Beta - Lore

Beta Lore featured in the New York Times.

Though all but forgotten in today's consumer electronics, Sony's Betamax format video tape recorders hold a special place in the hearts of the faithful. This page serves as a home for stories of man and machine, of the trials and tribulations of Beta patrons.

Special Note

The E-mail addresses in these pages have been modified so that "*" appears where "@" should be. Hopefully this will prevent use of these addresses by bulk mailers. When writing to addresses on these pages, simply correct the "*". Sorry for any inconveniences.

Beta Lore Submissions

1996

Wallace White: The Rise and Fall And Rise of One SL-HF400 - 4 April 1996
Hamid Khan: Dumpsters Full Of Betamax's and More Lore - 7 April 1996
Ron Hebb: Beta Lives! - 9 April 1996
Brian Kress: Old Beta or New Beta? - 25 April 1996
Ken Hottenstein: Cheap Movies - 13 May 1996
Rob Riccardelli: A 15 Year Old's Love of Beta - 13 July 1996
Peter Goldberg: Seeking a SuperBeta - 3 August 1996
Keith Barry: Running Over VHS Tapes - 25 September 1996
Roy Gardner: Never Pay For VHS - 25 September 1996
Bob Hetsko: No Wear After 12 Years - 13 October 1996
Larry Murphy: Still Beta After All These Years - 17 August 1996
David Martin: The First And Only Format - 11 September 1996
Jesse Skeen: Next Best Thing To Time Travel - 28 November 1996
Simon White: Editing with Beta - 14 December 1996

1997

Scott Veazie: Seeking Accessories for the Ultimate Format - 13 January 1997
Dan Wood: Beta and Amiga - 14 January 1997
Brett Cragg: Beta will never die! - 16 March 1997
Anthony Maw: Still Ticking After Nine Years - 4 April 1997
John Weeber: Cassette Cure - 13 April 1997
Rick Winstead: Batteries? Who Needs Stinkin' Batteries! - 7 June 1997
David Etheridge: I Still Believe in Beta - 3 July 1997
Stewart Belfield: I'm Not the Only One! - 6 July 1997
Kit Haskins: Finding Tapes, and 7-Pin Dub for U-matic and Beta - 12 July 1997
Peter Chow: Old Troopers Never Die - 19 July 1997
Michael Valeyard: Desperately Seeking SL-HF's! - 25 July 1997
Colin McCormick: Betacam Tapes on Beta - 10 August 1997

1998

Bill Saltarelli: Someone Stole My Beta! - 2 April 1998
Antares Choate: Beta = Best - 23 August 1998
Sven Svensson: My Private Space - 30 December 1998

1999

Martin Imber: How I got a 950 - 7 January 1999
Marcus Voyles: Ownership at first sight - 13 January 1999
Mathew: My Beta - 25 February 1999
Nick Dalzell: My VERY cool experience with Beta plus update! - 18 May 1999
Andrew Ureta: Beta Rules! - 13 June 1999
Andrew Bowers: Beta and Communism - 13 June 1999
Brandon Morin: A Unique Fixer Upper Opportunity - 19 June 1999
James R. Rosenbloom: 16 Years old and still going Strong - 1 July 1999
Chad: Beta and Communism - 13 June 1999
Will: A Classic brought back to life - 3 August 1999

2000

Michael Staple: LONG LIVE KING BETA - 6 October 2000

2001

Art: My babies still going strong 16 & 17 - 3 January 2001
Clyde A Smith: Beta's better. Lifelong Owner - 11 January 2001
James S: My Beta tragedy - 15 March 2001
Das Imperator: It's the transport mechanism that kicks VHS butt! - 23 July 2001

2002

Edward The 4th: Beta Fossils - 23 March 2002
Matthew gibb: Beta- simply Better - 30 March 2002
Whodoyacallit: My Beta Machine! - 26 April 2002
Moonie: Remembering the Betamax - 17 May 2002
Mark Richardson: The SL3000 - 5 August 2002
Tom Siomopoulos: Darn was that a BetacamSP tape I used - 19 August 2002
Andy H: Bring back the C9 - 19 October 2002
Len Simons: Could it be the end of an era? - 25 October 2002

2004

Jeff Kenyon: Converted young Betamax fan - 10 March 2004
Will: From a 16 year old who never lost hope - 1 July 2004
John Shersby: New found love for the format! - 5 July 2004
Noel C. Dolor: Still durable! - 30 July 2004

2010

Tarik Iqbul: and so it goes and now there's a thing - 12 October 2010
Paul Nelson: Oh to play my Betamax tapes again! - 18 November 2010

2011

Jeff Kenyon: Still hooked with new interests evolving from Betamax! - 21 March 2011
Jeremy: Lonely Girl builds Betamax Robot - 24 May 2011

2013

Raymond Moran: Betamax Tape Damage - 2 May 2013

Submitting Your Beta Lore

Submit your own "Beta Lore" article, to be posted here for the enrichment of all.

Please note the Beta-Lore pages are not intended to be used as a guest book. To sign the Beta PALsite guest book join the Betamax PALs. Thanks.

Beta-Lore was created by Wallace White (wallace*remdesign.com) and first went on line 3 Apr 1996 at http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~whitew/Beta/. It later moved to PALsite on 1^st Aug 1998.