Carefully plug your Beta into an AC outlet. ATTENTION! SHOCK HAZARD! Next, turn it on. ATTENTION! SHOCK HAZARD! You are now going to trick your machine into thinking it has loaded a cassette. To do this you will need to place your hand through and into into the loading assembly as illustrated below (large photo) and press the unlock lever at the same time. (I suggest you read completely through this procedure before you attempt to perform this operation.) If you wish view the picture in a pop out panel click here. Thrust your hand gently inwards, this will cause the carrier to move forward and down just as if it were loading a cassette. DON'T follow the loader with in your hand as it operates, you only want to start the cassette loading action. Once the assembly is in and down you must press the cassette down switch within two seconds. The unit will then start the tape threading process. Consult the next photo, under the one directly below, for a typical location for this switch. If you should fail to synchronize your actions properly, all that is going to happen is the process will abort and the carrier will return back to top. Should this occur you will want to have your hand out of the loading compartment. It most likely wouldn't hurt your hand if it got in the way, but it could come as a surprise. (Please read the loader design notice note below.)
To the left is an illustration of showing a typical location for the cassette down switch. The black upright protrusion is the top of the switch. In some units it is in the center near the front. (The protrusion to the right and slightly back is the record lockout switch.)

To go to the next step click here. To go back to the previous panel click here.

For a better look at the loader components see: Cogged reel table, Reel mechanics part 1 and Loading assembly.


Please note:
The loading compartment design shown above is the most common. Even though it may not look exactly like yours the components and method will work with most models. Almost all front loading Beta VCRs will have a locking device to prevent unintentional travel of the loader into the machine. Some machines will have two locks located just behind the front door, near the gripping fingers in the top of the tray. Some have two sliding levers in the rear of the tray on either side at the bottom. You may have to fish around and experiment a little to see just what is needed to unlock and release your loader. Many Sanyo front loader models don't use the tray locking method, a gravity weight blocks the tape entry (firm forward pressure is all that is needed to start them loading). Top loading units have no unlocking system. The location of the cassette down switch varies too. The one shown above is the most common but as mentioned some are located on the bottom of the compartment near the center front. Others are on the left side. Once again you may need to hunt around to find it. As explained above be ready to press it down quickly after the loading tray bottoms out. (So the CPU doesn't time out, see a fault, reverse loading and then eject.) Top loaders perform threading by pressing only the cassette down switch. The easiest way to get to it is to remove the top cover of the cassette holder. If you are attempting to clean a unit with the draw bridge type loader you will have to use a specially altered cassette for false loading. These machines are the SL-2500, SL-2700 (and comparable Zenith models) and the SLO-420. To do these prepare a dummy cassette by opening it up and removing the reels, levers, springs and flip up lid. This assembled empty shell (with no insides) is then inserted into the machine to initiate false loading and threading. False loading these machines without the dummy cassette is simply too complicated to perform and this makes it easy. If you have questions about your type of machine email me at mrbetamax@bellsouth.net.