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When Sony introduced Betahi-fi stereo it was a milestone in audio performance. Up to that time the sound reproduction from video taping was less than stellar because of the slow tape speed, which greatly limited the fidelity of the playback. Betahi-fi stereo changed all that and made the Sony Betamax a champion of high fidelity stereo. But over-the-air stereo television broadcasting (multiplex decoding) wasn't available when the new hi-fi models came out. Sony knew it was coming soon so to further enhance the appeal of their newest Betahi-fi recorders special circuitry was added and a multiplex (MPX) jack was located on the rear of each model. The plan was to offer an additional device at a later date that would interpret the multiplex broadcasting and make the Betahi-fi Betamax VCRs stereo broadcast capable. The MLV-1100 was the Sony designed stereo broadcast decoder designed to work with these VCRs. It could also be used with other MPX compatible devices and there were also other some decoders made by other manufacturers that would also work. Shown here is the MLV-1100 along with it's features. Another benefit of the adapter is SAP (Separate Audio Program) reception. If the signal has a companion coded dialog such as another language, etc. this device can recognize it. Some of the Sony models that included the MPX jack on the rear panel were the SL-90, SL-2700, SL-2710, SL-9090, SL-HF300, SL-HF500 and SL-HFR90. When multiplexing (called Stereocast) became standard the decoder was built into the circuitry of the next models and the MPX jack disappeared. Click on the picture to see how the MLV-1100 was attached to a MPX designed Betamax.
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