BetaMax Loaner

[jobe05]

I have been looking for awhile now, not very seriously up to this point, but now I have the need!

Does anyone out there have an old BetaMax player recorder that they can put out for loan?

We have many old Betamax home movies from the 1980's that I need to get converted to CD's. I have been checking the local Goodwill stores thinking one would show up there, but I never see one. I have seen some on Ebay, but they are going for a ton more than they are worth.

If someone has one, I'd be willing to reimburse you for shipping, then ship it right back to you when done.

 

[AlFulchino]

you might actually ask the companies that do digital repro's of older formattedstuff if they have one or know of people who might...being in that business they are more likely to come across this than you are since they deal in volume and this may quicken your search

 

[jobe05]

Last time I checked with people who do that kind of stuff, They digitized them and put them on CD. Cost = 100 megabite of disc space............... I would have about 15 to 18 cd's.

 

[Wade E]

Can they be put onto a dvd? Those hold 4.37 Gigs and a dual layer is like 8 gig.

 

[jobe05]

Thats what I was referring too.

I can do that here now though, if I just had the player. That quote was from about 10 years ago, so it may have come down........ but with Betamax disappearing?????? it may have gone up...... don't know.

 

[dfwwino]

Wow. I have not heard of betamax for over twenty five years. My Dad bought one when it first came out and lost the gamble to VHS. Good luck finding this ancient history.

 

[dragonmaster42]

Have you checked ebay? You might be able to find a cheap one there.

 

[peterCooper]

Betamax was the better technology. They downscaled professional Betacam to fit personal use. There were only two problems. first it was somewhat more bulky than VHS. Second, they didn't have the marketing, and of course the typical US consumer was more interested in convenience than quality.

There was a third player in the market too. Phillips had a video cassette that was double sided like the audio cassettes. The quality was equivalent to VHS but you got two sides and so twice the length. Phillips did not have the market penetration or the advertising to make it work in the US and if it doesn't work here it is not going to survive. I had one of those in England in the early 80's.

Should have kept it.

 

[HD93]

You may want to check e-bay again. There's a few fairly cheap.