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Sony (and the other Betamakers) exported their Betas to almost every country on the globe. The information in this text only covers the ones made to operate using the NTSC* television standard. But even though the video format was NTSC in many countries their AC house currents were different from that used in the USA. So to accommodate these differences Sony made special models that had switches on the rear so you could select the voltage and/or cycle requirements you needed. At first these selected models had a different style serial number label on the back and these are shown in the graphic. Starting in the upper left hand corner is the "Type 1 - USA Model" label that was usually located on the outside of the power supply vent. These "Types" were identified in the service manuals and were used to inform the Beta technician about the power supply electronics for that particular model. As you can see here it indicates that this unit operates using AC (Alternating Current) at 120 volts at 60 Hertz per seconds. It also says that it can consume up to 39 Watts during its operation. The rest of these labels show how Sony played variations on a theme. In the middle top is the "Type 1 - Canadian Model" label. If you look closely you see that all the printing is the same and the only difference is the background color. The USA and Canada are on the same power standard so why the color difference? All imported electronics have to be certified as meeting certain standards before they can enter into the country. This reduces substandard or noncompliant devices and it promotes operational uniformity. The Canadian electronic certification standards are different from those of the United States and the label color indicates this model is compliant to Canadian standards. In America it is the UL or underwriters Labratories that certifies electronics. You've seen the UL symbol on appliances, in Canada it's a CE mark which stands for "Conformité Européennui or European Conformity". (Canada is a federal state covered by the United Kingdom so it falls under the CE.) Another reason for the difference was many Betas going to Canada also included a manual in French or with French added because they have a large French speaking population. Type 1 models were also designated on the exterior of the shipping carton so they could easily be identified for marketing to the Canadian market. Later on some Sony Canadian models would either have completely different model numbers or their serial numbers would begin with the letter "A" or both. In the above graphic the label to the upper right shows a model variation that allowed power supply matching. It is designated by Sony as the "Type 1 - E1 Model" and the label specifically states that it operates on either 50 or 60 Hertz. In most cases this meant that there was a switch located somewhere on the back for match the cycle requirements of the Beta VCR to the house current being supplied. The more sophisticated of these special Betas were capable of doing this adjustment automatically, but they still had a different label or number. Notice there is no FCC statement on this label (no wordage at all). This is because the countries where these units went were not under the jurisdiction of the FCC. Where did the E1 models ship to? There were a lot of American service people living all over Europe (and the world). A number of those countries had adopted the NTSC standard, but their house currents were different. This why this design and the next one were created. There were a lot of civilians overseas too. The "Type 2 - PX and E2 Models" label shows the widest switching accommodations of all. This last over covered all the bases and it could go anywhere the NTSC television operated. In most cases these machine cost slightly more but you had complete flexibility. You could switch the operation voltage of this Beta from 100 to 120 to 220, and 240 Volts. In all four of these settings you can also switch the cycles required from 50 to 60 Hertz. It also came with a type 2 plug (adapter usually supplied). The first prefix "PX" means this model was sold only at the military PX for a special discounted price and it was only available to service people. The exterior of the shipping carton of these PX models was plain and simply marked with the VCR model number and the letters PX on the outside, there were no graphics or pictures on the boxes like the ones for general distribution. This was done to make their identification easier for shipping. This same machine was marketed to the civilian population in other countries using NTSC for the regular price so it was also designated "E2". The rest of the graphic above has some interesting information. In the center is an illustration of voltage selector knob located on the powers supply in the back. Also illustrated is one of the adapter plugs that was supplied with some models. The chart on the lower right shows the location, types, voltages and frequency information for this model (in this case the SL-20). The printed information is a reproduction of the model type information found in the operation manuals and the service manuals.
*NTSC is an acronym for "National Television System Committee". The two other main systems are SECAM, which stands for "Systéme Électronique pour Couleur Avec Mémoire" which is French for "Sequential Color And Memory" and PAL which is "Phase Alternating Line". |