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Beta (and often Umatic) accessories


Cameras

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AVC-1400

A basic black and white video tube based camera. NASA used an AVC-1400 in conjunction with an SL-5400 and a stroboscope to visualize propeller dynamics in the early 80s.


NASA Technical Reports Server

AVC-1420

The Sony AVC-1420 was a black and white camera with microphone that was sold alongside the Sony SL-8200.


photo source



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.