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Sony made Beta playback only units almost from the very beginning. Since U-matic players had been made for the professional consumers for some time it was only natural that Beta would follow suite. There was some discussion at first concerning fears that the new Beta format would eat into professional U-matic sales, but eventually it was decide that it was the future of video recording and pro Beta units became the mid-range sellers between the big broadcast models and the ones for public consumption. The first to be released was the SLP-100 player shown in the upper left corner. Simply a variation of the SL-7200 it lacked record function and tuners. Shortly afterwards an expanded line of SLO and SLP pro Beta units were introduced that were recorder/players and player only units. Compact and heavy their design looked nothing like the consumer models. Three models of player units covered several needs and price ranges, some had remote function and some could be interfaced with an editor. They were the SLP-300, SLP-303 and the SL-305 shown above. So why make units that only played back tapes and didn't record. They were used for training, current events, editing and special performances. For example a car dealership might be enrolled in a program available on Beta cassette that featured sales training, special service procedures or promotions. Publishers could use these players to view special events. Corporations could inform their workforce about new products, safely training or assembly methods. These type of customers wouldn't invest in a full blown broadcast setup (in most cases) so these Beta players occupied a special need and were quite popular, they sold well. Eventually though they were phased out as upscale models such as Betcam, BetacamSP and even regular Betamax took there place. For a while there were no player only units manufactured because the minuscule cost savings between a recorder and a player only made them unattractive. But there were a few players made late in the game under license from Sony by the Solid corporation in the Philippines. What role they played in the overall story of Beta is a mystery. There must have been some demand for these units (you can see them by clicking on the picture above) because several designs were manufactured. They were stripped down to the most basic functions and some didn't have pause or a remote function (units that did come with a remote had an "R" at the end of the number designation). There were even a few of these unusual models that did record and even had a tuner (to pick up two stations). These units are unique, rare and remain an interesting chapter in the story of Betamax.
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