Overview
Front flap
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The Sanyo VTC-5000 is the first non Sony machine to be featured on this site.
Interestingly Sanyo describe their VCR system as Betacord not Betamax.
The VCR has survived the test and there are
many still in use today.
The 5000 sold very well in its day, being perhaps the first mass market machine in the UK. It was very competitively priced and proved popular among the rental companies. Cosmetically it is a stylish looking top loader. Features included were a 7 day 1 event timer, picture search and pause (albeit in monochrome). The 5000 used a redesigned mechanism from earlier Sanyo models such as the VTC-5300. It was remarkably light weighing only 8 kgs compared to 15.5 kgs for the Sony SL-C7. Also it incorporated the latest power-saving ICs which meant it consumed only 29W, compared to 45W for the SL-C7. Sanyo also reduced the number of mechanical solenoids in this model to none. Instead the loading motor carries out all the mechanical operations needed. Another unique feature of this VCR was that it unthreaded the tape and returned it into the cassette shell before performing winding. This is something which is the same as the rival VHS system. It is not common knowledge that Sanyo produced a VTC-5000 Mark II. This was almost identical to the original model except for a change in the colour. It was brown compared to the original which was silver in colour. It also had an additional button on the front panel for a line in. A Titan clone was also made called the VCR 2000. Both versions are very similar to the VTC-5150, which was an up market version of the VTC-5000 and included colour in picture search modes / pause and a reverse play mode. |
Advertising
Mark Fountain has kindly provided pictures of the original Sanyo advertising flysheets for this model. Click on one of the images to enlarge it.Richard Sleeman has also kindly sent us a copy of the original Sanyo television Christmas advert for this model available here for download in the DivX format.
