Filmed with a Panasonic DMC-GF8 Lumix camera.
This is a quick demonstration of the "Linear Skate" loading and internal mechanism of my Sony SL-HF950ES Super Betamax machine, before it was sold. You'll notice when the tape is ejected, or the tray is opened to insert a cassette, that I have to continually turn the machine off. This is because the limit switch was not working, and the tray motor would not stop operating at the end of the travel.
I bought this machine new in 1988. The retail price then was around AU$2,300, but a friend obtained it wholesale for me so it *only* cost around AU$1,800. In today's money it would cost about AU$4,400. It was the most expensive domestic Betamax ever sold in Australia. This was a European model, and the only modification to make it an Australian market model was to put an Australian power plug on the lead.
Sony Beta machines at the time had a feature called Skip-Scan. When the machine was fast forwarding, pushing the fast forward button would drop it into picture search, and when releasing the button, it would drop back into fast forward. It was the same for rewind. I have demonstrated it in the video, but it's a bit difficult to work out without a monitor (at about 4.23). These machines had very slow fast forward and rewind.
The machine was wonderful when it worked, but it was not that reliable. I discovered at the time that almost all Sony service agents were uniformly terrible, and just didn't care.
I once had the video heads replaced, and when the machine was returned, none of my existing tapes would play properly (like the tracking was way out). The repairer reckoned it was OK, and even Sony Australia (located at Woolloongabba at the time) said it was OK. I took a selection of tapes and demonstrated that they wouldn't play properly, and they still said it was OK. I remember being very close to chucking it into an industrial bin when I was walking out. I then discovered a repairer quite near where I worked at the time, and they aligned it for me in one day and it would once again play all my existing tapes. I used that repairer from then on.
Most common problems were tape left hanging out of the cassette when ejected, the VU meter failing, and the stationary erase head not working.
My only Beta machine now is a Sanyo VTC-5000 II, which works very well after installing a belt and tyre kit.
My apologies also for the neighbour's dog barking during the video.