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I collect movie related stuff and the betamax is the last one i want to have in my collection. I already have laserdisc,vhs,dvd,and blu ray players. Is there any betamax brands for the actual player that i should avoid?

Hey all! Thought I'd share something I've done quite a bit of research into that you all might enjoy. To give a bit of background: letterboxed tapes have always been something I've been sort of interested in. While VHS got quite a lot of letterboxed tapes, some of which are more common than others (still hunting for any hard evidence that Batman Forever and any Bond films aside from Goldeneye got them!), letterboxed Beta tapes have always been an enigma. Because Beta was basically dead before most people would've wanted to watch movies in widescreen, not many letterboxed Beta tapes were ever released. However, I still want to document the small handful that do.

NOTE: currently, the only known letterboxed Betamax titles are titles that were letterboxed on home media normally, and not like many letterboxed VHS releases where both standard and letterboxed versions exist.

Update: The above remains true with the exception of the recently discovered Apocalypse Now widescreen Beta.

Now, without further ado, all known letterboxed Betamax releases in alphabetical order.

Always (1990)

Apocalypse Now, Widescreen Edition (1979): A Betamax variant of the widescreen edition VHS released in 1992. The only release on this list to be a film not letterboxed on home media by default. Uses the VHS case with Beta stickers like many other late Beta releases. Thanks to user Dimmer35 for providing us with photos of this release!

Color Purple, The (1985)

Innerspace (1987)

King of Hearts (1966): Also one of the only letterboxed CED titles. Uses a VHS box with Beta stickers, see the third photo.

Lawrence of Arabia, Widescreen Director's Cut (1962): While there is a Betamax equivalent to the pan-and-scanned VHS tapes, there is also a Beta equivalent of the widescreen Director's Cut tapes. Another one that uses VHS boxes with Beta stickers.

Manhattan (1979)

For now, that's it. I'll update this list if I ever find any more.

Hey all. I've recently been looking into rare Beta releases, and while looking into the infamous Mission Impossible Beta, I found this Lost Media Wiki Forum post about it: https://forums.lostmediawiki.com/thread/7813/mission-impossible-betamax-release . The reason I found this forum post interesting is because it mentions this:

The most recent movie I could find with a Betamax release was the 1993 movie Point of No Return.

In particular, that hyperlink points to an old Ebay listing presumably for that tape. While the link is long since dead, it at least shows that a Beta copy of it exists and it was sold online at some point in time. However, outside of that forum post and dead Ebay link, I couldn't find any other evidence that this release ever existed. Does anyone here have the tape or at least have any more evidence it existed?

Got these a number of years ago from my grandpa, who got them from my great-grandpa, who supposedly recorded countless TV programs on them. Haven't played through them yet but apparently he was meticulous and would stop the recording at commercial breaks, so sadly, likely no old commercials on these tapes. I've also got dozens and dozens of VHS tapes with similar recordings.

Hello BetaMax community. I just purchased a Hi-Fi BetaMax off eBay, that came with a Hollywood movie, because I have two very precious home movies that I want to transfer. I cleaned the heads on the new machine, turned it on and tried to play the movie. I was getting some pretty messed up images, and decided to fast forward the tape to check it farther in, but the tape broke!

Now I'm thinking that I may want to take my home movie apart and hand wind it to the end of the tape and then back again. My thinking is that because it's 25+ years old and hasn't been played, the edges of the tape might have started to stick together and thus can lead to a tape break. I've read that you can't really splice beta tape, so I'd have to create two smaller reels from the one, and that sounds like a huge pain.

Has anyone tried my hand winding method? Any suggestions from anyone out there?

So hey, hi! I'm not the interested party, mearly attempting to reach out on their behalf. I can provide a connection via dm. My cousin has inherited a massive physical media estate. CED is just the beginning. There's at least one working player, plus I think three new in box. I could be wrong. At this point it's a bit overwhelming.

Plus also so many Betamax tapes, players, recorders, and actually movies. Think about Casablancas beta library and you will be spot on as the estate holds ALL the Casablanca Betamax tapes.

Obviously looking for volume deals. I am not the seller but DM me your details and I will make sure they are attended to. I will connect you.

Also selling ridiculous quantities of DVD and Blu-ray!!!! Are you missing a season of something? We will see if it's in the pile.

Thrifted this in excellent exterior condition! Haven’t had a chance to test or clean, but there’s a cassette inside! Wonder what it’s going to be?

Hi folks. I have this unit connected to a Kramer VS-606XL, and the colours are super washed out. I’ve tried moving inputs, moving outputs, all the same result.

All of the i/o works with other units (VHS, Betacam, Umatic, etc) and when the Betamax is plugged directly into the capture card, it also works fine. It’s like the signal taking the extra step is too much for the player.

I haven’t found much about it, but it seems to be that the signal strength is really weak when going through another device. Again, all other devices running through the Kramer work perfectly.

Any ideas?

I wanted to share with the group the repair products I offer for a plethora of Betamax machines. If anyone has a need for additional gears, or parts that I do not have listed, please let me know as I am always looking to expand my offerings and help save these machines.

3-679-114-00 Loading Gear for 711B1 and 711B2 Chassis Units

3-679-104-05 Sun Gear for 711B1 and 711B2 Chassis Units

3-684-163-01 Gear, Driving Arm Reinforced for 711B2 Chassis Units

X-3684-123-1, Gear Assy Driving for 711B2 Chassis Units

X-3684-116-1 Midway Gear for 711B2 Chassis Units

Loading Mechanism Post Repair Kit for 711B3 Chassis Units

Motor Coupler for 711B3 Chassis Units and Sony VHS VCRs

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