| The Sanyo VTC-5000 was perhaps the first "mass market" VCR. It was
aggressively marketed at the height of the VHS / Betamax format war, and at one
point was significantly cheaper than its VHS rivals. It became the biggest selling
VCR of 1982. |
| It was also a very good machine, which contained some interesting
technological developments. Perhaps most importantly, the mechanism was a
completely new design, which eliminated all solenoids (electromagnetic levers),
running all loading functions from a single loading motor. This philosophy was
continued throughout the mechanism, and the result was a machine which was not only
smaller and less power-hungry than the others around at the time (compare it to a
C7 or C5), but also amazingly light - about half the weight of the previous
machines. |
Other unusual features were a blue gas-discharge display, and (monochrome)
picture search and freeze-frame.
Unusually for Betamax, the tape was returned to the cassette when not playing. |
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