The first Betamaxes where basically mechanical in function with levers and piano-key type buttons. For these early Betas you had to actually get up and pull a lever to pause out a commercial. But that quickly changed when solenoids began to be incorporated into the design. Now you could control many of the functions remotely, without ever leaving your easy chair. The couch potato was born. Everything had a remote and the remote had everything. Strangely, near the end of the Beta era, Sony commissioned some low end Betas that didn't operate with a remote or have a pause function. These are quite rare today because most were thrown away after a couple of years use. Even more rare are the rental Betas, like this RB-200 made for International. These enjoyed only limited appeal after Beta rentals declined and were all but forgotten. |