The Industrial Betas

THE SONY INDUSTRIAL BETAS

Here are some of the "SLO" industrial Betas that have been released over the years. Most of them didn't have a tuner, timer, remote, or built-in RF convertor, and they were pricey -- but built to take the day-to-day rigors of heavy usage!

	The first of the industrials, the SLO-260 (1977). Almost a clone of the original SL-7200, but added audio dub, level meter, manual level control, mic input, headphone jack, and audio & video inputs.....see close-up below.
	The first of the portables, the SLO-340 (1977), which was actually released as a consumer unit. Handled the original "X-1" speed only, and weighed in at 20 pounds!
	The first solenoid-operated industrial, the SLO-320 (1977). Had a built-in carrying handle, optional random access search, BNC connectors, and programmed playback operation. Had a terrible problem with losing sync on recordings.
	The improved SLO-320, christened the SLO-323 (1978). Added two-track stereo sound and variable-speed playback, and eliminated the annoying sync problem of the SLO-320.
	The King of the X-1 Editors, the SLO- 383 (1980). Featured true insert audio and video editing, and even had a tracking meter! This puppy was $3300 new!!!! The only thing missing was a jog/shuttle wheel.
	The SLO-420, the industrial version of the slim-line SL-2500 (1983). Recorded BII and BIII, had linear stereo, and no tuner.
	The first Beta Hi-fi industrial, 1983's SLO-1400. One of the few industrial units to feature a Head Hours Meter and Running Hours meter! *Picture courtesy of OnDeck Trading, Ltd.*
	Directly left, a rare picture of the prototype of the GCS-50, a 1985 unit with the same basic chassis and internal parts as the famed SL-HF900. The final production model looked vastly different from this picture (see 2nd picture). This unit had both Beta Hi-Fi Stereo AND 2-track linear stereo, without any noise reduction. It also has an enormous locking jog/shuttle wheel, and is one of the few Betas that has AUDIBLE AUDIO (on the linear tracks) while playing back in slo-mo, in either direction!! Oddly enough, SuperBeta is called "HighBand" [the Japanese name] on the SuperBeta on/off switch on this unit, even though the tape door says SuperBeta.
	The industrial ED editor, the EDW-30F (1988), was a stripped-down version of the EDV-9500 (it had no tuner, timer, or remote). Called by Sony the "Sports System", it had a wired start/stop remote, jog/shuttle wheel, digital freeze, and rack mounts.
	The SLO-1800, released in 1985, was an industrial duplicator unit. Originally sold for $2000. Nice-looking unit! At one time these were plentiful on eBay, but have disappeared in the early 2000's. Two close-up shots of the left and right of the unit follow.

SITE NAVIGATOR

Free counters provided by Andale.