HVC-1000
The HVC-1000 was paired with the SL-3000 in America
and cost 1,400 dollars at introduction. Weighed just
under five pounds.
HVC-2000
Trinicon camera that offered power zoom and an
external remote, the HVR-2000, to control it and the
record control which also included a tally light.
European release was the HVC-2000P, pictured, which was
paired with the European SL-3100, the SL-3000E.
photo
source
HVM-100
A simple black and white camera with external sync
that was apparently intended to be primarily used with
the HVT-2100 titling rig and HSV-2000 video mixer to
provide titles for home movies.
Camera accessories
HVT-2100
The HVT-2100 was a titling rig that was intended to be
used to title home movies. A tripod screw mount held the
camera in place and provided a frame to put title cards
and other text into.
Video mixers
HSV-2000
A simple video mixer that accepts two Sony "K"
cameras and can generate a few different color fades.
This mixer, the HVT-2100 titling rig, and HVM-100 black
and white video camera were sold together as a home
movie production "studio."
Cables
CCK-5 and CCK-10
The CCK cables were Sony "K" connector extension cables.
The CCK-5 was five meters long and the CCK-10 ten meters
long.
RCC-5C
The RCC-5C is a five meter 20 pin extension cable
for the "Remote" jack on early 80s industrial Betamax
and Umatic decks, originally for the RM-300.
Autochangers
AG-120
One of the first odd Betamax accessories was the AG-120
cassette changer. This original changer was released
during the "speed war" portion of the video format war
in the 1970s to allow an SL-8200 to record up to four
hours of video across two cassettes at Beta II speed.
This original model was hand-cranked and spring loaded,
and could be fitted to the original LV-1901 console,
SL-7200/SL-7200A, and the SL-8200 with a set of
screwed-in attachment points. The record button popping
up on the VCR at the end of the first cassette would
release the AG-120 and drive a system of gears to eject
the currect tape and insert the fresh one, and the
machine would be set into record again. The AG-120 seems
to have been fairly experimental and somewhat of an "uh,
well, our VCR can do that to!" response to RCA
localizing a VHS VCR that could record for four hours.
An early version of the AG-120 affixed to an SL-8200.
AG-200 (1978)
Sony's second shot at an autochanger, this one was
motorized, would change out three cassettes instead of
two, and also supported the then-new SL-8600. This
autochanger also allowed for the tapes to be played back
in a stack, not just recorded, although it was somewhat
tedious to do so, as changing between the modes required
unscrewing, moving, and rescrewing a screw on the button
bar.
AG-300 (1980)
The AG-300 could handle up to four cassettes in a stack
and would record or play them back based on what mode
you set it in to start. The AG-300 was called the
"BetaStack" to fit in with BetaScan and BetaSkipScan. It
could interface with the SL-5400, SL-5600, and SL-5800,
the latter two of which it could be plugged into using a
jack on the back of the deck to offer additional
functionality like changing the cassette when the deck
sensed the end of a timed recording instead of whenever
the tape ran out, and could swap out four cassettes.
photo
source
In Germany, WEGA, who also sold some rebadged Sony Betas
like the SL-C7, sold this as the Wega CW-M1. The version
sold with the Sony CL-C7 was the AG-7.
AG-400 (1981)
Released to fit the SL-F11 (and appropriately called the
AG-11 in Japan) and its international counterparts like
the American SL-2500, the SL-400 BetaStack allowed some
(generally more expensive) frontloading Beta decks to
switch up to four cassettes, recording up to 20 hours.
AG-500
Autochanger for several series of 711B chassis machines.
hifi Processors
External hifi processors were unique to Beta in the
consumer (and, as far as I know, the professional space
as well). NTSC Beta hi-fi decks do not use any additional
heads on the head drum, and Beta hi-fi was implemented
into many two head Beta VCRs. Sony took this a step
further and sold a series of "hifi Ready" decks (called
Beta Plus in Japan) which were monophonic machines with
a connector on the back to let you purchase a separate
stereo processor later.
HFP-100 ()
The HFP-100, released at $250, was the more basic
processor available.
HFP-200()
The HFP-200 seems to be somewhat harder to find,
probably because if you did not care about recording
simulcast broadcasts, there was virtually no point in
purchasing it instead of the HFP-100.
Editing controllers
Editing controllers typically hooked up between two VCRs
and could control the transport of either or both decks
at once. Similar capabilities were built into higher-end
domestic Beta decks like the EDV-9000 and later
industrial Betas. Typically, the editor would use the
editing controller to store frames on the source deck
and record deck where a particular scene should be
edited together, and, depending on the capabilities of
the editing controller, store them in memory. After the
edits was cued up, the controller would take over and
wind both decks to the appropriate areas and
automatically put them into play or record.
RM-420
Remote editing console allowing for editing up to 30
meters away.
(Educational
Digest)
RM-430
RM-440
The early industrial Beta editing controllers, typically
used with SLO-300 series VCRs, in particular the SLO-383
with flying erase heads. It has two shuttle dials and
transport controls to cue each eck individually with
time readouts and a section in the middle for
programming edits to be made into the console.
Industrial remotes
RM-300
The RM-300 Auto Search Control was first available for
the early SLO-300 series industrial Betas and allowed
the user to input and rapidly reach any position on the
tape by counting the track pulses that are recorded
along with the video signal.
RX-303
The RX-303 Programmable Auto Search Control was an
upgraded version of the RM-300 which can similarly wind
and play arbitrary tape selections which can now be
input by time rather than control track pulse and can
be, as the name suggests, programmed to recall 63
positions and playback any eight segments and, if
desired, repeat them in a loop. Cost 350 dollars.
RX-353 (1980)
Similar to the RX-303 but with the added ability to
record audio tones that mark different segments on the
tape, allowing it to be programmed and sequenced easier
and faster for repeated use or when distributing tapes.
Cost 400 dollars.
RM-E700
Consumer editing controller for Beta, VHS, or 8MM.
Includes titler and other superimposing abilities.