permitted for VHS media (for copying tapes to Beta). I bought my machine from an 85 year old man in California who had been a fan of Beta, but unfortunately, a few earthquakes ruined his collection. And, now some interesting folklore:

When I bought my Beta (for the disrespectful price of $15.18 shipping cross-country included), I learned that it had been through 2 earthquakes and droped 15 feet in one of them. The next day while at Lechmere, I overheard a salesman telling how you cannot put a television on top of a VHS vcr for it will crack the case! My Beta has solid metal construction and a VHS crap box is made of plastic.

The WAL*MART has tons of Beta tapes, but expect to be questioned by the dumb clerks, "what's that?" and have to explain that it was a format very popular before they were born. Lechmere also carried some old TDK Betas for $.99 each, and so do many Ritz/Underground/MotoFoto type camera shops.

Beta lives forever!

BETA WAS TREATED AS SECOND-CLASS BECAUSE BETA WAS THE SECOND LETTER IN THE GREEK ALPHABET. MAYBE IF THEY RE-RELEASED IT AS ALPHA...

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Submitted Wed Sep 25 16:36:00 1996