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  Beta SP VTR Hours

  Posted by Mike Nap on June 10, 2008 at 5:39 pm

  Could you give me an idea as to what would be considered a safe “low” number of hours on a BSP VTR. I know there are the three (Drum:Tape:Operation:)
  types of hours but I am looking to buy a used machine and want to compare a few that have low hours…and don’t know what is acceptable.
  I have an engineer to look them over when I get them- but I don’t want to buy junk either.

  Also- I am only using these for logging tapes. I am taking hours and hours of footage to a digital format later -which I will be using a better newer deck to digitze.

  Please Advise!

  M

  Tom Matthies replied 18 years, 1 month ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
• 1 Reply

• 

  Tom Matthies

  June 23, 2008 at 6:07 pm

  Better late than never for an answer.
  I’d say for your use that any deck with under 500 hours should give you many more hours of use. I bought a used Betacam deck a few years ago for making dubs and it’s been going strong for the past four years. I also have a Sony PVW-2600 for capture into a NLE that I got used. It’s got about 600 hours on the heads now and is still going strong with good RF off of the tape. If you are going to use the deck for logging, get a PVW series. It has a jog/shuttle knob that is built-in and it handles tape better than a UVW -series deck.
  How long a deck will last depends greatly on how it was treated in the past. If you get a deck from a reputable dealer that was well cared for and used in a professional environment, you should get a lot of use out of it. For logging, don’t worry too much about the heads as much as how well the transport handles your tapes. You don’t want to be shuttling your master tapes around in a machine that’s mechanically unsound.
  Tom

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