🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2gsogo$3f2@news.u.washington.edu> tomokato@u.washington.edu (Miowara Tomokato) writes:
>Does SuperBeta use the same tapes as regular Beta, or is there a 
>detection hole like in SVHS (I have only seen regular and ED Beta tapes 
>for sale...)

SuperBeta uses the same tape and is almost the same anyway.  SuperBeta
is to Beta what VHS-HQ is to VHS.

>What are some ED-Beta VCR models, how much do they cost, and where can 
>you get one?  Do any have digital stereo sound?

Sony only sold two models, the EDV-7500 ($1800 list) and EDV-9500
($3200 list) in the U.S.  They've both been discontinued for a few
years now.  I know ED-Beta was still alive at least for a while in
Japan but I don't know if it still is now.  If new ones are available,
they are in Japan.  Here in the U.S. there are some on the used market
but they are rare and usually expensive.  I would personally like to
have another EDV-9500 but I don't think I could bring myself to spend
more than $1000 or so on it and not many people are ready to let one go
for that.

There was also a camera, the EDC-55 which used to list for $7000.

It sure would have been nice if Sony had made the SL-HF2100 an ED-Beta
capable deck.  Then it truely would have been the ultimate home Beta
deck.

I am curious where you've seen ED-Beta tapes.  They're getting damned
hard to find (and expensive when I do find them).  Fortunately thanks
to a tip from the net, I recently discovered that Betacam-SP tapes work
just fine and are available in longer lengths.  Sony only sells ED-Beta
tapes in the EL500 length in the U.S.  A 30 minute Betacam-SP tape is
equivalent to an EL750 when used in an ED-Beta machine (10 minutes
Betacam-SP equals 1 hour at BII speed).  Betacam-SP tapes will probably
be available for another decade or so.  By then, we'll all probably be
going digital.  Betacam-SP tapes are also expensive but considering
that I get 50% more tape, the 40% higher cost over an EL500 doesn't
seem so bad.

Gotta call Tape World tomorrow...

--Bill Davidson