Back in about 1999, I found an ancient JVC VHS unit, and an ancient Sanyo Beta unit! The tag said $20 for both but I haggled and got it down to $15. (Which, coincedentally, was my allowance at that time, me being only 14).
Both units top-loaded, and both had apparently had remotes that plugged into the front, however, only the remote for the Sanyo was still there. One thing I really found odd about this JVC unit was that it had one of those "push-button" tuners that was common to the first digital units and it only got VHF! Apparently, the reason the beta unit was still around was because the people who sold it were using it as a tuner for the VHS unit. The other thing I thought was odd was that the power switch was manual, and it resembeled a light switch with three positions for OFF/ON/TIMER.
The whole reason for this couple selling both units was that the JVC had stopped playing/recording tapes, so I took it apart when I got home (not even knowing if it worked yet), and found that I could stretch three large rubber bands I found in our kitchen in place of the broken belt! Slipshod work yes, but I was only 14. That unit played/recorded perfectly after that for two years.
The Sanyo powered up just fine and had knob-type VHF/UHF tuners, with backlit channel displays and a digital clock on the front that almost looked like someone had pasted it on as an afterthought. It only had 300 ohm input/output jacks, while the JVC had A/V jacks and a coax plug. Unfortunately, I was never able to test out the Sanyo's tape deck as I never had access to any beta tapes. If connected to antennas, however, it worked great!
My whole reason for purchasing them was because my RCA TV had been taken away by my parents, and I could eaisly hide this setup in the closet and connect it to my 17" Colour Commodore Monitor that my folks thought I just had my old NES connected to.
The VCRs were killed by lightning striking their antenna in late August, 2001. That same month, my folks waited till i had left for school and put my NES, all my games (Zelda, Mario 1/2/3, Kid Icarus, Maniac Mansion, etc.) and that Commodore display out at the curb. Both the display and the NES worked fine. Such a shame.
